Long hours, lots of hard work, and a strong support team – these are some of the pillars that have helped Jackie Ganter rise towards the top of the world standings in barrel racing going into the 2016 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. As she looks to build off last season’s second place finish in the aggregate at the NFR, she attributes much of her success in her young career to a never give up attitude and a strong support team of friends, family, and sponsors who help her and her horses perform at their best on the road.
After running in nearly 100 rodeos, Ganter currently sits second in the world standings. The highlight of her second year on the rodeo circuit came back in July at the prestigious Calgary Stampede. Ganter and her trusty horse, Guy’s French Jet fought through the mud and rain to qualify for the finals and placed third overall against the world’s best, cashing in her biggest check of the season.
Winning earlier and more consistently helped Ganter qualify for the NFR a lot sooner this year which took some pressure off the 2015 WPRA Rookie-of-the-Year. She contributes a lot of her success to her many sponsors who help her and her horses perform their best down the road. A key staple over the past two years has been her horses’ nutrition program which consists of alfalfa, Hi-Pro Feeds Performance equine feed, and a couple supplements including, Red Cell Pellets and Equi-Bone.
“Honestly, the Hi-Pro Performance textured feed is such a great feed that I really don’t need anything else to go along with it,” said Ganter. “They [my horses] all do so well on it, and that’s hard on the road, a lot of horses go downhill out on the road, they get thin, they look bad, they lose their hair coat… It’s hard to keep them looking good and thankfully Hi-Pro Performance textured feed does that for my horses.”
Another staple in her team over the past two seasons has been Guy’s French Jet. Jet as he’s affectionately called helped Ganter to a second place aggregate finish at the 2015 NFR. Their 10-run total time was 141.07 seconds finishing behind Callie duPerier at 140.41 seconds.
Jackie describes Jet as a gracious winner. “He’s laid back and calm, he goes in the arena does his job, and walks out of the alley like nothing ever happened,” said Ganter. “He loves his job and he loves me. I think he gives me his heart and soul every run.”
Despite Ganter’s overall success over her first two seasons on the rodeo circuit, she says every day provides different challenges. One of the biggest tasks she faced this year was trying to stay focused on winning after a successful start to the year. As the season progressed Jackie admits she had some ups and downs. She believes her never give up attitude is what helped her get through the tough stretches on the road.
“For anyone that wants to qualify for the NFR, it sounds very cliché, but I think the best possible advice you can be given is never give up,” states Ganter. “You will go through downtimes and you will go through several runs in a row where you are not winning, and that may be over the course of two or three weeks. It can be hard to deal with. Never give up, push through the bad to get back to the good is pretty much the only thing you have to keep in your head to get back to the NFR.”
As a proud sponsor of Jackie Ganter, Hi-Pro Feeds shares her desire to always stay focused on finding ways to improve and perform at your best. Hi-Pro Feeds is committed to continuous improvement when it comes to customer service, and manufacturing high quality horse feeds. The company is honored to partner with Jackie and to be a part of her formula for success.
Good luck Jackie Ganter at the 2016 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo! Your team at Hi-Pro Feeds will be cheering very loudly for you.
