When barrel racer Jackie Ganter of Abilene, Texas arrived to compete at the Calgary Stampede, she envisioned success would come atop her trusty steed Sailor.
That changed when a severe medical issue, the twisting of an intestine around his colon, sent the six-year-old horse to the veterinarian for emergency surgery.
“It’s fine as long as (Sailor) makes it through everything,” Jackie told Global News. “He doesn’t owe me anything. I’m just happy for him to be alive. I feel like something’s kind of been taken away from him.”
Jackie had been with Sailor — the offspring of Jet, her previous barrel racing horse — since birth and had trained him. The pair had experienced significant success on the rodeo circuit this year and there was optimism their winning ways would continue in Calgary.
Angela Ganter, Jackie’s mother and a barrel racer herself, was heartbroken for both Sailor and her daughter.
“That’s her number one horse and for the rest of the year he’s over.”
The procedure proved successful but forced Jackie to alter her approach and select another horse from her stable. Sailor’s ‘best friend’, 15-year-old Tycoon, was called into action.
“We’ve spent years keeping (Tycoon) sound,” explained Angela of the older horse’s health concerns. “He has a lot of issues and we can’t run him in certain setups, certain grounds.
“I actually looked him in the eye right before she ran and I said ‘Do this for Sailor.’”
All expectations were exceeded during Monday afternoon’s rodeo and the Jackie-Tycoon pair recorded a 17.66, the fastest time of the day.
“I had a friend text me, it was kind of funny, and she was like ‘He just didn’t think any of those other rodeos were as important as Calgary. He was just saving his energy.’”
Jackie’s still not entirely sure what motivated Tycoon Monday afternoon.
“You just never know what they’re thinking. They can’t talk to you and I think he knew his buddy was sick — Sailor and Tycoon are best friends — so I think that Tycoon definitely knew it was time to show out.”
With files from Global News’ Moses Woldu