{"id":874,"date":"2011-08-15T14:00:55","date_gmt":"2011-08-15T20:00:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/?p=874"},"modified":"2011-08-16T10:52:47","modified_gmt":"2011-08-16T16:52:47","slug":"melissa-thiessen-wins-whitewood-sk-and-places-at-two-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/melissa-thiessen-wins-whitewood-sk-and-places-at-two-others\/","title":{"rendered":"Melissa Thiessen Wins Whitewood, SK and places at two others."},"content":{"rendered":"

Melissa Thiessen out of Stettler, AB was one of the top placers this past rodeo weekend.\u00a0 Melissa won the CCA (Canadian Cowboys Association) rodeo in Whitewood, Sk with a time of 14.92 seconds.\u00a0 Thiessen also placed 2nd in Edam, SK with a 12.38 seconds run and she placed 7th in her hometown of Stettler with a time of 18.13 seconds.\u00a0 Melissa won just over $2,000 on her three runs.\u00a0 For a complete look at the results you can check out the CCA Website here<\/a>.\u00a0 We had a chance to interview Melissa on her big weekend, here’s what she had to say:<\/p>\n

-What is the name of the horse(s) you ran?\u00a0 JC Spuring For Honor aka Spitz, I ran him at Whitewood and Stettler and Shakem Passem aka Possum, I ran him at Edam.<\/span><\/p>\n

-How old are they?\u00a0 Spitz is 8 and Possum is 12<\/span><\/p>\n

-How long have you been running barrels on these horses? I purchased Possum in 2007 – he was 8.\u00a0 I started jackpotting him in May of that year and took him to three rodeos in 2008.\u00a0 I started rodeoing on him in 2009.\u00a0 I purchased Spitz as a weanling.\u00a0 Futuritied him and then let him grow up.\u00a0 This is his first year rodeoing.\u00a0 I jackpotted him enough to make the ABRA finals each year and that is about it.\u00a0 He has been to 12 rodeos now all this year.
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

-What is the training background on each horse?\u00a0 Possum was started on barrels by Halley Spady.\u00a0 I had always liked him.\u00a0 All the basics were there I just molded him to my style.\u00a0 I started Spitz.\u00a0 He has always been a “show me and I do it” horse.\u00a0 I just needed to wait for him to grow up a little.\u00a0 He has always tried really hard and wants to do things really fast.<\/span><\/p>\n

-What is your training and riding style with these particular horses?\u00a0 I ride all my horses the same.\u00a0 Keep it simple is my theory.\u00a0 I work on keeping them balanced and moving forward all the time.\u00a0 I like lots of hock drive and work on keeping their front ends free-ed up and reaching.\u00a0 I try to sit still and let them do their job.<\/span><\/p>\n

-What is it you like best about these horses?\u00a0 Both of these guys are willing and confident.\u00a0 Possum is so easy and fun.\u00a0 He is a point and shoot kind of guy.\u00a0 He loves inside and little pens.\u00a0 His speed is so instant and he turns so efficiently, even though he’s a bigger horse he excels in small pens.\u00a0 Spitz is just that – a Spitfire.\u00a0 he tries hard every time and is really turny.\u00a0 He is quick inside and really fun outside because he wants to turn so bad.\u00a0 Spitz loves to be on the road.\u00a0 Steve (my Husband), always said that he has wanted to be a rodeo horse and in the spot light since he was a baby.\u00a0 He came with a huge confidence from the get go.\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

*Possum got to shine in Edam’s small 12 second pattern arena while Spitz got to show how turny he is in the bigger outdoor pens at Whitewood and Stettler.<\/p>\n

-How did you feel all of your runs were on the weekend?\u00a0 I felt they were all good.\u00a0 Both are back from injuries earlier in the month.\u00a0 Possum had a reaction to clover and had blisters all over his legs.\u00a0 I had not ran him for a month.\u00a0 I was really happy with him at Edam.\u00a0 He felt like his old self.\u00a0 Spitz worked great everywhere.\u00a0 In May I realized he was swallowing his tongue.\u00a0 So I started to tie it down and then had to learn how to ride him all over again because he had this new speed.\u00a0 Then because he was running so hard, he broke a splint bone.\u00a0 It has taken me five or six runs to figure out how to ride him again.\u00a0 I felt at Whitewood that I got my timing with him.<\/span><\/p>\n

-What kind of saddle do you use?\u00a0 I ride Possum in a Connie Combs by Saddlesmith and Spitz in a Brandie Halls by Cactus.<\/span><\/p>\n

-What kind of pad do you use?\u00a0 5 Star on both horses.<\/span><\/p>\n

-What kind of bit(s) do you use?\u00a0 I like to run my horses in rope hackamores.\u00a0 I will school them in lots of different bits.\u00a0 I change it up all the time with Spitz.\u00a0 Different bit everytime I school to keep ahead of him.\u00a0 He’s too smart.\u00a0 Possum is always in a hackamore.\u00a0 He is funny about having things in his mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n

-How do you keep your horses in shape with all of the traveling?\u00a0 I like to keep my horses fresh.\u00a0 Once they are fit and on the road I worry more about getting them enough rest and “free time” more than keeping them in shape.\u00a0 They all have grass pens at home that they get to hang out in when we are home.\u00a0 We have a hotwalker that I use a lot.\u00a0 I like to ride out in the fields when I am home too.<\/span><\/p>\n

-Are there any specific goals you have set for yourself and your horses this rodeo season?\u00a0 To make the finals of course.\u00a0 With all my horses my goal every time is to ride them right.\u00a0 Let them do their job and they will be fast.\u00a0 If I can be the fastest on my day or winning it when I leave I am happy.\u00a0 Mother nature has a way of equalizing\/eliminating us in this game and we can’t beat ourselves up over things we can’t control.<\/span><\/p>\n

-What lead you to be a barrel racer?\u00a0 My dad was a bull rider.\u00a0 My mom was a buckle-bunny.\u00a0 Grew up around horses.\u00a0 I had no choices :).\u00a0 I started riding when I was really little – can’t remember not riding actually.<\/span><\/p>\n

-If you were to share a training\/rodeo tip what would it be?\u00a0 Keep yourself and your horse happy.\u00a0 That is why we do this for fun and lots of people forget the fun part.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Possum's Pedigree - click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n

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Spitz's Pedigree - click to enlarge<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Melissa Thiessen out of Stettler, AB was one of the top placers this past rodeo weekend.\u00a0 Melissa won the CCA (Canadian Cowboys Association) rodeo in Whitewood, Sk with a time of 14.92 seconds.\u00a0 Thiessen also placed 2nd in Edam, SK with a 12.38 seconds run and she placed 7th in her hometown of Stettler with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,51,6,63],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-874","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-barrel-racing","category-interviews","category-rodeo","category-rodeo-amateur"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":881,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874\/revisions\/881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.rodeoclassifieds.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}