Jessica Routier rounds the barrels at the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo, hosted by the Minot Y's Men's Rodeo. Her horse Fiery Miss West, "Missy," won the Badlands Barrel Horse of the Year for the second consecutive year.

Six horses have been recognized for their talent and ability in the Badlands Pro Rodeo Circuit.

Rio, owned by Jake Rinehart, is the Badlands Steer Wrestling Horse of the Year.

Scorpion, also owned by Rinehart, is the Badlands Hazing Horse of the Year.

Sara Lee, owned by Jesse Fredrickson, is the Team Roping Heel Horse of the Year, and Chico, owned by Tyrell Moody, is the Team Roping Head Horse of the Year.

Fozzy, owned by Trey Young, is the Tie-Down Horse of the Year, and in the barrel racing,

Missy, ridden by Jessica Routier, is the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association’s Barrel Horse of the Year.

For Rinehart’s horses, Rio and Scorpion, this is the second consecutive year for the two to win their respective awards.

Rinehart, of Highmore, South Dakota, bought Rio, a thirteen-year-old buckskin, from his cousin, steer wrestler Randy Suhn, when the horse was seven.

Rio is Rinehart’s go-to horse.

“He’s pretty special,” he said. “I don’t get to do as much practicing as a guy should, but I know if I keep him in shape, he’ll do his job.”

Rio was ridden at the RAM Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in Minot, on Oct. 5-7 by Rinehart, Chason Floyd, Cameron Morman, and Brent Sutton. Between his four riders, Rio won first place three times in four rounds for them, with Morman wining first in the average and Floyd winning fourth.

Scorpion, the hazing horse of the year, is a thirteen-year-old dun who has tried, unsuccessfully, to buck Rinehart off.

“He’s a little bit of an outlaw that has a lot of heart and a lot of grit,” Rinehart said.

The gelding was purchased from Randy Suhn and Lloyd Gilbert. He was ridden by Billy Boldon, who hazed for Rinehart, Floyd, Morman and Sutton at the Badlands Circuit Finals.

For the second time, Tyrell Moody’s head horse Chico won the Badlands Team Roping Head Horse of the Year. Chico, a seventeen-year-old palomino gelding, also won the award in 2014.

The gelding is “fast, big and strong,” Moody said. “And the fact that he’s older, he knows what he’s doing (in the arena) just as much as I do.”

The horse is also gentle.

“He’s just a big old teddy bear,” Moody said. “He would never do anything to hurt another horse, steer, or person. He’s a big gentleman.”

Sara Lee is the Team Roping Heel Horse of the Year. The seven-year-old blue roan mare was purchased by Jesse and Katelyn Fredrickson, Upham from Oak Ridge Ranch at Souris, as a six-year-old and ran her first steer in October of last year.

“She figured it out really fast,” Jesse Fredrickson said. “We absolutely love her. Our little girl (who is three years old) can lead her around and give her treats. She’s got a lot of spunk but she’s the most kind-hearted little thing.”

For the tie-down roping, Fozzy, a ten-year-old sorrel owned by Trey Young and his dad Doug Young, repeated his award from last year. The gelding’s strength, in Trey’s opinion, is that he scores so good.

“He gets to the calf as fast as any horse I’ve ever had,” he said. “I’ve had some that run faster, but he goes from zero to 100 as fast as any I’ve had.”

Fozzy is not a big fan of people, however. He’s hard to catch, but “once you get your hands on him, he doesn’t mind it. When you’re on him, it’s OK but he’d just as soon you not touch him,” Young said.

Young, a resident of Dupree, South Dakota, has competed at the Badlands Circuit Finals five times.

Fiery Miss West “Missy” was voted the WPRA’s Badlands Barrel Horse of the Year. Missy is owned by Gary Westergren of Lincoln, Nebraska, and ridden by Jessica Routier of Buffalo, South Dakota.

She is a seven-year-old palomino who Routier started as a ranch horse, believing that doing ranch work is what makes a horse great: “If you ranch on them, the barrel racing should seem easy.”

This year, Routier and Missy stepped out of their “backyard” in the circuit and went nationwide, after Routier was ranked in the top fifteen in the world standings after winning the 2017 Badlands Circuit Finals and finishing second at the RAM National Circuit Finals. Missy, at rodeos across the U.S. and Canada, never missed a beat.

“She experienced a lot more different situations (this year) and there wasn’t once when I felt like I had a novice horse moment that screwed something up for us,” Routier said. “She is so solid, she took everything we threw at her.”

Routier finished in first place in the second and fourth rounds of the Badlands Circuit Finals in Minot, and fourth in the third round.

Routier, who finished second in the year-end race, will compete at the National Circuit Finals since Lisa Lockhart finished as both the year-end and finals champion. She, aboard Missy, finished the rodeo year ranked eighth in the world standings and will compete at her first Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in December.