story by Siri Stevens
Victoria Iguess competes in barrel racing and pole bending. The 12 year old enjoys barrel racing better because her horse “cooperates better with them. It’s my aunt’s horse that I borrow,” she said of the 8-year-old sorrel that also works the team roping and calf roping events. The seventh grader who attends Bell City High School, along with her sister, Quincey, likes math best because of her teacher. “She’s really nice and explains the sections to us where we get it.” When she gets out of school, she feeds animals and messes around with the horses and show cows. The family is getting into the show cattle business, and this is her first year at it. “I’ve been showing pigs for three years. I placed third in a few classes.” Teaching cattle to lead is a bit different than working with pigs. “Mine doesn’t want to walk, and trying to get them to lead with a tractor is hard; when she doesn’t want to walk, she just falls over.”
This is also her first year competing in rodeo. “My younger sister (Quincey) is in sixth grade and she decided to rodeo and I wanted to make it easier for my mom, so I did it too. I was always told that I have a natural talent and I didn’t believe them, but now I do.” Victoria didn’t ride as much as her siblings, so she never thought she would be very good at competing. She learned to ride at an early age from her Aunt Sonny Fontenot and her mom, who both competed. “I didn’t have a whole lot of confidence. It’s slowly getting there.” Victoria isn’t sure what she wants to be when she grows up, but knows she will find out over the years. She has a saying that she lives by: “If you believe you can do it, then do it. – that’s what I did with rodeo, and its working!”
Quincey is in sixth grade, and she decided last year she wanted to rodeo. “My grandpa worked with the horses on the race track and my mom and her sister barrel race and it was passed down.” She started riding when she was seven. “I didn’t compete that much, I moved up to another horse and started competing on him and finally got to my barrel horse and started junior high, so we started rodeo.” She rides Foxie, a 9-year-old gray mare that she got from her nanny. She enjoys rodeo, from the travel to the friends and the time she spends with her family. “The whole family spends the night in the trailer.” Her dad, who works for a gas company is the driver. “He’s the one that finds the good parking spots so we don’t have to walk so far. We park with a lot of our friends and have fun.” Quincey has her sights set on becoming a vet. “I like being around animals,” she said. Her favorite thing about school is math and science. “I like learning division, and I like science because I like all the experiments – I like to make projects and bring them to school.”
She admits that it is challenging to compete against her older sister. “We argue a lot, but we support each other, and get jealous of each other when we win, but we learn from each other and its fun.” She competes in pole bending and barrel racing, preferring pole bending. My horse mostly cooperates in the poles; we make good times in barrels, but I think she likes the poles better.”
As the youngest, she admits to being spoiled and loves it. And she loves rodeo. “It’s a great sport and there’s lots to do and great friends and fans and family.”