story by Lily Weinacht
Wendy Chesnut of Poultney, Vermont, competes on three rodeo circuits — APRA, IPRA, and WPRA First Frontier — and qualified for each of their finals during the 2017 season. The 51-year-old barrel racer, wife, and mother of two left AFR 40 as the APRA Year-End Barrel Racing Champion. With $14,330.53 in year-end earnings, she was third overall in the money, including the all around. “I go for each run and do the best I can each time,” says Wendy. “Some people say they want to go for the year end, and for me, if that’s the way the cards fall, that’s great, but I just go with my horse for each run.”
Her horse, Sun Frost Merridoc, better known as Lucky, has carried Wendy through the majority of her rodeo career thus far. Wendy purchased the 8-year-old mare five years ago from Pond Hill Ranch with just 20 days on her, and finished Lucky herself. “She’s just one of those horses that’s pretty gritty and has a lot of heart. She’s one of those true athletes.” Lucky was named WPRA Horse with the Most Heart in 2016 and 2017, voted in by Wendy’s peers on the circuit.
Thanks to the pair’s second-place finish at the First Frontier Circuit Finals, Wendy and Lucky are headed to the RNCFR in Kissimmee, Florida, for the second consecutive year. AFR 40 in Atlantic City, New Jersey, was the first of the three finals, and traveling to and from the rodeos, along with a stop in Florida to see family, kept Wendy on the road for nearly a month. After the First Frontier Circuit Finals in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, she made her debut at IFR48 in Oklahoma City and placed second in the fourth go.
Though Wendy grew up riding English, showing hunt seat and later competing in the NBHA, she didn’t set foot on the rodeo trail until 5 years ago. “Once I got married and had my kids, I got back into horses and barrel racing. I always wanted to rodeo, but I didn’t want to travel when the kids were at home. I’ve always wanted to rope, but I’m not coordinated enough, and barrels just kind of come to me. It was the next easy step back into horses, and it’s pretty cool to get to travel a lot and see a lot of different places and people.”
Wendy worked an office job for 25 years and simultaneously ran a boarding and training facility with her husband, Bob Chesnut, but she was recently able to quit her other job and focus solely on their business. She gives riding and barrel racing lessons at their Cuttin’ Corners Arena, holds jackpots, and even hosts several barrel racing clinics in the spring, including two in April with WPRA world champion and seven-time WNFR qualifier, Connie Combs. “She’s been my mentor for quite a while. I went to one of her clinics in Ohio, and she’s really old school and down to earth, and she made a lot of sense.” Wendy liked her techniques so much that she contacted Connie about doing clinics in Vermont, which they’ve done together now for a number of years. “Connie and my husband are my main influences. He does all of our haying, along with all the arena work and maintenance. He does a lot of the driving, and he’s just a positive person to be around.”
From January until April, Wendy and Bob stay in Ocala, Florida, with his dad, Bob Sr., and they also enjoy spending time with their two children, Chelsea (26) and Zac (24) who live next door to them in Vermont. “Any of my other hobbies are pretty much horse related,” says Wendy. “I keep it really simple. I try to keep my horses healthy and happy, mentally and physically, along with myself. It’s just riding square and centered, and trying to make a clean run as efficiently and as best as you can.”