story by Lindsay King
Growing up in the heart of rodeo country (Spencer, Nebraska), D’Ann Gehlsen was destined to be a top competitor. The need for speed was and is in her blood. It only took 18 years for D’Ann to lose interest in the slow pace of horse showing and trade it in for the adrenaline rush they call barrel racing. “Back in the 70s, my dad bought me my first barrel horse prospect and I trained him myself. I lost interest in the judged events of horse shows when I was about 18. I have been rodeoing and barrel racing ever since,” said the now Mission, South Dakota, resident. It was in 2009 when D’Ann knew she could get “serious” because of the horse she had.
“I call him Flyer. He didn’t make it as a 5-year-old futurity horse. He is a big sorrel with a huge motor and a slow mind. But when it all came together, he was awesome.” D’Ann used the colt she raised (Flyer) for the next five years and he’s easily turned into old faithful of the four barrel horses in the string today. “I switch between Flyer and Radar. I always have to pull Flyer out because Radar hurts himself a lot at home.” Equipped with the “jackrabbit start,” Rader is D’Ann’s go-to in a small pen while Flyer can do exactly as his names states in a big pen. “I have loaned Flyer out to two close friends and they have done well on him too.”
Taking multiple average and year-end wins in the NSRA, M-SRA and Northwest Ranch Cowboy’s Association from 2009 to 2013 were all thanks to Flyer. The successful years that followed (2014-2017) were split between Flyer and Radar. “Three years ago, I entered the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo. I won it on Radar. It was one of those things that you don’t dream of happening, but it did.” This sent D’Ann to the 2017 Colorado Versus the World, one of her most exciting experiences to date. “In December 2017, I had shoulder surgery and in 2018 I was dealing with complications from that.” Despite the setback, D’Ann made the M-SRA finals at the very last rodeo of the season. She also made the NSRA finals last year. “I am planning on 2019 going a lot better, it is starting out that way.”
The process is what keeps D’Ann coming back year after year. “I like the one-on-one time with my horses and becoming a team. I have never done any other events in rodeo (except steer undecorating a long time ago). I am a one-event person, no all-arounds for me,” she jokes. Training barrel horses on the poles is just one of D’Ann’s training strategies. She gets plenty of other great ideas from her circle of friends. “I can’t name just one person who has helped me, I have a lot of good friends that are great moral support and traveling partners.” Just like anything, rodeo is a humbling sport but D’Ann relishes in those moments when everything goes just right. She mainly focuses on her job as a jockey a majority of the time anyways. “It is all a matter of me doing my job so they can do theirs and everything will come together. The older horse needs pushed, while the younger ones don’t need that as much.”
Almost twenty-seven years with the Farm Service Agency as a program technician has kept D’Ann busy during the week. When Friday hits, she is off for the races with her horses and her good friends of the M-SRA. “I’ve been a member since clear back in the ‘80s. I pick my pens carefully, but I like the M-SRA because I can go make a run for multiple associations and then be back home that night or the very next day.”
