Not many students in the Lewis-Palmer School District are aware of the complicated equine sport known as barrel racing. Even less students know that Lewis-Palmer High School has one of the top barrel racers in the country as a student.

Rachael Braaten, a sophomore, is ranked 17^th in the nation in barrel racing for the National Little Britches Rodeo Association. She and her horse Sugar’s Jocee Twist (Jocee for short) have raced together for two years and have claimed multiple national and state-level titles.

But it wasn’t always this way. In the summer of 2011, Jocee, Braaten’s primary horse, suffered a severe leg injury.

“She strained her front right flexor tendon,” Braaten said. “It took her three or four months for the tendon to actually heal, and now when I ride her I have to warm her up, cool her down, and stretch her out a certain way. When I’m done riding, I have to ice and mud her legs until she fully heals.”

Jocee eventually made a recovery five months later, but Braaten was never completely sure that she would heal.

“I felt very depressed and hopeless, because I didn’t know if she would ever recover enough to run again,” Braaten said. “Even if she did, there was always a 75% chance that she wouldn’t run as well as she did before, so I felt like I was never going to be able to use her again.”

But Braaten persevered. Competing in rodeos meant so much to her that she continued to train other horses while still caring for her lame horse Jocee.

“I feel like a really good trainer after preparing my sister’s 20 year old horse Slugger to race professionally in less than five days,” Braaten said. “It was the biggest competition of the year, and I wasn’t going to drop out even though Jocee suddenly got injured.”

Together, Braaten and Slugger placed top five in the competition, despite their short time training together.

After many months of constant care and training, Jocee was able to be used again in competition. Today, Braaten competes in goat tying, breakaway roping, and trail horse competitions, and still races barrels. Overall, she is ranked 47^th in the nation.

It is obvious that competing in rodeos means the world to Braaten, and it is safe to say she will continue her legacy of success into her later years of life.

“Rodeo is my life, and Jocee is what makes that possible. Without her I wouldn’t have my life.”