story by Lily Weinacht
Grace Gardiner from Ashland, Kansas, makes a goal chart each season, and this year she checked off every goal—academic and rodeo—including competing at an American qualifier and going to the NJHFR in barrel racing and pole bending. “Nationals was a great experience—I was overjoyed with it,” says the 13-year-old. “I knew I had the horse to do it. Ranger is an awesome horse, but we had just gotten him and that was my fourth run on him. When we crossed the finish line and I saw my time and everybody was screaming, it was awesome! It gave me a lot of confidence going into the next round. I just love the atmosphere of rodeo people so much—it’s different than any other sport I’ve been in. You’re competing against each other but you’re a team. I loved it there.”
Finishing 5th in the nation in the barrel racing was one of the greatest accomplishments of Grace’s rodeo career thus far, which she started when she was 5. She comes from a reined cow horse and roping background, but branched into barrel racing with the help of the Turner family. “Amy Turner and Cashen Turner have been the spark firing this whole deal with barrel racing. I can always go to them with a question about my run, and Cashen is like my older sister. Rosie Bradley used to own the horse I ran at Nationals. He’d had an injury the year before we got him, and she chose us to take care of him. She and CR Bradley and Cooper Bradley are amazing. My parents, Garth and Amanda Gardiner, of course are my biggest supporters and they have helped me throughout the whole process, and of course, God. I couldn’t have done that at Nationals without Him.”
Grace took two horses with her to Nationals, along with her best running boots for the ribbon roping with Mason Stueve. She ran Ranger in barrels, and Jay, whom she purchased from Jayme Flowers, in the pole bending. “I never really liked poles until I got him—he just feels like he’s flying every time I run him. I have a second barrel horse, Tag. He was owned by Micah Samples, and Tag helped me become the rider that I am.” Grace also rides her mare Angel in the breakaway roping, an event she’s coming to enjoy more since she recovered from a roping accident that injured her index finger. “My mom gave me my confidence back, and we’re coming to love it.”
Grace and her older brother Gage share a love of rodeo, and Gage qualified for the NHSFR in reined cow horse and cutting this year. He also enjoys musical theater and acting, and their older brother Greysen plays basketball and football. “My brothers have made me very strong throughout life, and very independent,” Grace says with a laugh. “I love playing basketball—it’s probably my favorite sport other than rodeo—and I like volleyball as well. I play at school, and I love singing—sometimes I sing at our Cowboy Church that we have at rodeos.”
Along with playing sports at Ashland Junior High School, where Grace is entering eighth grade, she loves her English class. “I love writing and reading, and I’ve been lucky to have an amazing teacher, Miss Vierthaler, who has helped me develop in my writing.” Grace checked off school goals her seventh grade year playing league volleyball and making the varsity basketball team. Her next set of rodeo goals revolve around qualifying for the NJHFR again. “I want to make it to Nationals in all my events, and become a better rider overall.”
