story by Lily Weinacht
Helen Jurjens grew up the daughter of a bull rider, but when she wasn’t watching the chutes, waiting for her dad to make the buzzer, Helen kept her eyes on the barrel racers. “I was mainly self-taught – I’d tag along with my dad, or my grandmother would take me to the rodeo,” says the 44-year-old barrel racer. “I would watch how the barrel racers held their hands, or how they set their horses.” By the time she was ten, Helen began entering shodeos and local rodeos, hauling with friends until she was old enough to drive.
Born and raised in Oklahoma, Helen moved to Eustis, Neb., in 2014 after marrying Ryan Jurjens, and joined the NSRA the next year. Presently, Ryan doesn’t rodeo, but he travels with Helen, always on hand to help saddle and cool out horses. “I love it!” Helen says of the NSRA. “The people are really friendly, and they have a lot of good rodeos close to me. The ground is a bit different, but the horses are loving it. We’re used to 116 degree heat with humidity, so I really enjoy the summers here! Rodeo people are my family,” she adds, “and there’s a lot of inspiration and heart for the sport there. And it’s good therapy – you can have your own support group! One of those people is Vickie Eaton of Hodgen, Oklahoma. She’s like a second mom to me. You can be on your worst game, and she will build you up and give you so much strength and courage to believe in yourself that you feel you can conquer the world!”
Helen has had several hurdles to conquer in the last few years. In 2008, she was cleaning out her horse stalls with her tractor when the stabilizer bar came loose and hit her in the head, breaking the bones on the right side of her face. “That happened in April and I was back running in June after reconstructive surgery, but I wore a bull riding mask for the next year when I ran.” Most recently, Helen finished the 2015 season with a broken hand after her horse, Percy, took off for the first barrel at Broken Bow with such force that it jerked Helen’s right hand into the saddle, breaking the bones in it. “We finished the run and won some money, but then I was 12 weeks in a cast and splint and it knocked me out of the BBR standings. But I keep getting back on, because if you become afraid to do something, you just quit living.”
The outdoors are Helen’s life, including working with Ryan on their ranch, running 200 head of cow/calf pairs. She barrel races on her two main horses, Apollos First Fit (Apollo), and TT Scat Sass (Percy). She bought Apollo as a three year old off the racetrack and trained him for barrels, competing in futurities on him in 2014 and taking him on the rodeo circuit in 2015. Percy came from her friend Vickie Eaton, and her backup horse, Precious Golden Gadi (Sweets), Helen raised from a four week old orphan. Her colt, Bet Your Sweet Smash (Jaggar), is out of Sweets, and Helen plans to futurity him next year. She additionally trained the horse that helped her daughter, BreAnn Sprabery, win the NBHA Drysdales Super Show 4D Youth National Championship in 2008. Her other daughter, Josey Sprabery, enjoyed halter showing, while her son, Cody Sprabery, was interested in mutton busting. All three now attend college and live in Oklahoma, along with Helen’s new grandson, Cooper Pryor.
Helen is continuing the rodeo tradition with her granddaughter, Shelby Sprabery (seven), who lives with Helen and Ryan. “She’s been hauling to jackpots and rodeos with me since she was born, and she’s started entering jackpots,” says Helen. She and Ryan are building a new house and arena on their ranch, and Helen is hoping to expand her horse herd. “I also want to get back in the BBR standings,” she finishes, “and my goal this year is to make the NSRA finals.”
