story by Ruth Nicolaus
The Barthel twins are more alike than they are different. Terrin and Tessa, who are members of the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association, both like to giggle, love animals, run cross country, and often say the same thing at the same time.
They also both compete in the pole bending and ribbon roping, with Terrin adding goat tying to her repertoire and Tessa running barrels.
For Terrin in the goats and poles, she rides a white horse named Fuzz, who is headstrong and stubborn, she reports. Fuzz does not like to stay clean; she rolls around in mud puddles, which makes Terrin “not very happy.” Fuzz is also self-conscious about her body image; she’s a bit plump but Terrin doesn’t dare say the word “fat” around her. She actually called the horse “fat” in front of her, and Fuzz “looked at me and looked away,” Terrin said. “She wasn’t very happy.”
For Tessa, in the barrels and poles, she rides a 17-year-old mare named Smarty. Smarty came ready to run barrels. Tessa had been using Fuzz in the poles but decided to try out Smarty. The duo has been working on fine tuning their pole bending. “I’ve been working on her all summer,” she said, “and she turned out great for me.” Smarty has her days where she’s grouchy, but also has days where she is sweet, too. But when it’s competition time, she’s ready to go. “In the arena, she means business so she gets tough,” Tessa said.
The fraternal twins are eighth grade students at Ainsworth Public School. Terrin loves shop class, especially the teacher, Mr. Pollock, because “he is really nice and has a lot of jokes to tell, and he always makes you smile.” Tessa’s favorite class is social studies. She loves to read and has read the Little House on the Prairie series at least three times. Both girls play basketball, run track, and do cross country. In fact, they were the first junior high kids from a Class D school to win all-state cross country last fall. They are both members of the Junior Auxiliary Club and are Sunday School helpers at the Ainsworth Evangelical Free Church.
Terrin loves her mom’s chicken and dumplings, where Tessa’s favorite her mom makes is baked chicken. For dessert, Terrin likes brownies straight out of the oven with vanilla ice cream on top, and Tessa prefers wacky cake with ice cream. Terrin loves to be with friends, at a ball game, the library, or anywhere they can hang out, and Tessa loves to be with her friends, or in the pasture with her horse and dog, Tazer, or wherever her sister is.
When Tessa grows up, she’d like to be a veterinarian or a teacher. Terrin isn’t sure what her future career will be.
Even though they are twins, they have their differences. For one, Terrin is a bit quieter, and Tessa is more sociable. Tessa has a rounder face and wears glasses, too, unlike her sister. Terrin’s room is cleaner than Tessa’s room, even though Tessa loves to organize things (like Terrin’s bookcase). And when it comes to laundry, Tessa doesn’t like to do hers, so she “borrows” Terrin’s clothes, which upsets her sister.
They live outside Ainsworth, Neb., and have a younger sister, Ava, who is seven years old. They are the daughters of Dustin and Tiffany Barthel.
