She’s nine years old and she rides a palomino so fast she could give the lady barrel racers a run for their money.
Ainslee Meise competes in the peewee rodeo barrel racing category and is ranked first on the BC Rodeo Association’s list of competitors.
Ainslee’s most recent competition took place June 17-19 at an event hosted by The Prince George Western Heritage Society at the exhibition grounds where she won her event with a time of 16.242 seconds.
“I mostly started just riding at first and mom was barrel racing,” Ainslee said about how she got started.
Her mom is Kim Meise and she was racing with Ainslee’s palomino, Speedle, but made the switch to another horse when it became apparent that Ainslee and Speedle were the perfect match.
“They take care of each other,” Kim said.
Kim said Ainslee’s been in the saddle since she could hold onto the horn and that was at a year old. Ainslee rode her first solo barrel race at three years old.
Speedle came into the family when he was five years old through Kim’s mom but it quickly became clear he was too much horse, Kim said.
“They just weren’t the right fit,” Kim said. “So I rode him for a year and fell in love with him and I knew he was meant to be ours so I bought him from my mom when Ainslee was six weeks old and he’s been with us ever since and he will be with us ’til the day he dies.”
Speedle is 16 years old now and Kim said he’s still in his prime as is proven with the success Ainslee and Speedle are enjoying during this competition season.
Ainslee has won about $2,000 as a result of her competitions so far this year and the money goes mostly to entry fees and vet bills, she said.
“Ainslee has a bank account and we put some of it in her own account and when she gets older she can decide what she wants to do with that,” Kim said. “Then she puts some back in the entry fee envelope because it costs money to enter and it costs money to take care of a horse really well. We take Speedle out to a vet in Alberta who is probably one of the top performance horse vets in western Canada and his name is Chad Hewlett.”
Ainslee rides Speedle five or six times a week to keep him fit. Pre and post ride care is also of the utmost importance, Kim said.
“Every animal at a rodeo is treated like an athlete - they eat better than I do most days,” Kim laughed.
So what’s next for Ainslee?
“I’m just going to keep rodeoing,” she said.
The next competitions are in Pritchard and Williams Lake.
“Ainslee is aiming for the BC Rodeo Association’s finals,” Kim said. That event is held in Barrier over the Labour Day weekend.
For Ainslee it’s not just about the competition.
“It’s mostly about getting to socialize with my friends, getting to watch other racers, and getting to spend time with my horse,” Ainslee said.
“They’re just a bunch of horse-crazy kids,” Kim laughed.
