Fired Up for Florida — Conrado, Pluemer Excited About Upcoming RNCFR

By Neal Reid

Kissimmee, Florida — For more than two dozen barrel racers, this year’s RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo is a great chance to make some waves and grab a heap of cash in the process.

The four-day event – set for March 21-24 at Osceola Heritage Park in Kissimmee, Fla. – will award more than $1 million in cash and prizes in the seven rodeo events and is a top-notch opportunity for some of the sport’s top talent to earn five-figure pay days. With so much on the line, that puts the RNCFR up there with the biggest winter rodeos, from Denver and Fort Worth, Texas, to San Antonio and Houston.

Couple that potential windfall with the chance to win a circuit national championship, and 26 excited barrel racers will be raring to go when the barrels are set and the clock is primed in the arena.

“As far as winter rodeoing goes, you count on the rodeos that have a lot of money, and the RNCFR has a lot of money, so your goal is to do well,” said 2016 RNCFR champion Ivy Conrado, who will represent the Mountain States Circuit once again. “You’re not necessarily going in to win a rodeo, because I don’t think that’s how you approach any of these big winter rodeos. If you’re going to win it, it’s just part of the plan and it just happens.”

That’s exactly what occurred for Conrado in 2016 on a mare named CFour Tibbie Stinson “Tibbie,” and she feels confident her current top mount – 10-year-old palomino mare KN Fabs Gift of Fame “JLo” – will thrive in Florida. She’s not going to put too much pressure on herself or JLo, though.

“The RNCFR is a great setup for JLo,” said Conrado, who has qualified for the last three Wrangler National Finals Rodeos. “I’m going to just see how it goes and ride her how I know how. If it’s to be our thing (to win), it will be, and if it’s not, it’s not.

“If you try to push it and try to make it all about winning, that’s when you make big mistakes. You want to treat it like it’s just another rodeo, but then again, when you’re at those big winter rodeos with lots of added money, it’s all about executing your opportunities.”

The arena’s deep ground could play a factor in the barrel racing outcome, Conrado says.

“They’re going to be running so many on the ground, and we don’t know if they’re going to be running 14 (or more), and it’s so deep there,” said Conrado, a Hudson, Colo., native. “You really don’t know how it can play out, and that ground really can decide who can win it and who can’t, as far as how you draw. But there are a lot of rodeos like that.

“Thankfully, JLo kind of stands up (through the ground), so we can go for it whenever we need to.”

JLo and Conrado are off to a great start in 2019, sitting second in the WPRA World Standings with more than $28,000 in earnings through mid-February. The 24-year-old cowgirl hopes to keep things going at the RNCFR and finish her winter rodeo schedule with a flurry.

“JLo feels great, and she did well at the circuit finals and the All-American Finals, so I’ve got a little cushion,” Conrado said. “We’re just getting back in the groove of things after Vegas. Hopefully, we can get it done (at the RNCFR), take a good break and enjoy it.”

This marks the last year money from the RNCFR will count as official money for the world standings, and while Conrado agrees that aspect gives the event added importance in 2019, she doesn’t think it will affect her desire to qualify for it in future years.

“It counting (for the world standings) plays a role, but at the same time, that’s a lot of money and can pay entry fees and fuel for a lot of rodeos regardless,” Conrado said. “It’s a great rodeo, and you want to go to it anyway. That’s a lot of money to run at.”

Conrado is one of three former RNCFR champions who will run down the alley in Kissimmee this year – 2007 winner Shali Lord and 2015 champ Carmel Wright are the others – and the field includes reigning WPRA World Champion Hailey Kinsel and 2017 World Champion Nellie Miller. The loaded entry list includes a total eight Wrangler NFR qualifiers, and Conrado says the RNCFR is yet another example of the depth of talent currently permeating the sport.

“The competition is constantly getting tougher, and anywhere you go, you’re running against people’s first-string horse,” she said. “You can’t go anywhere anymore and not run the best in that area, the best in six states or the best in the world. Barrel racing is getting so tough, and the times are getting so tight.

“It’s fun to compete against the best and try to fix minor things and do different things. It’s a fun time to be barrel racing, but it’s a hard time to win a lot of money, that’s for sure.”

For Turquoise Circuit average winner Leia Pluemer, this year’s RNCFR represents a new challenge for the first-time qualifier. Luckily, she has had circuit buddy Lori Todd as a good source of information.

“It’s very exciting to qualify for it,” Pluemer said of the national circuit finals. “Lori is an awesome gal, and it’s pretty cool to be able to go there with her. She went last year, so I’ve been asking her a lot of questions about where to park, the stalls and the arena, and she’s been able to help me figure it out.”

Pluemer, from Las Lunas, N.M., will be aboard her 9-year-old sorrel mare Famous French Bug “Sister,” and is confident the talented horse will give her a chance to contend in each round.

“She likes the deep ground,” said Pluemer, who also will haul her backup horse, Shooter, to Florida just in case. “Knock on wood, but she doesn’t really struggle with any kind of ground and pretty much handles everything well.”

Perhaps the most daunting aspect of qualifying for her first RNCFR is the nearly 30-hour cross-country trek Pluemer will need to make with her horses in tow. Ever the optimistic rodeo competitor, Pluemer is looking at the trip as a potentially fun excursion.

“From New Mexico, it’s a 27-hour drive, but driving’s always fun and we’re used to being on the road,” said Pluemer, the 2018 WPRA reserve rookie of the year. “We’ll probably hit a couple other rodeos going there and on the way back.”

Making solid, fluid runs are the main goals for the RNCFR rookie, and luckily she says, her horse is a model of consistency.

“Sister is very consistent, and she’s not a barrel-hitter,” said Pluemer, who was 14th in the world standings with $12,498 through Feb. 11. “If we hit a barrel, it’s usually my fault, and it doesn’t happen very often. I’m just going to go in there and keep her feeling good and running good, and she’ll do her thing.

“I’m usually just along for the ride, and she does all the work.”

This year’s RNCFR will be held in conjunction with Country Thunder Florida, a country music festival that boasts headliners like Toby Keith, Luke Bryan, Tracy Lawrence, Luke Combs and Granger Smith, just to name a few. So, regardless of how things go during the rodeo for the national circuit finals qualifiers, they can rest assured they’ll have the chance to have fun at the concerts.

“I’m sure we’ll go to (the concerts), and it sounds like lots of fun,” Pluemer said. “After the rodeos, I usually just go to bed because I’m not much for going out. Going to a concert like that is always better than going to bed early, I guess.”

Courtesy of WPRA