All in the Family
California barrel racing horse wins AQHA Barrel Horse of the Year award
Sam Williams and his daughter Nellie Williams Miller pose with Rafter W Minnie Reba (“Sister”), the horse Sam raised, who has won the 2017 AQHA’s Barrel Horse of the Year award. Photo by Julie Baish-Sproul.
Cottonwood, Calif. (October 30, 2017) – They’re keeping it in the family in the Williams and Miller households.
Nellie Williams Miller, born and raised in Cottonwood, Calif., is headed to her second Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (WNFR) qualification, aboard a horse bred, raised, broke, and trained by her dad, Sam Williams.
And that horse, Rafter W Minnie Reba (Sister), has just won the 2017 AQHA Barrel Horse of the Year honors.
Sister, a nine-year-old blue roan, has won the award, after carrying her rider, Miller, to her second WNFR qualification this December.
It’s unusual for a barrel racer making the WNFR to be riding a horse that was not only trained by a family member, but also bred and raised by that person.
Sister is the daughter of a horse given to Williams by his friends, Joe and Cathy Murray. Nellie rode that horse, Reba, for high school and college rodeos, not only for the barrels but for breakaway, and her brother team roped on Reba.
When Sam bred Reba the first time, he got Blue Duck, who was Nellie’s mount for her first WNFR in 2010. That year, she finished the rodeo season eleventh in the world.
Two years prior, Reba had another foal, this time a mare, named Sister. Sister is a half-sister to Blue Duck, and after Sam broke her and trained her, she became Nellie’s horse.
It’s also unusual for a barrel racer in the top fifteen in the world to have only one horse going up and down the road; most cowgirls have two, three, or even four of them, but Nellie has made it work with one. She’s ridden Blue Duck at a few rodeos, but Sister has carried the majority of the work load: out of the 47 rodeos Nellie has counted as her official rodeo count, Sister has been her mount at 42 of them.
Sister is very, very good at her job, Nellie said. “She’s just a really confident horse. She knows exactly what she’s supposed to do. She’s very consistent and does her job every time, which makes my job easier, because I know I can trust her to do that.”
Barrel racer Nellie Williams Miller rides the horse her dad, Sam Williams, raised and trained, at pro rodeos across the nation. The horse, whose barn name is Sister, has carried Nellie to third place in Pro Rodeo’s world standings and has won the AQHA’s 2017 Horse of the Year award. Photo by Matt Cohen.
Different rodeo arenas have different set-ups and barrel patterns, but they don’t distract Sister from her job. “She got a test this year,” Nellie said, “going to a bunch of different arenas. But she handled all of them really well. It doesn’t seem to faze her. She’s pretty consistent.”
Keeping a horse healthy throughout the grueling rodeo season can be difficult, but Nellie and Sister’s veterinarian have worked hard to keep her healthy. Sister has had a couple of “little issues, but nothing that set us back. “I tried to give her breaks, as much as I could, being the only horse I was really hauling. I gave her time off, as much as possible. I think that helped stave off a lot of issues, too.”
Sister’s personality is good. “She’s really nice to be around,” Nellie said. Her only quirk is she doesn’t like to be without other horses. So long as she can see other horses, she’s ok. “She’ll throw a fit if she’s absolutely the only horse there. But normally, there are other horses around that she can see,” Nellie said.
Not only did Nellie qualify for two WNFRS on horses that are half-siblings, but she and her dad share a special tie. Her dad, a former team roper, won the Salinas (Calif.) rodeo in 1980, and the St. Paul (Ore.) rodeo in 1977. His daughter did the same thing, winning Salinas last year and St. Paul this year.
In fact, Nellie had a fabulous year, winning not only Salinas and St. Paul, but Reno, Nev., Ellensburg, Wash., reserve champion at the Calgary Stampede and reserve champion at the RAM National Circuit Finals Rodeo in Kissimmee, Fla., and placing at San Antonio and Houston. Out of her 47 rodeos that were officially counted for the WNFR, she won $130,536, which averages to wins of $2,777 per rodeo.
The fact that Nellie was able to win so much at so few rodeos is a feat in itself. The number one and two cowgirls in the world standings have gone to nearly 100 rodeos, compared to Nellie’s 47. Less travel has meant less wear and tear on Nellie and Sister, and more time at home.
Nellie and her husband James have two daughters, ages five and two; the girls often traveled with their mom this summer, as did James, until the elder started kindergarten this fall.
The whole family will be in Las Vegas in December for the WNFR, as will Nellie’s parents, Sam and Roxy. And Sister will be there, too, doing what she does best: running barrels.
Finishing second in the AQHA’s Barrel Horse of the Year Awards is MCM Imsasharpguy (“Sharpie”), owned by Matt and Bendi Dunn and ridden by Stevi Hillman, and third place went to Show Mance, owned and ridden by Tiany Shuster. Nellie’s horse Sister is by KS Cash N Fame and out of Espuela Roan by Blue Light Ike.