A PROMISE IS A PROMISE Fortier Finishes Atop Leaderboard, Wins Pendleton Breakaway Roping Title By Joe Kusek S he wasn’t going to go. But a promise is a promise. And that kept promise became the biggest payday in Jacey Fortier’s professional roping career.
Fortier, of Billings, Montana, threw two loops in 6.0 seconds to win the breakaway roping at The Pendleton Round-Up, Sept. 14-17. She was 3.3 seconds in the long round and won the Finals and title with a throw of 2.7 seconds. Fortier and her horse survived almost a near fall in the first round and some anxious moments during the week to pocket $8,515 in the grass at the famed Pendleton Round-Up Arena. “It’s pretty sweet,” said Fortier of the victory. “I never dreamed we would be breakaway roping at this level. I remember dreaming about roping at something like this and now it’s a reality.” A week before, Fortier was in no mood to make the 12-hour drive from her home to Pendleton, Oregon, one of the last big rodeos of the 2022 season. She had struggled after the Fourth of July, backing off an ambitious schedule to focus on Montana ProRodeo Circuit events. “I was doing so bad,” recalled Fortier. “After the Fourth, I couldn’t get anything rolling again. I thought if I started winning again, I would go back out again.” Flagging at a roping event before Labor Day, she crossed paths with team roper Travis Tryan, an 11-time qualifier for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. Fortier showed Tryan some videos of her breakaway roping runs. “You’re swing is messed up,” he told her. The two worked on being tighter with her swing. “My loop was huge. I was hitting posts and panels. I was dropping my arm to the side and not getting any power,” said Fortier. “Travis has helped me so much with my roping and so has his father Dennis (an NFR qualifier).”
Fortier won at Killdeer, North Dakota but “Drew a good calf and chucked it into the dirt,” she said about her performance at White Sulphur Springs, Montana. Pendleton was off her schedule. Besides, she went last year with no success. However, Montana team roper Caden Camp had asked Fortier to haul his horse to Pendleton. “I’d better go if I told Caden I would haul his horse out there,” she said. Fortier, eighth out in slack, came close to a wreck. “The calf I drew took a step to the left and turned back right,” said Fortier. “Then, he turned left and kept going left. My horse almost went down trying to get me to that calf. I was kind of scrambling. My horse took care of me. Then when we caught him my horse almost went over backward.” Fortier was aboard Teddy, a horse her mother Joy Benson purchased off the Blackfeet Indian Reservation in northwest Montana. Benson trained Teddy for barrel racing, along with using him for team roping and ranch work. Not much is known about Teddy’s lineage. Benson turned the reins over to her daughter in 2018. “He worked phenomenal,” said Fortier, who also works for the Northern Rodeo Association and clerks horse sales when not roping. “No matter what, he always gives 100 percent. He gives me everything he has. He does everything he can to make it work for me. Pendleton showed that.” Fortier headed back home and could only wait as the rodeo progressed. “No way was I going to make it back for the short round,” she thought. “If I do, I’ll turn around and head back. We do it all the time.” Just in case, Fortier had the trailer hooked up and her clothes packed. “I kept wondering, ‘Do I take off or not?’ ” she said. “I didn’t want to jinx myself. Friday rolls around and I told my mom, ‘If I’m going, so are you and you’re driving.’ Mom had never been to Pendleton before.” continued on page 23 Jacey Fortier of Billings, Montana, had the biggest payday in her professional roping career at the famous Pendleton Round-Up winning the title with a 3.3 second run and a 2.7-second run worth a total of $8,515. Photo by Rod Connor
Jacey Fortier knew if she went out and roped clean in the Finals at Pendleton that she had a chance to walk away the champion. That is exactly what the Montana cowgirl did winning the average in a total time of 6.0 seconds on two head. Photo by Roseanna Sales
OCTOBER 2022 WPRA NEWS 15
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