CIRCUIT FINALS: BADLANDS BARRELS DOMINANT COMPETITOR Jessica Routier Rides Fiery Miss West to Seventh Badlands Circuit Title, Cross $1M Career Mark at Wrangler NFR By Tim Gentry W hat a year 2023 has been for Jessica Routier and Fiery Miss West.. The soft-spoken, Wall, SD., cowgirl and the horse she calls “Missy” finished another dream season with their sixth-straight trip to the Wrangler NFR. While there, Missy passed the $1M mark in EquiStat lifetime earnings, placing in six go-rounds and the average.
Of course, her qualification to the 2023 NFR Open, that she won, came courtesy of her 2022 Badlands Circuit Championship, and as the 2023 Circuit Champion she’ll be going again in 2024 to defend that title and secure another NFR qualification. In fact, every year Routier and Missy have made the NFR, earnings from National Circuit Finals events like the NFR Open helped make their Vegas trips possible. Starting with their Championship in 2017, Routier and Missy have taken either the year-end or reserve championship in the Badlands Circuit to qualify for what was the Ram National Circuit Finals Rodeo and is now the NFR Open. That led to their first NFR trip in 2018 and a WPRA Reserve World Championship. The NFR wasn’t even on their radar at first, but the PRCA/WPRA Circuit System opened doors for them to compete at the highest level, just as it was intended to do. “I feel like from day one of Missy and my rodeo journey together, it’s been the circuit system that has propelled us to the NFR,” explained
In 2023, Jessica Routier won the NFR Open and used that win to catapult her to sixth consecutive NFR qualification. Photo by Fernando Sam-Sin
Fiery Miss West, owned by Gary Westergren and ridden by Jessica Routier, picked up more titles in 2023. Not only did Missy carry Routier to the winner’s circle at the NFR Open but also at the Badlands Circuit Finals where they won the year-end title to qualify
NE. What started as a business arrangement has turned into so much more over the years. Westergren is just as much a part of the Routier family as their horses. “He just loves watching his horses run barrels. It doesn’t really matter what level it’s on,” explained Routier of Westergren. “Of course, a level like [the NFR] is exciting for anyone. He’s excited to go back every year. He’s become a part of our family and we’re very grateful to have him in our lives.” Routier admits Missy is getting on in years and was one of the oldest horses in the 2023 NFR stables, but she remains optimistic about their future together. Missy is completely sound right now and managed the 10-run marathon in Vegas without issue. Her running style is very collected, and she stays underneath herself in a way that keeps little slips from turning into big sprains. “You don’t see a lot of horses get there six years in a row when they’re the only horse that’s doing all the work,” said Routier of Missy’s current NFR streak. “It’s pretty unimaginable. Missy hit her million dollar mark (in equistat lifetime earnings) this year at the NFR so that was something that sets her apart. Every day, I can’t even
Routier. “I’m very grateful for that because I don’t like to leave home if I don’t have to. We still have to go south in the winter, and we have to venture out a fair bit, but I still get to go to all my favorite rodeos that are close to home.” Those rodeos close to home also include events for her kids, including a daughter who does breakaway roping in high school. Her life revolves around her horses and her family. The circuit system lets her choose both, not one or the other. Although Missy has spent her entire professional rodeo career under Routier, she belongs to Gary Westergren, a retired civil engineer turned horse breeder and owner of Westergren Quarter Horses, in Lincoln, them back to defend their title in 2024 at the NFR Open. And the cherry on top was when Missy was voted by Routier’s peers as the Horse with the Most Heart during the NFR. WPRA photo by Kenneth Springer
believe this has all happened to us. Her game plan for 2024 is simple:
“We have the same plan we’ve had before. Even the first year, I said, ‘Well, we’ll try it, see what happens, and if my horse gets tired or doesn’t want to do it anymore, I’ll be done.’”
40 WPRA NEWS FEBRUARY 2024
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