It is almost like barrel racer Jordon Briggs was destined to come back to the Thomas and Mack in Las Vegas and win her very own Gold Buckle. She grew up traveling the rodeo road with her four time World Champion mother, Kristie Peterson before she started training horses for a living.
Briggs made the 2009 NFR in her early 20s and never had an intention of returning until a horse she raised named Rollo stole her heart, and got her back on the road. Over $300,000 later, she was the 2021 World Champion, all while still being a trainer, mom and wife.
“I didn’t start competing as early as kids do now because I was on the road with my mom and I just rode,” Briggs said. “Just bareback, rode anyone’s horse who would let me at the rodeos.”
Briggs went everywhere, it was just her parents and her in a Capri Camper for a long time because her mom was “the cheapest person in the world.”
“My mother will pinch a penny until it screams, we rodeoed the hard way for sure,” Briggs said.
Despite that, Briggs said her parents always found a National Park or something to provide their daughter with plenty of childhood memories from a life on the road.
She was 8 or 10-year-old when she started actually competing and she ran her first futurity when she was 12 at Old Fort Days in Arkansas.
“My mom never pushed me to (barrel race) ever, I think she knew that that’s just what I was going to do,” Briggs said. “(My parents) constantly reminded me to have fun and make friends and do stuff.”
“That was just my parents, my dad taught me to work hard and my mom taught me to enjoy life and be grateful for everything.”
Briggs finished 6th in the World in 2009 and after that, she headed home to successfully train futurity colts for over 10 years when Rollo came along.
“Every once in a while, there’s that special horse that comes into your life that you just have to go all the way with them and just see for yourself,” Briggs said.
Rollo was the horse that Briggs knew had the heart to take her back to the NFR and he did not only that, but he helped Briggs get her first World Title.
For Briggs’ mother, Bozo was that once in a lifetime horse. She bought him for $400 after talking the seller down from $500 and had him castrated by a neighbor. The horse from humble beginnings would take the Peterson family to a new level of rodeo and he would leave a lasting impact.
“They were just simple people and here comes Bozo. When my mom would start making more money at the futurities and derbies than she made all year being the Sheriff’s Deputy, she quit her job,” Briggs said. “So that’s what I’ve learned, is to just be so grateful that we get to do this for a living.”
“Bozo, he would run barrels by himself he loved it so much and he had so much grit and loved his job and they were just an amazing team. And so, to grow up where a horse makes a living for your whole family is just really special.”