Ten-year-old Rocky View resident Mercedes Wollman was born to ride.
After only taking up horse riding about three years ago, Wollman has been setting the junior barrel racing world on fire with her fearless horsemanship, recently winning two Calgary Stampede 4H Rodeo buckles in her age category.
Astonishingly, Wollman actually won her very first buckle in the same Calgary 4H Rodeo event the year before– after having only been in the saddle for a year.
“We knew from a young age that Mercedes had a real love for horses, and so we found a friend of ours that started teaching her to ride,” explained Jodi Wollman, Mercedes’ mom. “And from there, she just kind of had it from a young age so we started getting a little more competitive with it.”
Wollman now practices four or five days a week with her coach Megan Cooper, and is generally on the road with her family every weekend competing in either a junior barrel racing or pole bending competition somewhere.
Wollman is currently ranked in the top two in her division in the Alberta High School Rodeo Association standings.
“She has got the drive and the passion to do it, and we are going to try to do our best to help her get to where she needs to be,” said Jodi.
“I try to do my best every time,” confirmed Wollman. “I love the adrenaline. There’s a lot of good competition, and that pushes you to be better.”
Wollman’s accomplishments are even more amazing considering, as her mom Jodi confesses, “We don’t come from a horse family.”
Among her recent accolades, Wollman won the barrel racing competition during “Bash It Up” in Carstairs on Sept. 26. She was set to compete in the Rimbey Junior High School Rodeo on Sept. 29, and will be competing at the D2 Stettler Thanksgiving JH Rodeo this coming weekend.
Wollman said she hoped to ride her dream all the way to the top of the Calgary Stampede Rodeo and the National Final Rodeo standings one day.
