Two cowgirls proved cowboys have nothing on them. 

Ladies barrel racer, Jordyn Tresidder and Junior steer rider, Bailey Schellenberg (14) competed in the Cowboy Classic Finals Rodeo hosted by the Foothills Cowboy Association (FCA) over the October 12th weekend at Westerner Park in Red Deer. Both riders had an outstanding season and share making it into the finals was the icing on the cake.

Having to rank as one of the top six riders in order to compete in the finals for steer riding, Schellenberg was the only girl to compete out of the six riders. Ranking as the second best rider throughout the season, Schellenberg had a bit of a rougher ride at finals. "The first day the cow threw me some pretty dirty moves so I didn't make the time but then Saturday I got second in the first rodeo and fourth in the evening rodeo and then Sunday didn't go quite as planned, the cow was really strong and just beat me."

While Schellenberg had a tough go, Tressider had great results for her first time competing at finals in barrel racing. "I had a really great weekend and this was my first weekend at the rodeo finals so it was pretty exciting. The first night I hit a little bit of a barrel but it was both of our first times in that pen, so we kind of learned what we needed to do. And then we ended up winning two of the four rounds, we placed in three of them, and we also got the fastest time of the weekend. So it was an amazing way to end our season."

While Tressider has been riding for a long time and says she was practically born on a horse, young Bailey Schellenberg is fairly new to the world of riding and rodeo competing with only just over a year worth of experience. Although competing might be new, she is certainly not new to hanging out ringside. Her dad Phil Schellenberg is a well-known and respected pickup man. "My dad is a pickup man and he made it to the finals as well, so I 've been going to rodeos since before I can remember and I got the bug I guess."

Tressider started off in the English world competitively quite young before she transferred into the world of rodeoing in high school. "I haven't really ever looked back and I guess I have been doing that for the last ten years now." Competing in both the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association and FCA, she says only the top ten ladies in FCA make it into the finals. "The last couple of years my horse wasn't just quite ready to do a full season so this was our first season in finals and he handled it so well. I couldn't have really asked for a much better season and we were able and lucky enough to make it into the top ten."

Jordyn Tressider shows off her cornering ability.

While Tressider will hang up the reigns until next season, Schellenberg has a couple more junior rodeos to go like this weekend's opening of the Mountain View Junior Rodeo Series in the Bearspaw Arena. 

With the season over until May for Tressider, she is already looking forward to seeing what 2019 will bring. "I would love to say that I would love to make it back to finals again, but it's a tough one to hit because you and your horse have to be on and having a great season. But I would love to go back to finals again and maybe try to pull a couple cheques in the Canadian Pro Rodeo Association as well."

Schellenberg says while some of the older guy's competing in steer riding will make their way into the world of junior bull riding, she will remain steer riding until she moves on to, perhaps, team roping. Although, that may depend on some future conversations. "I would really like to do novice horses, like bronc riding, but I don't know if my parents will let me." Schellenberg managed to win close to $3000 this past season and young Bailey may certainly want to be someone to keep our eye on."