Page 69 - BSR 2022

Other than horses, hiking and traveling to remote areas, Jolene loves to garden and calls herself a big nature dork. She and Kerby also go elk hunting in the south San Juan Mountains of southern Colorado every year. “It’s about three- quarters hiking, which is why I like it,” she says.
HER MOTIVATION
Both Haylee and Kerby credit Jolene’s success to her huge work ethic, her upbeat attitude,
and her love for horses in general. “She’s a good sportsman; she’s good to haul with and be around even when we’re both losing,” Haylee says. “I don’t ever have to worry about going back to the stalls when I’m hauling with her.”
“I tell her she’s the Michael Jordan of barrel racing,” adds Kerby. “You might beat her but
Famous Sierra,
who currently stands at Highpoint Performance Horses
you’re not going to outwork her and in the very end of the game, that person will ultimately win. And she never makes any excuses, not one. When things aren’t going her way, she’ll just grit up and hammer down more.”
“You just have to be willing to put more into it than everybody else and always keep your eyes open,” Jolene says. “You have to sacrifice your Friday and Saturday nights and your vacations. You miss a lot of time with friends and family and a lot of creature comforts. You have to love the job and study everything you can.”
Haylee adds, “Jolene also literally doesn’t care what other people think. She doesn’t let anything bother her. She just works hard and that’s the way she wins.”
Although she doesn’t let other people’s opinions and attitudes affect her negatively, she does care about people. “She’s really genuine,” Kerby says. “On the surface, people might see her as pretty hard-nosed, but I can’t even put into words how big her heart is for her family, friends and horses. She genuinely loves to help people. Anybody could go up to her at a barrel race and she’d answer their questions the best she can.”
Perhaps her love for helping is why Jolene derives her greatest fulfillment from training the 2 and 3 year olds. “I love the big competitions,” she says, “but also I just really enjoy the process of bringing them along. It’s really exciting when you get a young horse that has an ungodly amount of talent and ability to learn. It’s so fulfilling when you get them to the point that they can cruise through there and they crave it, and you barely have to help them. It’s so much fun, so exciting to see, so humbling, and it gives you so much respect for the horse.
“And winning is always a top priority; I’m pretty darn competitive so the next big competition keeps me going throughout the week, and also the new breeders’ futurities and opportunities are always things to look forward to,” she says.
Because of her tremendous talent, optimism, sportsmanship, work ethic, love for the industry and laser focus, the barrel futurity world has much to look forward to with Jolene Montgomery.
“You just have to be willing to put more into it than everybody else and always keep your eyes open.” – Jolene Montgomery
SPEEDHORSE 67
Jolene and Kerby’s new adventures include summiting 14,157-foot Mount Sneffels in the Rocky Mountains near Ouray, Colorado.