Jolee could you tell us about your road to your very first NFR?
That first year was such an experience. Mom and I had traveled quite a bit in previous years, she finished in the top twenty-five in 2000 so that knowledge, having entered the bigger rodeos and had tough Fourth of July trips and so on, was helpful.
I started the year with high expectations, as so many do, because I knew my horse had the talent to get there. I placed at Denver and Odessa and felt I was on my way. Then, we totaled our truck and trailer on the way to San Antonio. That really put a hiccup in the deal. I was so thankful to have all of us survive with relatively few issues coming back, like soreness with the horses. But it slowed the momentum quite a bit. The winter was not that good but Belle had a solid spring and when we won second at Reno in June, then backed it up with about a $9K Fourth of July, I truly felt I would make it. The rest of the year was fun but hauling that hard really is exhausting. When I won third at Pendleton, that pretty much cinched my qualification. With the Tour points I won there, I qualified to the Finale in Dallas so it was in my hands either way.
I was sitting very close to win the Dodge truck, back when there was a bonus program and the winner got the use of a truck for a year, so I entered and ran at about fifteen rodeos in the last month that I otherwise would not have entered. In hindsight, I wished I hadn’t done that, I put a lot of extra runs and miles on me and my horse and we ended up third for the truck. But I did learn from it, so I am glad to have done that to know, I didn’t want to again. We ended up competing in 80+ rodeos – I would never do that again, it is too costly financially and in the wear-and-tear on your horse, your vehicle, and yourself. All in all, I enjoyed the year and was so thankful to make the NFR, what a treat. I made mistakes along the way but I wouldn’t trade any of it.
Jolee I noticed you have qualified for the WPRA Finals in many events. Does your mindset change from event to event?
I don’t think the mindset changes by event but more by situation. For me, roping is roping, whether breakaway or team roping. For me, I work to be aggressive and to do the right things to give myself the opportunity to win. That holds true for roping or running barrels. But, when you are competing at the Finals, there is an average. So, in the early rounds, you try to take good solid shots in the roping, keep yourself in the average. If things go wrong, then you are going for go round money. You have to take more chances then, in order to have the chance to win. That would be the only change in mindset for me. When I go from one event to the next, I just try to visualize what I need to do to have a successful run.
Jolee of all of your rodeo wins, and there have been SO MANY, which wins do you hold closest to your heart and why?
I have been truly blessed in my career with memorable wins. Probably one of my favorites was helping my mom win the WPRA heeling world title in 2007. We didn’t win the Finals, or even have as good a rodeo as we had hoped. But, we did enough to seal the championship for her. I was and am so proud to have had a hand in that.
In 2003 I won the Necessity Challenge of Champions, held with the American West 4D Finals in Reno. That was awesome for a number of reasons – one, it was worth $10K for one run. Second, Necessity was one of my sponsors so the guys that were there from the company were every bit as excited as me! Finally, it was the first time I had run a sub-seventeen second run on a standard pattern, we were 16.94. It was such an amazing feeling, just one of the best feeling runs I have made. If you could believe it, it didn’t even feel that fast, just so smooth and she never lost momentum anywhere.
I won the Brawley, California Cattle Call Rodeo in my rookie year. That was the first rodeo I ever won so it is special to me. I was riding Mom’s horse Stroke. Back then, if you did good at Brawley, you could qualify to Houston so everyone was there – world champions and NFR qualifiers. It was so exciting for me. I also won the Turquoise CFR my rookie season on Stroke. That was awesome to win the CF in my first qualification there.
Of course, winning the two go rounds at the NFR is dear to me. Not only because it’s the biggest stage in pro rodeo but more importantly, all my family was there, which didn’t happen at most of the other wins I had.
In 2003 I made the Tour Finale in Omaha. During the semi-final round, Belle won the go and set an arena record which was never broken. (They changed the pattern size in 2005). Though that wasn’t the championship, I am still proud of that run – it was one of the very best Belle and I ever made. To outrun that caliber of horses by two tenths on a short pattern was so phenomenal. It was just fun.
My two favorite regular season rodeo wins are Salinas, California and Pendleton, Oregon. Both have somewhat unusual set ups and one is huge (Pendleton) and the other short (Salinas). It makes me proud that Belle could excel in both circumstances.
To learn more abour Jolee Lautaret, be sure and check out her website www.gojolee.com
**OTRR will have more from Jolee throughout the NFR! Be sure and check back to find out more about this competitor! You dont want to miss this interview!**
