A Shuswap rider and her horse are on a barrel roll in this year's rodeo circuit.
Celista barrel racer Pamela Morrison and her 8-year-old mare Dyna have been tearing up riding arenas on a winning streak, winning over $15,000 in the last two weeks.
Despite getting a late start this season, she quickly galloped to the top, with a time of 17.510 for a first-place tie at the Strathmore Stampede at the start of August. Morrison followed that up with wins at La Crete's Field of Dreams rodeo and the Dawson Creek. Exhibition and Stampede, and a second-place finish at the Guy Weadick Rodeo in High River.
Those solid performances took Morrison from 25th in the standings to "what will likely be a top 10 spot with the next appearance" on the season leaderboard, the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association (CPRA) said in a media release.
Though her times and winnings prove her achievements, Morrison still finds it somewhat surreal.
"Wow, it's like nobody pinch me, what's going on here, it's just so cool," the 2024 Canadian Finals Rodeo (CFR) qualifier said of her most recent success. "I got a late start to the season because I was dealing with a shoulder injury and even into June it didn't seem like Dyna's endurance and fitness level were where they needed to be. But now her fitness is so much better and she just seems so confident this last while."
While Morrison's recent winning streak is of "historic proportions," it's just one leg in her remarkable journey as a cowgirl and marks a comeback. After a serious snowmobile accident resulted in severe head and neck injuries over 10 years ago, she was forced to step back from her active horse training and rodeo career. In the aftermath of the crash, Morrison displayed extraordinary courage, resiliency and positivity throughout her ongoing recovery.
The physical and mental challenges she's endured at time has made rodeo accomplishments over the last two years even more meaningful.
"Looking back on my progression over that time, I think, how did it take me so long, but it took the right team of doctors and motivational people and having no horses in my life to make me realize that this was my passion," Morrison said. There were some doctors and other people who were trying to get me to redirect my life into things that were less stressful and less physical, but I knew this is who I am."
When she first started working with Dyna, the horse proved to be a handful, which turned out to be somewhat of a good thing as she needed groundwork and Morrison wasn't back riding yet. The two then moved on to some ranch riding, barrel racing and finally rodeos, with last year's CFR qualifications Morrison's first season back competing and Dyna's second.
"While that first CFR didn't go as well as Pamela might have liked, you get the feeling that 2025 could see a very different outcome," the CPRA release reads. "It seems like a fairly minor challenge compared to what Pamela Morrison and Dyna have had to endure to get this far."
