One last ride for Mirabal

It was a rocky start four years ago for Magdalena’s Jorianne Mirabal and her mare, BB.

“When I first got on her, I didn’t really have any interest in her,” she said. “And then when I made my first run, I hit two poles.”

It was a cause for concern and her dad, Jory Mirabal asked what she thought.

“I told him, ‘I love her so much,’ I knew I could make it work,” she recalled. “She hasn’t been all that easy to ride. It was kind of a mess. But it definitely got better from there. I knew we had potential together. It took awhile, a lot of practice to work.”

But oh boy, did it work.

Mirabal recently earned her fourth consecutive berth in pole bending in the upcoming National High School Finals Rodeo. The 77th annual event runs from July 13-19 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, drawing the top high school athletes not only from across the U.S., but Canada and Mexico and as far as away as Australia and New Zealand. She is the only local competitor on the New Mexico contingent.

“We’ve kind of locked it in now,” Mirabal said. “We’re just partners now. A good match for each other and we’re both used to each other and we found our groove.”

It was the summer before her freshman year when Mirabal and BB first teamed up and the mare, now 16, was pretty much set in her ways.

“I’ve just kind of gotten in a rhythm with her,” she said. “We get along really well so that makes it easier to have control. With BB, I’m glad I got her the way she was. It made it easier to have that consistency all four years.”

For Mirabal, this will be her last competitive rodeo before starting college at New Mexico State.

“Unfortunately college rodeo doesn’t have pole bending,” she said. “It makes me really sad to think about so I try not to think about it. Go one run at a time and not try to think about my last one. It’s one of my absolutely favorite things to do, ever. It will for sure be hard when it’s over.”

So it’s fitting that her last rodeo will be at nationals.

“It’s everything,” she said. “It’s what I go into each season having my goal as qualifying for nationals. It’s what you run all year for. It’s a little bittersweet because it will be my last year. But the national experience is super cool itself, being able to compete up there with kids from every state and several countries.”

And Mirabal has held her own, qualifying for the short round (finals) for the top 20 competitors after her freshman year.

This time around, there is no holding back, she said.

“This year, obviously I have to go all out,” Mirabal said. “I would like to make the short round again and try to finish as high as I can. I want to make two good runs since they’ll be my last ones. Go all out and do my best and hoping to get a good shot, just go for it.”

Mirabal started riding when she was wee youngster and competed in many different rodeo events.

“I’ve been on a horse, since I was four,” she said. “I started doing every single event possible. And pole bending has always been my favorite one. I really don’t know why. It can be all over the place and it’s not easy. All the events are complicated in their own ways, but I’ve been lucky to have some really good pole bending horses growing up and they’ve helped me fall in love with it.”

Mirabal is an all-around athlete, competing in volleyball, basketball and track and field for the Steers, while also maintaining a busy life with the horses.

“For one thing, I have an amazing support system, none of it would be possible without my family,” she said. “They help me out a lot. It’s definitely hard to do sports, with volleyball and track going on when rodeo is going on, but it takes a village to get it done. My sisters help me ride horses when I’m not home and that definitely makes it easier. It’s definitely not all myself.”