The newly crowned Rodeo Queen is taking it all in stride.
Jessica Stroud, a former Traverse City resident and a student at Michigan State University, was named Queen at the Spartan Stampede Rodeo, which was held February 16-18 in East Lansing. Sporting the title of 2007 Miss Michigan State Rodeo Queen for the next year, Stroud will travel to rodeo-related events around the state to spread the word about rodeos and the Michigan State rodeo club and team. She will also carry the flag during the grand entry to the National Anthem to kick off rodeos and in general represent the sport.
"I had no idea,” said Stroud about winning the title after a weekend of judged events, an interview, a speech and impromptu questions. "No matter what happened, I was going to be happy because I'd done the best I could, so I was definitely surprised.”
Three years ago as a freshman, Stroud was the runner up in the same competition but she had not entered in the intervening years.
"I had never done anything like that before,” she recalled of her first effort. "Definitely I was a very shy girl and I've grown a lot and matured and am a lot more confident, but still I was surprised to get this.”
Stroud was one of five young women on MSU's Rodeo Team this year vying for the title. The MSU Rodeo Club hosts the event annually and Stroud is also a member of that organization.
"I've been in the MSU Rodeo Club all four years but I was on the Rodeo Team my freshman year and this year,” she noted.
Growing up around horses, Stroud became serious about rodeo events and competitions at an early age. Her mother, Christine Blackledge of Traverse City, noted that Jessica moved to live with her father in McBain in tenth grade so she could be closer to her horses, which lived on his farm. Since then, through high school and now college, where she is studying animal science after completing a two-year horse management program, rodeos have been her life.
"She's on the road every weekend traveling to a rodeo,” said Blackledge. "She'll call me up Sunday night and she's in St. Louis driving back from a rodeo.”
Stroud has five horses stabled at her father's farm: two of which she rides in rodeos, a retired race horse and two two-year-olds she plans to train.
"Some horses have a heart and just love to run barrels and you can tell which ones do or which ones don't,” she noted. "I was really lucky to have my family have horses since I was born. I had a little pony when I was young and it bucked me off a few times so I got used to it.”
Stroud purchased her first barrel horse when she was 12, from Geri Olson of Hawk Hill Farm in Grayling. Noting that Olson has been an excellent mentor and friend over the years, Stroud credits her with making her the rider she is today.
"She gave me the confidence to ride and was always there if I needed to borrow horses or if I needed help,” she said.
Now traveling the state and around the country to compete in rodeos, Stroud squeezes events between her studies and job at the school's Vet Research Farm. She lives in a farmhouse and cares for horses and cows used in research that live in an adjacent barn.
"I have one roommate and get to just walk out the door and go to work,” she said, adding that the residence might have good vibes: "There's been three MSU Rodeo Queens who have lived in this house.”