Cats and dogs are her pets, and she’s even befriended the raccoons on the creek.

She has a way with animals in general, not just horses. Even 15 years ago, when she was in her 70s, she could have gotten on my horse and probably outrun me.” She can communicate very well with horses. “She can get on a horse and make him do things that other people couldn’t get them to do. She is tuned in to horses, Thompson said. Even to this day, she can watch runs on TV and can pick things out.” “She can also translate that to the person. “She is phenomenal at studying and picking out things, small or big, that can help a horse and rider communicate better,” she said. Thompson said Bruce’s natural talent is analyzing horses and barrel racing runs. Thompson spent her high school years living with Bruce and the two women consider each other family. Thompson was introduced to Bruce in 1972 at one of her clinics, and the two hit it off. Photo courtesy Amber Bruce Westīruce gained a daughter when she took in Debbie Weaver Thompson. Jacie wears the clothes her great-grandma designed and sewed. Her son, Eastan, also competes in rodeo.īruce’s granddaughter and great-granddaughter, Amber Bruce West and Jaycie West, carry on the tradition Bruce started, as barrel racers. Amber barrel races, as does her daughter, Jaycie. Jim passed away in 2007.ĭan had two children: Spencer Bruce and Amber Bruce West. She and Jim had a son, Dan, who was an excellent horseman and trainer himself. I learned about as much teaching as the kids learned from me.” “We would critique students on their runs and show them home movies of the top 15 barrel racers at the National Finals. In the 1960s, video cameras were new, and Bruce took advantage of the new technology, showing students their runs. She continued producing barrel racing clinics across the nation, two or three a year, from coast to coast. She got her start with a 4-H clinic in 1965, when the instructor didn’t show up. She was one of the first to host rodeo-type clinics. Red carried her to every one of her seven consecutive world championship qualifications, from 1963-1969. He was a smart horse, and he was great-hearted.” Photo courtesy Deb Thompsonīut “we got along fine,” Bruce said. The horse, whose registered name was Shaws Kingwood Snip, was the 1964 AQHA Reserve World Champion Barrel Horse and the next year was the first GRA barrel horse to be featured in color on the cover of the Quarter Horse Journal. Aboard her sorrel gelding Red, Bruce qualified for seven barrel racing championships.

Famous professional barrel racers