BLYTHEWOOD – With only two years of rodeo competition under her belt and no professional training, Blythewood teen Emily Bartsch recently brought home a noteworthy title: NBHA (National Barrel Horse Association) Teen 4D World Champion for 2024, a check for $2,800, a new saddle, a jacket, two belt buckles and more.
That means she and her horse Sunday Funday landed on top of their division in barrel racing at this summer’s Teen World Rodeo Competition at the Georgia National Fairgrounds & Agricenter – an event that brought some 1,200 competitors from around the country and around the world.
Bartsch says her big win was in an individual competition, unrelated to team competition.
“I was blessed to come home with the world title for my division. It was very emotional because I was just hoping to win a finalist buckle,” she says. Not only did she make the finals but won a world title at the event in late July, exceeding her greatest expectations.
After wins in local competition gave her the opportunity to compete at the world level, Bartsch says she and her mom, Kiley, who serves as her ‘trainer,’ prayed a lot about the event.
“I had my fantastic support system – my mom – behind me,” Bartsch says. “I wouldn’t be where I am without my mom… and we just counted our blessings all week,” she says.
“We prayed before every run, after every run, and we praised the Lord up above for everything because if it wasn’t for Him and my support system, I’d be nowhere.”
That support system also includes her dad and her younger sister Erika who is a varsity cheerleader at Blythewood High School.
Bartsch says skill is not the only thing a barrel racer needs to win a championship title.
“The way barrel racing is scored, there’s also an element of luck involved,” she says. “Sometimes, a tiny fraction of a second can make the difference between being at the bottom of one division and being at the top of another.”
In that regard, Bartsch says the competition was nerve-wracking, but she finds the sport – which she considers more of a lifestyle because of the 24/7 care and training she puts in with her horses – incredibly rewarding.
With only one more year of competition remaining at the teen level, Bartsch says winning the title this past summer has opened doors for her future in barrel racing, for next year and beyond.
“It’s opened up a lot of opportunities for me, and it’s opened my eyes to see that I can go to bigger shows and compete with the best of the best,” she says.
“Now, hopefully, I’m at a point where I can start looking for some sponsors,” she says.
While Bartsch has always had horses on her family’s property on Sandfield Road in Blythewood, she says her interest in barrel racing didn’t begin until her senior year at Blythewood High School, when her cousin introduced her to the event.
“I knew when I rode his horse for the first time, it was like, ‘This is something I want to do,’” she recalls.
She began her barrel racing career by riding her cousin’s horse, then ultimately her parents purchased Sunday Funday.
“I knew at first sight that Sunday Funday was going to be the one,” she says. “We drove to Kentucky, picked her up… took her home, and it’s been history ever since. She’s great – reliable and protective.”
Bartsch has since acquired another barrel horse, named Supermoon 407, which she hopes will eventually compete at the same level as Sunday Funday.
Bartsch is a farm girl at heart and was an active member of the Future Farmers of America (FHA) in high school. She is a second-year student at Erskine College – the only school on the East Coast, she says, that has a rodeo team. A biology major on a pre-vet track, she says her career ambition is to become a large livestock veterinarian and continue to compete with her horses in barrel racing for as long as she can.
“Barrel racing for me is a great stress reliever. If I’m having a bad day, I’ll grab one of my horses, and run the pattern.
“When I go into that alleyway at a rodeo arena, there’s nothing else that I’m thinking of. It’s just me and my horse,” she says. “It takes my mind off everything else. It’s like a breath of fresh air.”
