Nikki Hansen Put All Her Eggs In The K-Days Basket
“When you said my time it gave me goosebumps just thinking about it,” said Nikki Hansen shortly after making her 13.664-second run at K-Days Rodeo in Edmonton, Alberta.
You see, Hansen had a lot riding on that one run.
“This is huge, I kind of put all of my eggs in the Edmonton basket,” said Hansen. “I didn’t run Sky at Cheyenne, I ran another horse to save him for this run, I didn’t go to Nampa, Spanish Fork, or Salinas.”
Her good palomino named Sky High Guy is 14 years old now so Hansen says she is being picky about where she runs the gelding she acquired from Bill and Deb Myers (the owners of the stallion Frenchmans Guy). The decision was made thanks to her husband’s advice and paid off with a $10,951 paycheck.
“I definitely pick and choose where I run him,” said Hansen. “I have to thank my husband Alfred for helping me make the decision and saying, ‘You need to focus on Edmonton and make sure Sky is rested and ready for that because that will be a big run.’”
Hansen hasn’t been to the WNFR since her first qualification in 2012. The mare that carried her to the qualification, Dash Ta Vanilla (Nilla), was injured after the finals and Hansen hasn’t been back since.
It truly does take a special horse to race against the best in the world, and Hansen could have found one in Sky.
“I’m so lucky with Sky, he just does his job every time, I really don’t have to do much,” said Hansen. “If I can get into an indoor and kind of let him see things – and I think its really more for me than him. Like today we were riding and a friend of mine said ‘Did you get him all trained up?’ and I said. ‘It's probably more me, than him.’
“He’s just very versatile, he’s so special, he does his job every time. It doesn’t matter if it’s a 17-second pattern or a 13-second pattern. The best part about him is my 16-month-old daughter Elsie can ride around on him too.”
It’s clear that all the credit goes to the horse underneath her in Hansen’s mind, and continuing to make good decisions on where to run the horse could see her qualifying for her second WNFR come December as well as the CFR in October, thanks in part to putting all her eggs in that Edmonton basket. No matter what those results are at the end of the year, Hansen knows she has a special partner in the arena.
“He’s a once in a lifetime horse, I just love him.”
FloRodeo fans can catch Hansen compete at both the upcoming Medicine Hat Exhibition and Stampede this weekend, as well at the Strathmore Stampede the first weekend in August.