Angela Ganter reflects on success in rodeo arena, time with daughter after hall induction

Angela Ganter drowned in emotion as she was enshrined Friday into the Texas Rodeo Hall of Fame.

A 57-year-old professional barrel racer and Abilene native, Ganter paced toward the stage in Pecos to give a speech to make her induction official.

As she began speaking, Ganter realized her name was now etched forever among the state’s greats.

"I was kind of taken aback," Ganter said. “I didn’t put myself in that category. It was very unexpected, to be honest,”

But her daughter Jackie, a fellow pro barrel racer, believed there was no one more worthy than her mother.

“I can’t even describe how special it is,” Jackie said. “She is the most deserving person I know and I am thankful to have her as a mom and be able to try to follow in her footsteps.”

Angela has ridden horses since her youth, and she has segued that passion into a professional career. She and Jackie now compete alongside each other in rodeos across the country.

Angela overcame great odds to become an authority in the Texas rodeo scene.

Bout with cancer

Ganter in 2010 was diagnosed with cancer, beginning a lengthy battle that kept her off the saddle for almost a decade.

In a year’s span, she underwent dozens of chemotherapy treatments, nine surgeries and 28 radiation treatments. Ganter didn’t have the strength or balance to ride until late 2017.

But during those seven years, Jackie represented the family on horseback.

While Jackie initially rode English, she switched to barrel racing when she was 13.

She instantly became a star.

Jackie graduated high school early in 2014 to get her Women’s Pro Rodeo Association card. Ganter was the Rookie of the Year in 2015.

As Angela endured a tiring battle, Jackie represented the Ganter family name.

“She took over my really good horses and became phenomenal,” Angela said. “She just won everything. It was just awesome.”

Mother-daughter duo

Angela returned to barrel racing the second she was physically able to. Her passion for the sport increased even more during her bout with cancer, seeing her daughter excel in the stables.

“It’s special to ride with her,” Angela said.

Angela and Jackie have combined for dozens of wins and top-five finishes at various professional rodeos across North America. On June 25, Jackie placed third at the Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

Barrel racing is an individual event in which every rider competes against the field. And because of that, friendly smack talk is a regular occurrence in their relationship.

“I always say, ‘Second is first loser,’ and I don’t care if it’s her,” Angela said. “I’m very competitive, and I don’t like to be second.”

Jackie added, “We are both very competitive by nature; tensions can run high.”

Even so, the blood-related adversaries do what they can to help each other out.

On drives back from rodeos, Angela and Jackie watch videos of each others’ performances, constructively critiquing each other so they can both improve.

“At the end of the day we always are pulling for each other,” said Jackie, 25.

Angela said, “We’re 100 percent for each other to have the best days and runs we can. We look at it as striving to fix mistakes we made in our runs to make them better. We’re each others’ coaches.”

Competing alongside each other hasn’t just allowed them to grow as riders. It’s given them the chance to become closer.

Angela and Jackie have traveled the continent with each other, going to unique rodeo destinations like Alberta, Wyoming and Montana, among other places.

Angela said the highlight of her career was when they each won a round at the Canadian Finals Rodeo in Red Deer, Alberta, in 2019. After each placing first in a barrel racing go-around, the two combined for more than $33,000 of winnings at the rodeo.

“It’s cool to have buckles and accolades alongside your daughter,” Angela said. “To be able to accomplish that in my age and everything I went through, that’s what I’m most proud of.”

Jackie added, “It’s great getting to compete together. I think we make a great team and we thrive off of each other — especially on the lucky days that we both win.”

Big Country roots

Along with their busy competition and practice schedule, Angela and Jackie work together for their Abilene-based company, Lone Star Stables, where the two train, swim and board horses.

In addition to their success in the arena, the business is a way of giving back to the community.

“In this day and age, it is hard to find a family that has an old business like ours and is able to maintain a family-oriented, western-heritage basis,” Angela said. “That’s pretty cool; it’s dying off.”

As a hall of famer, Angela is undoubtedly considered a great within barrel racing and rodeo, as a whole. She thanks Abilene and its surrounding communities for helping her reach this status.

“Being from West Texas, there are still a lot of cowboy traditions out here,” Angela said. “Ranching and stuff has gone away in the big scheme of things, but Abilene has kept very much of its western heritage.

"West Texas plays a major role in being able to do what's considered ‘Old West.’”

Carson Field is the area sports reporter for the Abilene Reporter-News. He covers primarily Big Country high school sports. If you appreciate locally driven news, you can support local journalists with a digital subscription to reporternews.com.

This article originally appeared on Abilene Reporter-News: Angela Ganter reflects on success in arena, time with daughter