Julie Plourde won the National Finals Rodeo barrel racing average with a 139.67 on 10, earning $94,035.54 aboard Wateverock RC (“Rocky”), a backup horse she purchased earlier this year.

Called into the NFR field just days before the Finals began, Plourde stepped in as a replacement after finishing 16th in the WPRA World Standings when Anita Ellis, No. 8 in the regular season was sidelined by injury. Riding a horse she had only started competing on this season, Plourde delivered 10 clean runs inside the Thomas & Mack Center to secure the average title.

Plourde, a Quebec native who now lives in Texas, said the opportunity came quickly and without certainty.

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“I didn’t want to put any pressure on anyone,” Plourde said. “That was her spot. She deserved to be here.”

Once the call was finalized, the timeline moved fast. Plourde had already returned home to Canada after the regular season and was preparing for a different winter when she was notified that she might be needed. When the decision became official, she headed straight to Las Vegas.

Rocky proved equal to the moment. Purchased in February from Heath and Erica Boucher, the gelding had limited seasoning before the summer run. Plourde said the pair started rodeoing late, especially indoors, and worked on gaining experience at the end of the season.

“He’s just so honest,” Plourde said. “I was just trying to stay out of his way.”

That approach carried through the entire Finals. Rocky tipped only two barrels during the regular season — once at Casper and once at Walla Walla — and stayed clean across all 10 rounds at the NFR, a task Plourde said is far more difficult than it appears from the outside.

“You watch it on TV and you think it’s easy,” she said. “But it’s really hard. Everything happens so fast.”

Plourde said the consistency was the product of trust rather than adjustment. With limited time together at the highest level, she focused on keeping Rocky comfortable and letting him do his job.

The circumstances surrounding her season made the result even more meaningful. Plourde spent part of the summer navigating personal loss, returning home to Quebec longer than planned before finishing out the year. She said the emotional toll of the season was heavy at times.

“I cried a lot last summer,” she said. “It’s exhausting. Until you go through it, you can’t understand it.”

Throughout that stretch, Plourde credited her husband with encouraging her to stay in the game.

“There were times I wanted to give up,” she said. “He told me, ‘No, you’re not that kind of person.’”

That perseverance showed up when the opportunity arrived. Despite being a late addition to the field and riding a backup horse, Plourde approached the Finals with the same mindset she carried all season — focus on the horse, one run at a time.

Plourde grew up in a remote area of Quebec where horses were scarce and English is her second language. She said her path into professional barrel racing wasn’t conventional, but it taught her how to work through uncertainty.

“Where I’m from, it is not a horse place,” she said. “But if I can do it, anybody with a dream can do it.”

Ten clean runs later, Julie Plourde left the Thomas & Mack Center with an NFR average title — and proof that preparation, timing and trust can matter just as much as expectation.

NFR average 2025 results

• 2025 NFR Barrel Racing Results, World Standings