Before barrel racing became the family business, before the championship runs and before Jordon Briggs began building a career of her own, there was French Flash Hawk, aka “Bozo.”
 
Jordon’s mother, Kristie Peterson, purchased the wild young gelding for $400. At the time, she was working as a deputy sheriff while Jordon’s father managed a cattle ranch in Colorado. No one could have known one horse would soon change the family’s trajectory. He carried her mother to four world championships and eight consecutive National Finals Rodeo qualifications and later was inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.
 
Bozo’s success allowed Jordon’s mother to leave her job and compete professionally. His earnings helped her father purchase his own cattle.
 
“Horses have always put food on the table for my family,” Jordon says. “One horse completely changed my mom’s life and dad’s life. They became self-employed because of one horse.”

The Horse That Started It All

At age 12, with four years of barrel racing experience under her belt, Jordon was finally able to ride Bozo for the first time. Bozo became the horse that introduced Jordon to the speed, power and possibility of barrel racing. For Jordon, climbing into his saddle was both an extraordinary opportunity and an intimidating standard against which every horse that followed would be measured.
 
“It was a blessing and a curse to ride Bozo that young,” Jordon says. “It’s hard to compare anything to that horse.”
 
Bozo was powerful, focused and serious about his work. He did not need Jordon to direct every stride or place every foot. He understood where he needed to go and took her there; and on Jordon’s first run with Bozo, she experienced a kind of power she had never felt before.
 
“I did nothing on those first 10 or 15 runs but hold on,” she says. “He was so honest and did his job. He knew how to run to his spot with no help at all.”
 
That feeling stayed with her. As Jordon developed into a trainer, she began looking for horses like Bozo that thought ahead, paid attention to their footwork and took their jobs seriously.

Giving Horses Time to Become Themselves 

Jordon and her husband, Justin, now prefer to own the horses they train. That gives them the freedom to make decisions based on what each horse is ready to handle rather than following a fixed timeline.
 
Some young horses receive only 60 to 90 days of riding as 2-year-olds. If one is still growing or does not appear physically prepared for more work, they back off. Instead of pushing every prospect to compete as a 4-year-old, they often develop horses with the goal of having them ready at age 5.
 
“I’m hoping the less pressure we put on them early, the longer they’ll last,” Jordon says.

Every Horse Needs Something Different

The same freedom and patience Jordon brings to training guides how she feeds her horses. Rather than following one program for every horse, she watches body condition, topline, growth, workload and behavior for signs that an individual horse needs something different.
 
A young horse going through a growth spurt may need more time and nutritional support before carrying a heavier workload. A horse gaining too much weight on rich Texas pasture may need its grazing managed. Horses traveling and competing have another set of needs entirely.
 
Purina^® Impact^® Professional Performance Horse Feed with Outlast^® Gastric Support Technology provides the nutritional foundation for the horses in Jordon’s program, from young prospects to broodmares. She also incorporates additional Purina^® Outlast^® Gastric Support Supplement before loading, during travel and after arriving to help support gastric comfort during potentially stressful situations.
 
She uses Purina^® RepleniMash^® Supplement to help support hydration. She watches how eagerly her horses consume RepleniMash^® as one more piece of information about how they may be responding to travel and exertion. If a horse finishes it quickly, Jordon knows to continue paying close attention to its hydration needs.
 
It helps the horses love the supplements.
 
“Anything I can give them that they think is a treat, but that also benefits their health, I try to do that,” she says.
 
It is a practical philosophy: keep the program straightforward, pay attention to what the horse communicates and make adjustments when something changes.

The Horse Worth Keeping

For years, Jordon and Justin trained and sold horses to support their business. Frenchmans Jester, aka “Jester,” carried Jordon to her first NFR qualification in 2009, but selling him allowed the couple to invest in their next group of prospects. They repeated that cycle for nearly a decade: develop a horse, watch it succeed, sell it and begin again.

Then Famous Lil Jet, aka “Rollo,” came along.

Initially, Rollo did not seem destined to become Jordon’s next great barrel horse. The sorrel gelding was challenging as a 2-year-old and needed more time to mature than some of the horses she had previously trained. When Jordon became pregnant during his 4-year-old year, Justin began roping on him rather than rushing him into barrel competition. Rollo competed in rope horse futurities before ever entering a barrel race.
 
The unexpected detour gave Rollo more time to mature physically and mentally. With training, workload and nutrition shaped around his stage of development, he grew into a versatile, confident athlete and, eventually, into the special horse for which Jordon had been waiting.
 
“The stars all aligned,” Jordon says. “Everything worked out for me to be pregnant and make this amazing horse at the same time.”
 
After years of selling horses just as they began reaching their potential, Jordon and Justin were finally able to keep one and discovered how far they could go together.
 
Rollo became Jordon’s Bozo. They went all the way. Rollo carried Jordon to the WPRA world championship and NFR average title and was named AQHA/WPRA Horse of the Year in both 2021 and 2022. More than his accomplishments, he possessed the same qualities Jordon had admired in Bozo: drive and an instinctive love of his job.
 
“He will die on our place,” she says. “Hopefully, my daughter will ride him.”

The Next Horse That Changes Everything

Life-changing horses are not always the ones you expect and sometimes just need the time, care and opportunity to reveal what they can become. Bozo transformed her parents’ lives and gave Jordon her first glimpse of greatness. Jester helped establish her career and create opportunities for the horses that followed. Rollo arrived as she was learning to balance motherhood with professional competition, becoming both a championship partner and a reason to hold onto something extraordinary.
 
From adjusting a training timeline to providing nutrition that supports body condition, growth and workload, every decision starts with the individual horse in front of her, because it only takes one horse to change a career, a family or a life.
 
Curious enough to find out for yourself? Sign up to trial a Purina horse feed or supplement to see the results.