Saskatchewan twins are competing on the North American rodeo circuit while they try to get jobs in health care
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Since they were born, Mackenzie and Taylor L’Heureux have done almost everything together.
Now that they are 19 years old, the sisters use a little sibling competition to push themselves to go after their dreams.
Taylor said, “It’s definitely hard to have to train ourselves and our horses at the same time. It’s a big learning experience.”
Both of them grew up on a small farm close to North Battleford, Saskatchewan.
Before a neighbor gave them a horse to share, their family didn’t have any. After putting in a lot of hard work to train the horses and each other, the sisters started competing in roping and racing.
“I can’t think of anything I would do differently. Mackenzie said, “I love being on the road with my sister.”
Taylor said that the first few rodeos they went to made her feel a little embarrassed. It was clear that they weren’t like most of the other competitors, who had expensive horses and fancy gear.
She said, “I guess we didn’t have the cool-looking tack or the nice trailer and truck.””We had horses and a strong work ethic, and that was all we needed.”
They were able to overcome problems because they worked together to move forward.
Rodeo is a male-dominated sport. Mackenzie said that he took any harsh criticism from men as a chance to get better.
“Some of it can be very direct and honest, and a lot of it can be very negative…”So you just have to learn how to break down the information they give you and use it to help you get better,” Mackenzie said.
In addition to riding, both of the twins decided to work in health care, Mackenzie as a dentist and Taylor as a nurse. Choosing to go to different schools was hard, but they both agreed that it gave them a new view of things.
“I learned a lot by being away from her and doing things on my own,” Mackenzie said. “I think it’s brought us closer together and shown us how much we need each other and how much we enjoy being with each other,” she said.
“It’s weird to say, but I felt like a part of me was leaving, or like, moving on,” Taylor said.
During the rodeo season, the sisters go all over North America to compete with the rodeo team from the University of Saskatchewan.
Now, they compete with seven horses that they trained together on their grandparents’ farm.
It’s not easy to go to college and compete, but the sisters have found ways to study and finish their work while on the road.
Taylor said, “You just have to kind of work it in somehow, whether it’s on the way there or in the hotel room.” “One person should drive while the other person sits there and reads or sleeps, so you can take turns driving.”
Working with horses can be fun and rewarding, but it can also be hard. As the animals train for competitions, they could get hurt.
But the sisters say that winning is even more satisfying because they did all the work by themselves.
“We didn’t have much to start with. We had a truck camper with a bumper pull and horses that had never been on a trip before and didn’t know what to do,” Taylor said. “But everything worked out well in the end because we still won.
“And we were happy doing it. So it was still a really cool thing to do.”
