Shianne buckles up with the best

By Paul Pickering
AT 14, Bunyip’s Shianne O’Donaghue-Kent already feels like a veteran of the Australian rodeo circuit.
And why not? She has more bling than most cowgirls could ever dream of.
Shianne last month won the Australian junior (17-and-under) barrel race title, adding the prestigious Pro Tour “buckle” to her growing list of accolades.
Officially, she is now the Australian Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) junior champion, as well as the Australian Quarter Horse Association junior champion and Victorian junior title-holder.
For the uninitiated, barrel racing entails riding a horse around three 44-gallon drums in a clover-leaf formation. The best time wins and the prize-money and points count towards the national standings.
Shianne is ranked in the top 15 open-age female barrel racers in the country and will compete in the national finals on the Gold Coast in January.
You could excuse this gifted young horsewoman for being intimidated by competitors well over twice her age, but the confident teenager says she’ll be fine.
“It could be (intimidating), but I know a lot of them pretty well,” she said this week.
“I’ve been around for a fair while.”
That may sound like the assuredness of youth, but it’s true. Shianne started riding at three and was competing by age four.
She learnt most of what she knows from her aunty, Cherie O’Donaghue, an accomplished all-around cowgirl and former Australian champion. Shianne’s mum and three younger siblings are also keen riders.
Cherie is still competing and will go head to head with her niece at the nationals in January.
Meanwhile, Shianne said winning the national junior title had been a long-time ambition.
She secured the buckle with a win in the final event at Warwick Showgrounds in Queensland on 22 October.
“I feel like I’ve achieved my goal,” she reflected.
“I knew I had a chance, because I was up there in the top 10 going into (the last event), but I knew that anything could happen on the day. It was pretty close.”
Shianne is already accustomed to life on the road. She follows the circuit around from state to state during the winter.
“It’s a big part of my life now, travelling around Australia, and I’d like to compete in America when I’m older,” she said.
The United States is rodeo’s heartland, where fame and fortune beckons. Shianne has already experience some of the former, having featured on the front cover of the APRA magazine’s November edition.