The Rising Tide: The Rising Tide:
OCEANE Veilleux OCEANE Veilleux
Takes Over Takes Over
if You'Ve been Watching rodeo resuLts, it's hard not To notice Young océane VeiLLeux
notching Wins eVerYWhere she goes.
Veilleux, Veilleux, who hails from St. Alfred, Quebec,
grew up trail riding.
"My parents bought land and built a barn before they
built a house, because they always thought horses were
pretty," she laughed.
"My little hometown rodeo was happening and I just fell
in love with barrel racing. I started barrel racing with my
little pony when I was seven or eight. My pony was blind so
it didn't work out really well. We would turn the first barrel
and then come back home," Veilleux described her early
journey with a chuckle.
Despite being unable to complete the pattern, Veilleux
was officially bitten by the barrel racing bug.
"My dad bought a bigger horse that taught me everything
I know. She was an amazing horse. We weren't going very
fast, but we grew up together. Her name was Charlotte
and she was only four years old. My dad bought her for
futurities, but she wanted to be a kids horse. Sadly, she
got into an accident and we had to put her down. Nothing
happens without a reason and the accident really pushed
me to getting a faster horse. With that horse, I would do
the regional and youth barrel races. When I was around 12,
we started coming down to Texas and barrel racing here a
little bit. I did that until I was 17 and then got a scholarship
at Texas A&M in Commerce."
Veilleux purchased her permit in September of 2023
and filled it in one rodeo. She bought her card and was
ready to start rodeoing when the 2024 season kicked off
on October 1.
Veilleux has a trailer of exceptional horses on the road
with her, including FrenchMoney To Vegas "Vegas" (French
StreakToVegas x Flash Mia Money Red x Honor For Money
Red) and Heavens Guy "Ice Cream" (JL Dash Ta Heaven x
Easy Guys x Holland Ease).
Veilleux credits her horsepower heavily and described
Ice Cream, "He is a typical rodeo horse and just loves his
job. He thinks he is the greatest horse ever. He loves to go
to the big rodeos."
Unfortunately, Ice Cream was out for the majority of the
spring, but it hasn't kept Veilleux from the winners circle.
She won the Resistol Rookie Roundup aboard Vegas in
April and has maintained her lead in the rookie standings.
By Teal Stoll
