Editor’s note, July 12: Clarification of pole bending times.
Spurs give a soft, dull jangle and dust lifts into the air as 15-year-old Fia Trombetta strides through her community barn in Truckee like she’s making her final walk before a gunfight. Her belt glimmers, late afternoon light catching on the silver buckle with the embossed words, POLE BENDING Reserve State Champion. The pale blue eyes of her horse, Shiloh, track Fia and he briskly trots over to meet her. The young cowgirl absentmindedly strokes her horse’s white nose when he pokes his head over the stall door, obviously happy to see her.
The 21-year-old former ranch horse is taking Fia to the National High School Finals Rodeo, happening July 13 to 19 in Rock Springs, Wyoming. Considered the world’s largest rodeo, spanning 7 days with over 1,800 competitors from around the world, it’s by far Fia’s biggest rodeo yet.
Competitors are allowed to use scores from their top nine rodeos to qualify for nationals. Most other qualifiers were able to attend all 15 events on the state of Nevada high school rodeo circuit this year and to drop their four or five lowest scores. A high school freshman and rookie rodeo athlete, Fia could only make it to eight, with friends offering to haul Shiloh in their trailers before the Trombettas found one. Yet, she and Shiloh performed well throughout the season, and in May at the Nevada State High School Rodeo Association championships in Winnemucca, they ratcheted it up in their signature event of pole bending with a personal best. Their performance paid off and the duo finished second as Nevada’s reserve state champion. Fia says she owes it all to her horse.
“The two of them are so smooth, they hug the poles. It’s just — it’s beautiful.”
~ Jen Trombetta, Fia’s mother
Fia competes primarily in pole bending, where horse and rider weave in and out of six poles. The event is based on time and penalties are assessed for knocking down any poles. Her first pole bending run was just over 7 years ago in June of 2018 when Fia was making runs in the 40-second range. Almost 3 years into her partnership with Shiloh and after less than a year with professional trainer Jennee Rhodes they’re now in the low 21s. The Nevada state champion, by comparison, consistently lays down 20-second runs.
Where many rodeo athletes have more experience and younger, more expensive, better-bred horses, Fia achieved her reserve standing on a horse 6 years her senior. For Fia to even make it to rodeos safely in the winter, she joined the Nevada High School Rodeo Association and the National High School Rodeo Association.
“It’s a large difference. People who were born into that type of world versus coming into it as a sixth grader who had no clue what was going on,” Fia said. “I just kind of learned as I went.”
As for Shiloh’s breed, Fia has only guesses. She thinks he is a Navarro Paint mixed with an American Quarter Horse, but Fia said she calls him her all-American because of his white face, blue eyes, and reddish coat in the sun.
“It’s the best feeling in the world to know that I’m riding that horse of all horses. One who we never really thought would go that far, who had already been retired once,” Fia said. “To know that the 21-year-old horse that was originally [2,500] dollars is out here, running faster times than I ever thought that I would be able to run and just making these amazing dreams happen for me. It’s a really great thing. And it’s a dream come true for me.”
Shiloh was a former ranch horse bought off Craigslist by Fia’s friend and former rodeo rider Sophia Wellise, who nurtured him to better health and introduced him to rodeo. According to Fia, Wellise found Shiloh in bad shape and taught him to trust her. Fia said she initially was hesitant about leasing Shiloh since he was retired, but a year into riding him, their connection was undeniable. Now she said Shiloh has shown her their success wasn’t about a price tag, but rather the partnership she has with him.
“He’s already past his prime. So, to think about what he would’ve been like in his prime is like, it’s kind of — [I] wish I would’ve been able to ride him back then, but, he’s still — for his age he’s still going really strong,” Fia said. “He’s in good shape and his heart’s still in it. And as long as his heart’s still in it, I’m willing to keep running him.”
Born and raised in Truckee with skiing in her blood, Fia’s parents never expected their daughter’s affinity for horses to stick. But she had older equestrian friends, Wellise and Ava Solberg, who piqued her interest in rodeo. Solberg acted as her first coach and helped train her when she started leasing Shiloh in 2022. He has been what Fia considers a “step-up” horse because of how far he’s taken her and the growth in her he has enabled.
“Watching the bond that her and Shiloh have is really amazing,” said Fia’s mother, Jen. “You can watch, you know, other riders that are on super, super fast horses that are pulling the weave, but they’re really swinging wide — but they’re just on a super-fast horse and they’re still good riders, don’t get me wrong. But, you watch Fia and Shiloh and people are like, ‘That didn’t look like a 21-second run.’ And it’s because the two of them are so smooth, they hug the poles. It’s just — it’s beautiful.”
Fia said her parents originally told her she wasn’t allowed to have her own horse until she was out of high school and could pay for one herself. That changed when Shiloh consistently gave Fia personal records in pole bending and barrel racing. Jen said Wellise knew their bond was extraordinary and saw that Fia and Shiloh allowed each other to reach great heights. Wellise decided to gift her horse to her friend on April 21, 2024, with permission from Fia’s parents. Now, rodeo is the Trombetta family’s life.
“Those were some pretty special pictures that day where [Fia] was smiling ear-to-ear because she had an awesome day in the arena. And I was smiling ear-to-ear, not only from how awesome she was doing and how happy she was, but from knowing that this horse, that she and he had created such a bond together, that he was now part of the family,” Jen said.
Continuing to train with Rhodes, who teaches at Raise the Bar ranch in Palomino Valley, is what Fia thinks is going to get her times down even further. Fia hopes to get a rodeo scholarship and attend the University of Wyoming or Montana State University and further pursue her goals of going pro by joining a college rodeo team.
Fia planned on going as far as she could with Shiloh before he retired (again), having carried her farther than she could have imagined. Unfortunately, while Shiloh’s heart is still in it, nationals will be his last big ride. The vet broke the news right before Moonshine Ink press time that Shiloh should be retired because of his arthritis even though Fia and Jen report that all Shiloh wants to do is run. The family is heeding the vet’s advice with Shiloh approaching old age; most domesticated horses live between 25 and 30 years.
“We simply can’t afford some of these more expensive horses,” Jen wrote in an email. “We won’t find another Shiloh, but we’ll be looking for a connection between Fia and the new horse. Likely a horse that has been introduced to pole and barrel patterns but not necessarily trained heavily in it.”
In preparation for Shiloh’s retirement and Fia’s continued career, she’s raising money to help buy a new horse (see sidebar above). Fia is heartbroken by the unexpected change in plans, having hoped to ride Shiloh for another year in the rodeo and create new personal records with him. Now, nationals will be the duo’s last runs together. And when the Junior Barrel Race comes up at the Truckee Pro Rodeo on Aug. 23, Fia aims to participate, though she’ll be doing so without her favorite companion.
“That horse, I don’t know how he does it, but he is the most hardworking, honest, and trustworthy horse I’ve ever swung a leg over,” Fia said. “I trust him more than anything, and I love him more than life. To be able to come and go to nationals my rookie year on that horse — as amazing as it would be to go on any horse — if I were to be going on an expensive 7-year-old, it would not at all feel the same.”
Help Truckee Local Fia Get Back
in the Rodeo
Now that Shiloh is set to retire after the National High School Finals Rodeo, Fia is looking for a horse to continue pursuing her passions. As her mom said, horses get expensive quickly. And while no horse can replace Fia’s heart-horse, maybe one can ride with her to the pros.
https://www.gofundme.com/f/fuel-fias-journey-to-national-high-school-finals-rodeo
