Jenna Johnson dug into the right-front pocket of her jeans and pulled out three small apple-carrot biscuits. The treats looked like small dog biscuits and they were offered as a token of appreciation to Eddie, her 7-year-old horse. Jenna patted her pocket, checking to make sure there were no treats left.

“You think horses can’t count — put two treats in your pocket and only give him one,” said Johnson.

Eddie had earned those treats. As he chewed them, he was still breathing a little hard from turning in Saturday morning’s fastest time in the pole-bending competition at the 10th annual Wisconsin High School Rodeo Association competition at the Coulee Region Riders Club grounds south of Holmen.

In 21.2 seconds, Eddie had carried Jenna flat-out to the far end of a row of six poles, each 21 feet from the other, turned and weaved his way through the poles back the way he came, then turned around and slalomed through the poles again before turning and racing back toward the start/finish line. After watching Eddie and Jenna ride, it’s easy to see why each run is called a “go.”

Knock one pole over and it’s five-seconds added to your time. Same goes for losing your hat. Jenna hasn’t lost her hat yet, but she did knock over two poles during the 2005-06 high school rodeo season. Her goal this year, she said, is to leave all the poles standing all year long.

It’s a pretty modest goal, considering the junior at Melrose-Mindoro High School won the state championship in pole bending her freshman and sophomore years, earned state Rookie of the Year honors her freshman year and just missed making the pole-bending finals this summer at the national high school rodeo competition, notching the 26th best time.

Jenna was among about 150 competitors at the two-day event in Holmen, by now well-established as a Labor Day tradition. Two of the riders — Bailey Kyser of rural Sparta and Danna Jessie of Melrose — attend Melrose-Mindoro High School and are among Jenna’s closest competitors. Bailey finished 32nd in poles at nationals and second in state, just behind Jenna, while Danna won Rookie of the Year honors last year and just missed nationals in two events.

Other area riders competing last weekend at Holmen included Amanda Docken of Galesville and R.E. Miller of West Salem, whose sister Alyssa capped her high school rodeo career this summer with a third-place season title in barrel racing at the state level and a 64th-place finish in barrels at nationals.

At Melrose-Mindoro, students can earn varsity letters riding rodeo, and Jenna has earned two. She also lettered in cross country, basketball and track her freshman and sophomore years, and a commitment to other sports is a big part of the reason she doesn’t take part in more rodeo events, such as goat tying, roping or cutting (using your horse to separate a steer from a small herd).

Jenna does ride in the barrel racing events, and did well enough last year to finish 11th for the season. Pole bending is her stronger event because Eddie is “finished” (fully trained) in poles but not barrels. She rides another horse, Jay, most of the time for barrels, but he’s 20 years old and not as swift of foot as Eddie.

Jay also is what they call “gate sour,” which means he doesn’t like going into the arena to run. Once Jay’s in there he goes all out, but most of the time Jenna has to get off and walk him into the arena. Saturday morning, Jay reared up on the way into the arena, but Jenna coaxed him in without dismounting. She went on to ride him to the eighth-best time (17.6 seconds) of the morning in barrel racing, which involves guiding the horse in a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels.

If Jenna had gone with her first instinct, she wouldn’t be competing in any rodeo events. When she was 4 years old, she was given a Shetland pony named Sugar. The horse, though, was not so sweet, said Jenna’s mother, Jennifer, bucking Jenna off enough to sour her on horses for years.

Not long after that, Jennifer started participating in horse riding competitions, so Jenna was around horses. But she showed no interest in riding herself. Then when she was about 10, Jenna got a chance to ride a docile horse that changed her mind about riding.

Jenna started out riding in Little Britches rodeo events and took some time to find her stride. “I was all right,” she said. “I got a lot better as the years went on.”

So far this year, she’s on track to repeat as the pole bending champion. After finishing second at the first event of the season at Mineral Point and first at Holmen, she’s ranked first in the state.

Although Jennifer set the stage for Jenna with her competitive horse riding, she said she has never pushed her daughter. She never had to because she was so self-motivated.

“She practices seven days a week. I don’t have to do anything,” Jennifer said. “She’s got all the heart and drive herself.”