As a three-event Women’s Rodeo Championships cowgirl competing in the Challenger Heading and Heeling and the Limited Barrel Racing, Generational Wyoming cowgirl Heather Jacobson knew from an early age that she wanted to spend her life helping the hardworking people in the ranching community.
As she grew and continued her education, her journey took her to the University of Wyoming, where she competed on the college rodeo team. Wanting to see more of the country and learn from the best professors in her desired field, she headed south to Texas Tech University for grad school and law school.
“Both sides of my family have been here since it was a territory,” Jacobson explained. “I always wanted to come home to Wyoming to practice, so I figured it would be good for me to get out and see a little bit more of the country. I was interested in representing landowners against energy development companies. Texas Tech is one of the foremost law schools in the nation for training oil and gas lawyers, so I wanted to go learn from the best.”
As a lawyer in Douglas, Wyoming, Jacobson practices ag law with a focus on representing ranchers against energy development companies—whether it’s oil and gas, wind, coal, or uranium.
“The county where I’m at is one of the biggest energy exporters in the United States,” she said. “We have the world’s largest in-situ uranium mines, huge wind farms, and the world’s largest coal mines. I juggle a lot.”
When she’s not in the law office or fishing and scuba diving in remote locations like Aitutaki, Yap, and Palau, Jacobson is on the back of a horse roping and running barrels. As an active competitor with the WRC, Jacobson appreciates every opportunity the WRC is presenting for women who want to compete while working full-time jobs.
“It’s hands down the best option for a woman team roper and particularly a low numbered woman team roper because to think that, as a #4 header or a #4 heeler, I can compete against 45 teams for $350,000 to be paid out is unfathomable,” she praised. “I don’t go south for the whole winter, so I appreciate being able to nominate any roping. It helps to still be able to qualify without having to live in Arizona all winter long.”
Jacobson, who qualified to the W24 Women’s Rodeo World Championship in the Challenger Heeling, made the trip to Fort Worth in May of 2023 to compete in The Cowgirl Gathering’s Last Chance Qualifier in the barrel racing before competing at the WRWC, which she nominated toward the Limited Leaderboard.
“I nominated the Cowgirl Gathering Barrel Race right before the WRWC Finals,” she said. “I then decided to take the summer off from barrel racing and am just now getting my horse legged back up to compete, and plan to start nominating again soon. With barrel racing not being my main focus, I probably wouldn’t nominate if it wasn’t for the Limited classification. It’s just too hard to compete with the girls that eat, sleep, and breathe barrel racing, but I’m super excited about the chance to compete against the other women in the Limited competition, especially for the chance to run at AT&T!”
Jacobson has her sights set on qualifying in all three of her events for the 2025 Women’s Rodeo World Championship—a goal that, thanks to her strong support system, is well within her reach.
“My goal is to qualify in both the heading and the heeling again, and potentially also the barrel racing since they’re giving limited barrel racers such amazing opportunities there,” she said. “My mother is pretty much my full-time employee, and helps me with things I wish I had the time to do. I’m really lucky with the people that I have surrounding me who help me, whether it’s through my businesses or through rodeo and my practice partners; I’m just really fortunate to have that kind of help.”
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