Horse Roundup 2026 | Aint She Blessed: One barrel racer’s “miracle foal” 

Even the darkest clouds can have their silver lining. This is something that Jessica Gjovig, a barrel racer from Fortuna, North Dakota, has come to know. The victim of a tragic accident that killed two of her horses, Gjovig has found her silver lining in a “miracle foal” that is a testament to the power of modern veterinary medicine. Aint She Blessed, affectionately known as “Mabel”, is a young filly conceived using intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) after the untimely death of her dam, Nine Oh Nonstop. 

Nine Oh Nonstop, also known as “Daphne”, was one of Gjovig’s young barrel horse prospects. The stunning bay mare was special to Gjovig from the beginning. “I called her [Daphne] my ‘perfect, perfect girl'”.  

Daphne, much like her daughter, was conceived under unique circumstances. Gjovig had coordinated a breeding with the Future Fortunes-nominated barrel stud, Ninety Nine Goldmine. While the mare she had selected for the breeding conceived, she became ill and lost the embryo. As part of the live foal guarantee offered by most breeders, Gjovig had the opportunity to select another mare to breed to the stud. As misfortune would have it, Gjovig’s second-choice mare had already ovulated when Gjovig brought her to the veterinary clinic for breeding. Since Ninety Nine Goldmine’s semen was already in transit (being shipped from Canada), Gjovig had no choice but to fall back on her last option. She made a five-hour round trip back home to drop off the mistimed mare and pick up the last of her open mares.  

Choice number three, CM Dynamite, proved to be the lucky charm. She took to the breeding, and so Daphne was born. “That’s kind of where we joke and say she was perfect from the start,” shared Gjovig. “It wasn’t what we planned for, but the circumstances were just right, just perfect, and that’s how we got her on the ground.” 

Things only went up from there. The little filly was practically born halter broke and was a favorite of the colt starter she was sent to. When it was time to start her on the barrel pattern, she took to it like a fish to water. While Daphne fell a bit behind while Gjovig focused on her finished horse, Kirks Last Straw (aka Angus), she didn’t let it impact her performance. In one of her first competitive runs, the mare placed in the 2D at an outdoor barrel racing jackpot. But just when Gjovig began to get excited about her progress, Daphne fell ill and was unable to race for an entire summer. By the time she recovered, it was time for the indoor fall races. These presented an entirely new set of challenges, and Gjovig had a tough time adapting to the mare’s style.  

“She was ratey; it was challenging for me. We hit a lot of barrels,” she shared, adding that Daphne’s style was vastly different from Angus’s free-running approach. After a season of trial-and-error, though, the pair finally clicked. Daphne and Gjovig were able to put together a clean run at an indoor spring barrel race. “She inhaled the second barrel, and I actually have a photo… You can see the reaction on my face. I said out loud to her, ‘Wow, good girl.’ That’s the run that got me really excited about her.” 

Then, tragedy struck. On March 7, 2025, Gjovig was on her way to the PRCA rodeos in Valley City and Huron when her trailer was T-boned at an intersection south of Minot. She was trying to fill her WPRA permit and had three horses in the trailer: Angus, Daphne, and a three-year-old filly named Beauty. While Beauty walked away relatively unscathed, Angus and Daphne were both killed. Gjovig herself suffered a severe concussion, which has left her with side effects to this day. In the panic of the accident, Gjovig knew she wanted to harvest Angus’s testicles to preserve some semen for breeding. The conversation regarding logistics also sparked the realization that she wanted to harvest Daphne’s ovaries as well.  

“There was sentimental reasoning behind the decision, but the factors were also there for it to be a smart decision as a breeder,” said Gjovig. Daphne had already shown a lot of promise in the arena, and her pedigree backed up the decision to keep her as a broodmare. “She kept checking off all the boxes to make it worth pursuing the ICSI process.” 

Thanks to the dedicated team of veterinarians, Daphne’s line was given a second chance. Dr. Kelly Schaefer, one of Gjovig’s veterinarians out of Burlington, quickly made it to the scene of the accident to harvest the reproductive organs postmortem. She made arrangements to send them to Colorado State University, and Dr. Erica Schumaker helped coordinate the process and communicate with the team at CSU. Once there, they were able to scrape nine oocytes to prepare for fertilization.  

Lisa Miladinovich, owner of barrel stud Aint Seen Nothin Yet, heard about Gjovig’s situation and offered her access to his semen stored at CSU. His previous success with postmortem ICSI breedings and stellar record in the barrel horse world made him an easy choice for the sire of Daphne’s foal. One of the nine oocytes was able to develop into a fertilized embryo that was successfully transferred to a recipient mare. On Valentine’s Day of this year, Aint She Blessed made her arrival. 

“I know it’s a bit cliché to say, but she already knows she’s special. She already knows me as her person, at least I like to make myself think that, because she comes running and talking to me whenever she sees me outside,” said Gjovig. She loves the spunky little filly and feels immense gratitude to everyone who made her existence possible.  

“I just want to reiterate how much gratitude I hold for everyone who supported me through literally the worst day of my life. There are not words big enough to express how thankful I am to them,” she said. Not only did her local horse community rally around her, but Gjovig also shared that people all over the world reached out offering their sympathy and prayers.  

And above all, Gjovig is grateful for the veterinary team that gave her back a piece of her beloved mare. While losing Angus and Daphne was a tragic setback to her rodeo goals, Mabel represents a bright future ahead.  

“With Mabel, there is a new spark of excitement in my life, igniting new goals and new, big dreams.”