Rodeo Life

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  • Riley Bowen

    Riley Bowen

    Riley Bowen is in her final year of competition in the Kansas High School Rodeo Association. The 18-year-old cowgirl lives near Sylvia, Kan., about thirty miles west of Hutchinson. She competes in the breakaway roping, team roping (she heels for Mari Kate Crouch), and the goat tying. Of all her events, goat tying is her favorite, because “I’ve done it the longest and I like the rush of it.” She also enjoys goat tying practice, in part because of her two coaches, Stacey Ellias and Shelley Meier.

    Her breakaway, heading and heeling horse is an 18-year-old palomino gelding named Haynes, and her goat tying (and backup heading horse) is an eleven year old bay mare named Foxy. Both horses are always looking to see what they can get into, she says. “They are very ornery. They’ve learned that if I don’t latch the gate when I go to feed them, they run at it and run out the gate.”

    Foxy has also gotten into trouble when they are traveling. Riley sets up pens on the side of their trailer, where the hot water heater is located. In the winter, the horse will back up to the heater, and twice she has burnt a piece of her tail on it, setting off the carbon monoxide detector in the trailer. “I always joke that my goat tying horse is trying to kill me,” she says.

    As a senior at Stafford High School, Riley enjoys weights class and her weights teacher, Mr. Sweet. Mr. Sweet used to rodeo so he is more understanding of her schedule and has respect for her sport. Math is her least favorite class; she understands it, but she’d much rather be doing something else, like taking a science class.

    Science comes easily to Riley, which is a good thing, because she’d like to be a plastic surgeon someday. She first learned about plastic surgery when a friend had a bad facial injury, with all the bones on the left side of his face broken. A plastic surgeon repaired his face to where no one can tell that any injury happened. She shadowed a plastic surgeon in Wichita a month ago who has been on numerous mission trips, and her goal is to take her surgery skills on mission trips to help children born with cleft palates and cleft lips. Learning to be a plastic surgeon will require from eight to ten years of schooling, she estimates.

    Riley is a member of the National Honor Society, was parliamentarian for the FFA last year and is secretary this year, is on her school’s honor roll, and is on track to be valedictorian for her class. She also competes in Little Britches Rodeo and is the 2013 Senior Girls Goat Tying champion. Last winter, she won the Heartland Youth Rodeo Association’s all-around title.

    For fun, she loves to go to movies. The movie theater in Stafford shows movies every other weekend, so she and her friends usually go to Hutchinson. Her favorite movie ever is Despicable Me II, and the most recent movie she’s seen is Lone Survivor. If she had her choice, her most favorite thing to do would be to tie goats with Shelley Meier in Garden City. She really enjoys Shelley, Jason, and their three sons.

    Riley will head to Garden City (Kan.) Community College this fall on a rodeo scholarship. She’d like to have horses and rodeo in her life, and someday, she’d like to make at least ten mission trips as a doctor. She doesn’t care where she goes, so long as it’s somewhere where she can help.

    She has a pet border collie, Jack, who is very intelligent. He and Riley won the American Royal novice agility competition a few years ago. Jack sleeps on the floor next to Riley, and if she gave the word, he’d be right there in the bed. She is the daughter of Stoney and Cindy Bowen.

  • Shayne Porch

    Shayne Porch

    Shayne Porch works as a pickup man in the Northwest Ranch Cowboys Association. He grew up on the family ranch outside Wanblee, S.D., the son of Ralph and Dianna Porch. He started rodeo competition when he was eight years old, competing in Little Britches Rodeo, 4-H, and high school rodeo, in the tie-down roping, team roping, and steer wrestling.

    Shayne qualified for the National High School Finals in 1993 in the tie-down roping, and graduated from Kadoka High School that same year. He began  his NRCA competition in 1993, and also joined the South Dakota Rodeo Association. He qualified for the Indian National Finals in 2002.

    After high school, Shayne focused mostly on team roping, occasionally bulldogging.  He quit competing for several years in the late 1990’s, then, while watching high school kids ride broncs, he stepped in to help. They needed a pickup man, and Shayne took on the job. He learned from observing others and plenty of experience. Now he picks up at NRCA, SDRA and high school rodeos, and hopes to add some pro rodeos this summer.

    A good pickup man needs to know horses and bulls, he says. He needs “to be able to read livestock, see what’s going to happen, and be in the right place at the right time.” A good pickup man also needs good horses. “You’ve got to be mounted. I try to make sure I’m riding pretty broke horses. If a wreck starts happening, I have to be in the right place.” He currently has eight pickup horses at his ranch, with a few more young ones that might be worked into the rotation this summer.

    Shayne is married to Heidi, and they have two little girls: Shaylee is six and Haylee is three. The girls love to rodeo with their daddy and go with him about every weekend they can get away. A couple of his pickup horses are their horses. His daughters “come with me to take care of the horses,” he says. And the horses reciprocate. “Those horses take care of those little girls. They’re good babysitters.”

    He has been selected to pick up the NRCA Finals every year since 2008, and the SDRA Finals four times in the past six years. Of all his involvement in rodeo, picking up is his favorite. It’s an adrenaline rush, he says, and the best part is “getting a thanks from a cowboy or a parent if you save their kid, or get him out of a wreck.”  Shayne and Heidi ranch on a place adjoining his parents and run a herd of commercial black cattle.

  • Alvin Davis

    Alvin Davis

    All his life, Alvin Davis has worked hard to promote the western culture and cowboy way of life. At the age of seven, he got bitten by the “cowboy bug”, and devoted the rest of his life to cowboys, ranching, and the west.

    He was born in 1927 in Post, Texas, the son of Glenn and Viva Davis. When he was seven, his parents took him to the Texas Cowboy Reunion at Stamford, where Will Rogers was a guest. Rogers, who was killed two months later, became his hero, and still is, to this day.

    Alvin wanted to be a calf roper, but weighing 140 lbs., “soaking wet,” he knew he couldn’t handle the calves. And at that time, team roping hadn’t made its way from California to Texas. So Alvin devoted his life to the administration side of rodeo and the western heritage. He graduated from high school in 1944 and spent a semester at Texas A&M. But A&M was too far from home, and not what he envisioned, so he came home.

    When he turned 18, Uncle Sam beckoned, and he enlisted for 18 months in the army. He missed fighting in World War II by three months but felt an obligation to enlist; “I felt I owed my country something, since I missed out on the war.” He came home a 19 year old sergeant, and went straight to Texas Tech in Lubbock. During his college years, he devoted himself to 4-H, winning at the county and state levels, and for three years, winning trips to the National 4-H

    His final 4-H project, in 1948, was the first of the numerous cowboy projects Alvin would be involved in. He produced the World’s Original All-Junior Rodeo. All participants, both contestants and directors, were ages 19 and under. It was held in Post, with an afternoon and evening performance the first year. The second year, it went to three days, and in its third year, in 1951, contestants came from three states, and news reels from across the nation covered it.

    In its fourth year, Alvin turned it over to the juniors, and began work on another rodeo project. He formed the American Junior Rodeo Association (AJRA), one of the first youth rodeo organizations in the nation. He served as administrator from 1952 to 1958. The AJRA celebrated its 61st year in 2013.

    People took note of Alvin’s ability to organize and administrate. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) came calling in 1955. They needed an administrator, and Alvin took the job. He set up headquarters for the AJRA and the NIRA in a one-room building he built in Post, decorated with a western theme. In 1958, he turned the NIRA to a new administrator, in good financial shape and order.

    During this time, he held down a fulltime job at the bank in Brownfield, earning $500 a month. His salary with the AJRA and NIRA was $125 a month, and after a short while, his rodeo income was increased by $25 for each association. But he wasn’t doing it for the money. “I wanted to provide a service, and support rodeo, wanting it to be big and great and fine.”

    Alvin didn’t stop at rodeo associations. He brought a cowboy poetry gathering to Lubbock in 1989, having seen it done in Alpine, Texas, and Elko, Nev., and he founded the National Cowboy Symposium and Celebration in Lubbock, the largest such event in the nation, which features cowboy storytellers, poets, musicians, chuckwagon cook-offs, and vendors.

    He also was executive vice-president and general manager of the National Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech, an indoor/outdoor museum with exhibits and 50 structures from historic Texas ranches.

    Alvin worked at the Brownfield bank till 1959, when he moved to Clovis, N.M., to work as executive vice-president and director of banks in Clovis and Melrose, N.M. He and his family spent a year in Clovis before coming back to Levelland, Texas, where he and a partner owned western stores there and in Brownfield. He first managed the Levelland store, but when the partnership split, his partner took the Levelland location and he and his wife moved to Brownfield to operate that store. He was in the retail business for twenty years, selling the store in 1979.

    It was while at a retailers’ meeting for western wear and equipment, that he and a group of men decided to form another organization to meet their needs. The Western/English Retail Association was born, with Alvin as its founding chairman for three years.

    And there are so many other ways Alvin supported, mentored and sustained the western heritage. He announced rodeos, including the NIRA Finals twice and the AJRA Finals. He spent thirteen years as director of the National Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech. He made many appearances as a cowboy poet, writing a poetry book and a children’s book (“A Day in the Life of a Cowboy”). He was a junior 4-H leader for years and often did the work of the county agent, when there was none. He is the only 4-H member to be inducted into the 4-H Hall of Fame, and in 2010, the newly formed National 4-H Hall of Fame.  He and his family raised and showed horses, owning and showing the World Reserve Appaloosa Cutting horse that topped the 1963 sale with a price of $8,300. He also owned a third place world calf roping horse and a national champion two year old halter stallion.

    When his future wife, Barbara Ann Hext, graduated from Texas Tech and moved to Brownfield to teach home-ec, he was waiting on her doorstep. The couple has been married for 59 years and have three children: Bob, who is married to Lee and works for a petroleum company in Houston, Debbie Garland, married to Mike and working as a banker in Jacksonville, Fla., and Todd, who is married to Lena and works for an education center in Lubbock. He and Barbara have four grandchildren.

    Looking back over his years, he’s most proud of all the things western he’s done, to keep the heritage going. His boundless energy and ability to organize have served him well. He is in his eighth decade but going strong: “I tell everybody I’m 86 years young, and except for using a cane to get around, I’m still in good enough physical condition to work day and night. “I thank the Lord that He’s allowed me to be able to do these kinds of things.”

  • Hannah Church

    Hannah Church

    Published in Arkansas Cowboys Association (ACA)

    Hannah Church has a wonderful life. She has a job she loves, she gets to rodeo, and she even bought her first home last year! 
       The 22 year old cowgirl, a member of the Arkansas Cowboys Association, lives in Fifty Six, Arkansas. She’s rodeoed since she was eight years old, winning all-around, breakaway, and goat tying titles in the Arkansas Junior High Rodeo Association and qualifying for the National Junior High Finals in Gallup, N.M. two years. She’s been an ACA member since 2006.
        Her breakaway horse is a 17 year old gray named Skeeter. Her barrel horse is a 12 year old dun she’s had for two years.
        Hannah, who graduated from Timbo High School in 2010 (with nine people in her graduating class), attended North Arkansas College in Harrison, competing in the breakaway and barrels. 
        Now she is employed by United Country Diamond G Realty in Mountain View, selling commercial and residential real estate and auction. “If it can be sold, I do it,” she says. She’s had her real estate license two years and loves what she does, although the hours are long. “I work every hour,” she says. “Last night, I was still sending emails at 1:30 am. There’s never enough time in the day, when it comes to real estate.” But the business has been good to her, enabling her to buy her own home last year. 
        She makes her home in the Ozark Mountains, with the Ozark National Forest on three sides of the property. It’s beautiful country, with lots of deer, turkey, wild hogs, and brown bear. The bears will leave a person alone, but they don’t usually respect property. A few years ago, a brown bear tore apart her barn. As she walked down to feed one morning, she heard him. The bear couldn’t open the fifty gallon metal trash can where she kept the feed, so he picked it up and smashed it flat. He also tore up all the stalls. “They won’t turn and come at you, but you don’t want to mess with one, either.” 
        Hannah has been to the ACA Finals six times, winning the junior barrel racing in 2007 and 2008, the all-around in 2008, and the rookie barrel racer of the year in 2009.  She’s also an International Pro Rodeo Association member. 
        In her spare time, she loves to ride through the forest. She is the daughter of Jay Church and Georgie Church. She works with her mom, and her dad owns Select Cuts, an all-natural meat shop in Viola, Ark.

  • Millie Bankston

    Millie Bankston

    Published in Tri State Rodeo Association (TSRA)
    Millie Bankston is a breakaway roper in the Tri-State Rodeo Association. The Albany, Louisiana cowgirl was six months old when her parents put her on a horse, and “I fell in love,” she says. Growing up on a farm, she helped her dad and grandpa with the cattle work. The rodeo started from there.
        In high school, Millie competed in the Mississippi High School Rodeo Association in the barrel racing and breakaway roping. She graduated from Albany High School and went on to Southeastern Louisiana University, where she ran barrels, making the Ozark Region Finals. She graduated with a degree in general studies.
        Millie got her first Tri-State card in 1999, and has competed at their Finals about a dozen times. She won the breakaway championship in 2012. She is also a Professional Cowboys Association member. 
        She has two roping horses. Striker, a twenty year old bay with a coon tail, carried her to her 2012 title. Her second horse is Rock, an eighteen year old black gelding. Rock is unique. “If a horse can have OCD, he’s got it,” Millie says. “He’s the type of horse that if something is out of place, he notices it right away.” Both of her horses are very loving, she says. “I like to think they’re good at their job. I’m blessed to have two good horses.”
        She first met her husband, Wyman Bankston, when they were at a rodeo, and he was 13 and she was twelve. They didn’t meet again till they were in their twenties, and they married in 2005. He is an “absolute blessing,” she says. “He’s very loving, caring, and very supportive of what I do. But most of all, he’s a Christian.” 
        She works as the office administrator for her husband’s law firm in Livingston. They enjoy being together all day. “We have a wonderful relationship. We’re best friends.”
        She is appreciative of her parents, Harry and Linda Sherman, and all they did for her. “They have supported me since I was five and went to my first horse show. Without them, I wouldn’t have been able to achieve the goals I achieved.” Her dad passed away in 2011, and Millie dedicated her 2012 Tri-State title to him. “He loved to watch me rope.”  
        She is helping the next generation of ropers with her nephew Austin and her cousin Scott, and she knows how powerful rodeo can be for young people and families. It “can make a great impact on young kids, and it’s such a good family sport when there are bad things going on in the world. Rodeo can have such a positive impact on kids.” She notices how Austin and Scott look up to rodeo cowboys. “To be able to be that positive example and to be a Christian example is more important than anything I can do with a rope in my hand.” 
        Millie wants to serve as an ambassador for Christ with her actions and words. “The way God has moved in my life, put me in places, and used me, that’s what counts. You have to speak life into somebody. And if I can use rodeo to do that, that’s what makes me happy.”
  • Don Sunden

    Don Sunden

    Growing up in Ft. Madison, Iowa, Don Sunden wanted to be a cowboy. “We rode horses on my grandpa’s farm; took the buggy to town for groceries, and did all the plowing with horses. We picked all the corn by hand. I lived in the best time period in the world. I’ve seen the horse and buggy and the airplane.” His hometown, Ft. Madison, was the drop off for all the stock going to Madison Square Garden rodeo, hauled in by rail. “I’d go down to the stockyards when I was six until I got out of school. We’d ride the hay wagon and help them feed the stock.” All the western stars would come through – Roy Rogers and Gene Autry – they had their horses there and Don remembers talking to them. Don went into the tool and dye making trade after high school and continued in that trade until he retired. “I did it in high school and then went to a factory and got an apprenticeship. I worked in one factory, then went to a machine shop where we built everything. I was the supervisor there for 16 years and moved around as a supervisor for years.”
    He met his wife in Ft. Madison in 1964, the same year he started with the IPRA as a bull rider and a judge. “We met in Pizza Hut and three months later we got married. She rode barrel horses. I never went to a rodeo in my life that she wasn’t there. She went to every one – She ran barrels up until 1970.” They have one daughter, Sherry. Ron started judging in 1964. He likes the IPRA. “It’s a working man’s deal, so most rodeos are on the weekends. I lived 20 miles from H-C Rodeo company, Tonch Hartsell owned it, and we’d go up there and I’d buck out his young bulls for him. I did all my practicing at his place. When I was well I could ride bulls, but when I got hurt, I’d judge.”
    He remembers a rodeo in 1969, in Green City Missouri. “I drawed the same bull at all three rodeos, and I bucked off all three times. The last time I got thrown 15 feet above the bull, got kicked in the face, crushed my face, broke every rib, both collar bones, and had internal injuries. I went back to the chutes and spit out all my teeth; I thought it was dirt.” They hauled Don to the hospital and he remembers insisting that they take his jeans off instead of cutting them off. “They were brand new,” he said. “They pumped blood in me and told my wife that I had 24 hours, and call the family. They packed my whole body with ice, and I was in there for two weeks because of the swelling of my head and my body. My face swelled up so big – my wife gave them a picture so they could rebuild my face. I had no feeling in my face for seven years.” As his daughter got bigger, they trained futurity horses. She rode in her first IPRA when she was 7. Don moved to her place two years ago. “She was a school teacher for 19 years and was a chiropractor and started 2 High Dollar Ranch Rehabilitation and Conditioning Center – she’s an animal chiropractor and wanted to do more. We bought a hydrahorse swimming pool and we’ve got infrared lighting, five vibration therapy plates, and a hot walker.”
    Don judges about 30 rodeos a year and was selected to be one of the judges at IFR44, along with Ronnie Barnett, Rick Chaffin, and Steve Ratchford. He judges CBRA bull riding, co-sanctioned rodeos and several senior pro rodeos in the states. When he’s not doing judging, he helps his daughter. “We work 16 hours a day, 7 days a week.” The bull riding accident gave Don a different perspective on life. “From that day on every day was a free day – I was supposed to die and I didn’t. I take each day for that day and don’t let anything bother me. Live every day for that day.”

  • Brad Sintek

    Brad Sintek

    There just aren’t enough second chances in life. But for many members of the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association, they are getting their second chance at rodeo life and competition. Due to the twists and turns in one’s life, many have had to forego rodeo in their prime adult years to attend to careers, families, and the demands of everyday life. They didn’t have the opportunity to compete as they would have liked to. Now, in the years after 40, they find that the time and resources are there for them to pursue a dream they thought might have escaped them. So it is with Brad Sintek.

    At 56, with daughters raised and on their own, a successful career well established, he’s now ready to ‘crack out’ on his second rodeo career. “I used to rodeo when I was younger but stopped when I was either 33 or 34. We had two young kids; I had my business to work, so I had to give up on rodeo. It has always been something that I have wanted to come back and do but never had the opportunity until recently. Every time I’d go to a rodeo, I’d dream about doing it but never thought it would happen.”

    Complicating the issue of making a rodeo comeback was overcoming health problems and weight gain. “I thought I was past ever being able to rodeo again because of health problems. My whole family went through a dark spell; my wife had cancer for a second time, then almost died from a blood infection caused by the chemo. I had cancer, my heart quit and I have a pacemaker now. My youngest daughter was in a real bad car wreck. This was while I was in my early 50’s. Everyone is healthy now but I did gain some weight that I had to lose.”

    In the spring of 2013, Brad experienced a life-changing epiphany of sorts. “In May of 2013 I did some soul searching and went on a mission to get back in shape. This went so well, one day in mid-summer while walking across my pasture, it dawned on me that I might be able to go back and ride again. I made this a mission, to get back in shape again. I had been thinking about a rodeo comeback for a month before I said anything about it to anyone. I wanted to mull this over and really be sure of what I was doing. I talked with my wife and she was very supportive. I’m a general manager of a company, and I went and talked to the owner about it and he was okay with it. I think he’d be my traveling partner if he could.” The next step for Brad was to check in with his doctors. “I didn’t want to do anything stupid, so I really needed to get their advice and I did get green lights, for the most part. After that, I made the decision to do it.”

    With a firm commitment to make his rodeo comeback, Brad accelerated his conditioning program. “On top of working out an hour-plus-a-day, six days a week, I started working with a personal trainer two days a week. I wanted to be as physically ready and prepared as I could be. I had been doing low impact and cardio work and then, under the direction of the trainer, I started working on strength and agility.”

    To reassure himself that riding saddle broncs was not a bad idea, he enrolled in a Sankey rodeo school that he attended in December of 2013. “I needed to make sure this was still a good idea and see if I could do it. It didn’t go great there, but it didn’t go terrible either. With each horse I got on, it got better. I came away still wanting to do it so I continued my work to get in shape.”

    Brad used his creativity and engineering skills to build a mechanical bucking horse to further his training. “I don’t have any way to get on practice horses here so I did some research to see what was available and decided that I would come up with my own version that more closely mimics the way a horse bucks. It runs off the PTO of my tractor and I get my wife to run it for me.”

    Brad and his wife, Becky (Rebecca) both grew up in Wyoming and now live outside Sandy, Ore. Their two daughters are Kaci and Brittany (Hull). Becky is involved in showing Red Angus cattle. “She has a 4-H group and she puts on livestock events at our place and I help out where I can.”

    Brad says that he draws inspiration from his grandfather, Elmer Irene. “He was just one of those guys you liked being around. He was a tremendous cowboy, he was known as being great pickup man, and he just always enjoyed life. I’ve always tried to take a page out his book for my own and be like him.” Brad says that his grandfather taught him that attitude is a choice and he explains, “You can chose whatever attitude you want to have, but having a good one is the right choice.”

    His next rodeo will at Wickenburg February 14 – 16 and he says that his goal is to, “…ride the next horse I get on and ride him right. That’s as far as I have planned. But I am going to go as many Senior Pro rodeos as I can and hopefully some in Canada.”

  • Goober Snider

    Goober Snider

    Goober Snider is one of the co-event directors for steer wrestling and has been in the Mid-States Rodeo Association for five years. Goober acquired his name from his parents. “It’s actually a nickname. I was born on the same day as my dad’s best friend that had that nickname too. So I have been called Goober since I was really little and it’s stuck with me.” His given name? Kent.

    As event director, he makes sure the cattle are right for the rodeo, the arena score is set up right, and any issues brought up by competitors are addressed and resolved. For Goober the Mid-States organization is just right and says, “All the rodeos are close and the people you meet are great. They are just good events to go rodeo at. I’ll get to about 30 rodeos each year. But because of my school schedule I sometimes have to work around that.” Besides competing in Mid-States, Goober is a member of NSRA and NIRA.

    He is attending Dodge City Community College where he is about to complete his degree in ag management. “This is my third year in school; I already have an associate’s of science in welding. I have a rodeo scholarship and that helps out a lot with the cost of college.”

    Goober owes his start in rodeo to his brother, Monte. “We used to show cattle when I was young, but when Monte was old enough to start high school rodeo, he talked our folks into letting him get started and I picked it up too. He’s two years older and has been my biggest influence. Monte was the state high school heading in 2009.”

    When it’s time to compete, Goober has a system he puts into play. “It’s about slowing down, doing the basics correct, and reacting to the run. I have a lot of ‘try’ and that keeps me competitive.” Just to be sure the mojo is good, you won’t find him putting his cowboy hat on the bed or carrying any 50 dollar bills. But most importantly, he says, “Don’t wear a belt buckle for a week after you win it. It’s bad luck to put them on too soon so I don’t chance it.” From his good friend and mentor, Steve McKay takes the adage, “Trust your pilot and respect your monkey.”

    Goober is quick to acknowledge the help he has received from family and friends. “There are lots of people that have helped me. First, my brother, he’s helped me out with my horsemanship, and life in general. My parents have always supported and encouraged me in what I do. Steve and Jace MacKay, Taylor Davis, Loren Gorsuch, have all helped me a lot. I’d like to thank my rodeo coach, Kent Crouch, for all he has done for me.”

    The 21-year-old bull dogger is the youngest of the family and along with his brother, Monte, has two sisters, Cara and Randi. His parents are Alan and Kathy Snider. Goober claims Bartlett, Neb. as his home and travels between home and school, a six-hour drive away. “I have a house in Dodge City that I stay at, my brother and I live there together.”

    During the week Goober is carrying 14 credit-hours at school, practicing with rodeo team after school, and working part time at the stockyards. Goals for the future are to continue to rodeo, make it to the CNF, and moving back to Bartlett after his college is complete.

  • Shannon Smith

    Shannon Smith

    As a former performing art dancer, American Professional Rodeo Association (APRA) trick riding performer, Shannon Smith, has moved from center stage recital to center stage act – with a bit more grit and dirt. Still using grace, muscle and style, Shannon has traded her Pointe shoes for a horse, and in less than two years, the trick rider has progressed to presenting her specialty act with Dave Martin and the AFR-36. “It takes a lot of guts, but I love it. I love the thrill and traveling that I have experienced,” she said of the lifestyle change.

    Being the daughter of APRA steer wrestler, Mike Smith, and younger sister of Skip Smith, who is also an APRA steer wrestler, Shannon had every opportunity to get involved with horses, but her interests were occupied with dance instead. “I had nothing to do with horses growing up. My dad was always trying to get me to go out and at least ride, but I just wasn‘t in to it,” she said. “Looking back, it would have been a plus if I would have started earlier though.” While her mom (Fran) does not compete, Shannon says that she is the ultimate rodeo mom and offers her support through it all.

    For 12 years, Shannon specialized in ballet, Pointe and jazz dancing and it wasn’t until after her high school graduation that she was persuaded to buy a horse. Soon after, she purchased her first APRA membership card and began competing in the barrel racing. “I raced for one year and then took a break for a couple of years before returning to perform as a trick rider,” she said. Through her building interest in trick riding, Shannon took her dad’s hazing horse (Bo) and started out in her new trade. “I bought a book to learn how and any time I would run into more experienced trick riders, I would take the opportunity to ask questions and learn more. I owe a lot to Dusti Crain and Loretta Pemberton for all of their help,” she said of her start, but says her parents have been her biggest support. “From traveling with me, to going with me to buy horses, they have been through it all. My dad will even go out to the arena and help me. Even if I say I am scared, he just says ‘I don‘t care, go do it‘,” she said.

    While still barrel racing at local timed events, Shannon is reaching her second year as a performing trick rider and like any other rodeo athlete, she continues to make progress with her craft. “I would like to try to get a Roman riding act put together with my trick riding act and continue to perform with the APRA,” she said of her future goals. She will resume with her main horse (Bubba), a 16-year old Palomino that she purchased a year ago. “It is definitely the people,” she said of what keeps her coming back to the APRA. “Both, contestants and those who run it are so helpful with great attitudes and support. It is a great association and I love it.”

    Outside of the arena, the McVeytown, Pa., native splits her living as a chiropractor billing specialist and working for the United States Postal Service. At 27 years old, she continues to make life changes with a recent engagement to Matt Hoffmaster, who is in the U.S. Army and currently stationed in North Carolina. The soldier showed his braveness through a crowd frontal proposal at the APRA sanctioned Huntington, Pa., rodeo last June, where he rode out on a horse and took to one knee to ask for Shannon‘s hand in marriage. “Honestly, I was very nervous,” admitted the bride-to-be. The couple are planning a 2015 spring wedding.

  • Mikayla Almond

    Mikayla Almond

    A day consisting of feeding horses, school work and then returning to the barn to spend the rest of the afternoon practicing, has paid off for the 2013 Junior Southern Rodeo Association (JrSRA) senior girls all-around champ, Mikayla Almond. “Whether it’s roping the dummy, tying a goat or working with her horses, she’s always doing something to better herself,” said mom, Jeani.

    At only 13 years old, Mikayla has racked up five pole bending championships within the JrSRA, along with being named the 2012 NBHA Youth World Champion 1D barrel racer. In her first year (2013) with the National Junior High School Rodeo Association, Mikayla won state titles in the pole bending, breakaway roping and goat tying, and reserve in the barrel racing. Her impressive rookie stance found her competing in Gallup, N.M., at the NJHSFR, where she returned home as the Reserve World Champion pole bender. Because of Mikayla’s incredible work ethic, in the arena and the classroom, she was one of four kids in the United States, selected to be on the Professional Choice Elite Student-Athletic Team. Meeting the criteria of a 4.0 grade point average and an all-around cowgirl, Mikayla will wear the Professional Choice patch and be rewarded with a credit line through college.

    The JrSRA’s legacy resides in Mikayla’s family and their persistent rodeo heritage. “It is definitely a family thing with all of us kids carrying on the tradition,” said Mikayla of why she likes the JrSRA. The organization began with her great-grandfather (Jack Laws), who was one of whom responsible for starting the organization in the 1950s. It then passed to her grandmother (Debbie Colyer), who was crowned the 1966 JrSRA junior barrel racing champion and later served as the association secretary for 11 years. Then, to her mom, who started out in the association and continues with the SRA. While her dad (Eddie) is currently serving his second term as the JrSRA president, her older sister (Hayley Joh Knox) is a past five-time all-around champion and went on to obtaining her first of two SRA all-around titles at the age of 15. “Hayley is someone who has helped me to become an all-around cowgirl,” said Mikayla.

    Competing fourfold in her third year as a senior girl in the barrels, poles, goats and breakaway, the seventh grader will push forth to win her sixth pole bending title atop her 16-year old horse (Buddy). Buddy, himself, has made a name for himself in the association, winning 10 straight titles as of 2013; carrying Hayley to five prior to being turned over to Mikayla. “He also went on to winning two state titles in the South Carolina High School Association,” explained Jeani.

    Mikayla has set her sights on rodeo seasoning a five-year old (“Floozie” Ta Fame) for the barrel racing. “She has set the goal to have her ready to compete at the Junior High Nationals,” said Jeani. The futurity mare was one of two breeding rights to “Aim Ta Fame” given as a get well gift after shattering her femur in 2008 from Mike and Janell Green. “Her dad worked for the Green’s prior to becoming an independent trainer,” explained Jeani of the connection. “Three years ago, he also accepted a position with the NBHA, where he is in charge of the ground, so travels a lot.”

    Mikayla got her start in the JrSRA at the age of four and through her progression and appreciation for each moment says that her grandpa (Mike Colyer) is her biggest inspiration. “He has been by my side the whole time. He helps me in all of my events and even hauls me when Dad is on the road,” she said.

    A true all-around cowgirl, Mikayla says that she loves all of her events. “My Dad, Mom and Grandpa have taught me everything I know,” credited Mikayla. But if she had to pick, Mikayla says that it’s a tie between breakaway and pole bending. “I just want to place high and be on top,” she said. Early in the season, Mikayla is already sitting first in the standings in the goat tying and pole bending, third in the breakaway, sixth in the barrels and second in the all-around.

  • Clint Humphries

    Clint Humphries

    Holding a strong passion for team roping has set deep roots for Clint Humphries in the Southern Rodeo Association (SRA). “I could rope every day and be completely happy. It’s my getaway time and my stress reliever,” he said. “Rodeoing offers the opportunity to see all of my buddies, while doing what we all love. It‘s just a good ole time.“ Competing in the organization for at least 18 years, Humphries can be found on both ends of the steer as he headed for Corey Honeycutt to capture the finals average in 2009. In the 2013 season, Clint finished in the top 20 of the standings – heading for Alex Brooks and heeling for Jason Tucker. “Going to a SRA rodeo is like going to a family reunion for me. I know and am related to three-quarters of the guys on the timed events side, but that just makes it that much more fun,” he said.

    Growing up on a dairy farm in North Carolina, Clint had horses is whole life, but it wasn’t until 1987 that he bought his first roping horse and kicked off his life style choice. “I went down to Oklahoma City with a buddy who was looking for a horse. I wasn’t even looking, but ended up buying my first rope horse and the guy trusted me enough to make payments,” he explained. “I had always played with ropes, but it just snowballed from there.” Besides competing in the SRA, Clint also enjoys hitting jackpots. “I like to rope a lot, rather than just a few,” he explained. In 2009, Clint was the winner of a brand new truck for his efforts at a jackpot. “2009 was a good year for me, but luck was on my side that day,” he said modestly.

    Clint had gotten his start in the Junior Southern Rodeo Association (JrSRA) and later progressed to the North Carolina High School Rodeo Association, where he qualified for Nationals and competed in Shawnee, Okla., in 1990 with partner Brad Stewart. “I’ve been roping for a long time, but it was one of those things that happened because I followed my friends,” he said. His brother (Caleb) took on the habit as well and is a former SRA roper. “Caleb is good, really good. He got so good, so fast, that it was imperative that he practice on a regular basis to compete at the level he was at, so he ended up hanging it up,” said Clint.

    Thinking that rodeo was something that he had found, Clint discovered at the age of 16 when meeting his dad (Keith) that rodeo had actually found him. “I later found out that my dad had rode bareback horses back in the day,” he said. The family tradition is currently being carried on by his 11-year old daughter (Reagan), who Clint refers to as “Rea-Rea”. Reagan will compete in the 2014 JrSRA season as a quadruple event contender. “I never thought that my little girl would be interested in rodeo, because she was such a princess at first, but she started riding my roping horses and is really into it now,” said the proud daddy. “One of my favorite things about her is that she is very independent and tries to do everything by herself.” With two family members hitting the rodeo trail at full-force, Clint says that it is sometimes imperative to have two rigs on the move. “I would prefer to watch her compete, but when our schedules come to a cross road, I rely on trusty mom,” he said. While his wife (Amy) does not compete, she grew up in the grandstands, as her dad (Leonard Atwell) competed in the SRA in the calf and team roping. “Amy rides and ropes really well, but never went at it. She is a great supporter of us both,” said Clint.

    Living in Lincolnton, N.C., Clint makes his living as a fire fighter for the Charlotte Fire Department and the owner and operator of Humphries Landscaping. His busy schedule can, at times, interfere with his rodeoing. “I haven’t been able to go as hard as some of the other guys, but that doesn’t stop me when I get the chance,” he said.

    For the upcoming season, Clint says that his main priority rests in keeping Reagan going. “When I am able, I will be happy to go just a little bit,” he said. “That little girl has me wrapped around her finger and I am the happiest when Rea-Rea and I can just go out and play on our horses all day.”

  • Michelle Piha

    Michelle Piha

    In her fifth year of competition in the CePRA, Michelle Piha has set a goal to qualify for her first finals. “I didn’t get to go a lot last year because I was trying to get with a new horse, but I want to go at it hard this year,” she strategized. While Michelle could be considered a newbie in the equine world, having only been horseback for the past 15 years, she has surpassed the initial titles and is currently sitting in the top 15 of the CePRA barrel racing standings. “I love the people and the way they are run. The CePRA takes it a step above the local events and provides rodeos on a more professional level,” Michelle said of the organization.

    The oldest of six siblings, Michelle grew up as a bona-fide city girl and was not raised with a background in horses, but in her heart she always knew she wanted one. “I would ride every chance that I could get, which was things like girl scout camp or trail rides on vacations, and then read every book and watched every movie there was about horses. I’ve just always loved them, and now that they are a big part of my world, I can‘t imagine a life without horses,” she described. It wasn’t until Michelle had graduated college and obtained her first job that she finally bought her first horse and several years later introduced herself to the world of barrel racing. “I got a late start, but I’m finally catching up. I would say that my biggest challenge has been juggling work and finding time to ride, practice and haul,” she said. Michelle will take on the cloverleaf pattern upon her 11-year old bay mare “Vana”, whom she purchased about a year ago from fellow barrel racer, Carol Tracy. “Vana’s brother [owned and jockeyed by Tracy] was named CePRA Horse of the Year about three years ago. She is such a nice mare and I would love for her to win the same honor,” she said. In true horsemanship fashion, Michelle considers her horses, not only friends, but partners. “God put them here for us to enjoy, love and care for. I try to do my part by keeping them comfortable, in-shape and by doing anything else that I can to make them strong competitors,” she said.

    Living on a ranch east of Douglas, Kans., with her husband (David), the couple of almost nine years, raise angus cattle in a cow/calf operation. “He is my number one fan and has always supported me, from helping me find my first barrel horse to letting me get out of helping with hay season to go rodeo. He used to ride rough stock and has dabbled in roping, but his shoulder is shot from playing baseball in college and now devotes his time to the cattle,” Michelle explained. For the past 17 years, Michelle has worked for Boeing, but the closing of the Wichita site has caused her to change direction. “Boeing offered me a position in Oklahoma City, but I could not leave my mom who is battling lung cancer,” she said. Four weeks ago she accepted a position as the Director of Program Management for DJ Engineering. “It is a major learning curve. It is really fast paced and I am very excited. The best part is, it is great to want to go to work in a job that you love and then return home to a hobby that you love,” she expressed.

    Michelle’s decision to stay put was based on her mom (Carol McCreary), who was diagnosed with lung cancer. “She has always supported me and is my motivation. Watching her fight just pushes me to want to do the same thing,” she expressed. Michelle’s dad (Tom) also supports her. “He’s not into horses, but is very encouraging even though he teases me about how much better a motorcycle is,” she said. “He has taken on a major role in helping my mom. His devotion has really touched me and his strength inspires me to demand success in everything I do.”