In a word, the 2022 rodeo season has been all about driving for Jimmie Smith from McDade, Texas. Sky-high gas prices aren’t keeping her at home after 2021 almost sidelined her completely. “Last June, I was in a super bad semi-truck accident,” the professional barrel racer said. “That really shook things up. It took my good rope horse and barrel horse out of the trailer for the summer. But through the wreck, I met some really great people and that’s how I got paired up with Viper who kept me in the standings.” Jimmie and Viper landed in the 17th hole last season. Now she’s approaching the year with a new mentality that’s truly paying off.
“Each year it seems like there are different goals. This year I’m just doing what’s best for me and my horses; minding our own business and taking care of ourselves.” Jimmie admits that she’s put a lot of pressure on herself and her mounts in the past three rodeo seasons. “I wanted to make the finals every year and keep up with everyone else by going to all the rodeos; especially over Cowboy Christmas.” Rather than going to every rodeo on the map, Jimmie is picking wisely. She’s hyper focused on competing in the rodeos that her horses will perform well at. “I’m trying to rodeo smarter. I’m choosing rodeos that I enjoy, which I usually have more confidence at anyways. I’ve stopped chasing rodeos and money.” Focusing on her horses is putting the joy back into rodeo as the pressure eases off. It’s a great strategy for Jimmie’s mental game as she’s looking to breach the top 15 this year just as she did for the first time in 2018.
“I’ve rodeoed my whole life and then did college rodeo. I was more of a goat tier and breakaway roper originally. I made the college finals in both of those.” Even though Jimmie’s been a lifelong barrel racer, prior to 2016 it had been a while since she had a top mount to turn the clover leaf pattern. It was in the fall of 2016 that Jimmie found Lena On The Rocks. “I had been looking for a horse that would be the next best thing to raising babies since all my own were still too young to go yet.” Lena was 6 when she got paired up with Jimmie. Their first major event together was the Lucky Dog American Semi Final Qualifier in December. After qualifying for the American, Jimmie realized Lena was something special.
“I was really focusing on my college rodeos, so I was saving Lena to make the college finals. I graduated from Texas A&M in May 2018, we went to the college finals and we entered all the rodeos that summer.” It was Jimmie’s rookie season and she managed to clinch the year-end title thanks to her partnership with Lena. That was the same year Jimmie landed her very first sponsorship contract with 5 Star Equine. “I really appreciate and love the atmosphere that 5 Star provides and all their products are American made. They’re super great to work with as a team.” When Jimmie qualified for the American semi final in 2016, she won herself a pink 5 Star saddle pad. It was her first experience with the brand and now she can’t imagine riding anything else.
“I love my pink 5 Star pads. They keep my horses super happy, and I don’t have any issues with soreness in their back.” Jimmie rarely saddles her horses with anything but a pink 5 Star pad anymore. She enjoys matching her pad with her horses’ boots and her own shirt. She also uses their mohair breast collars to pull the entire 5 Star, usually pink, ensemble together. “I just really like that they keep my horses happy. I don’t have issues in their back, they’re never really sore when it comes to my pads and saddles fitting, they just fit accordingly. And my horses are able to perform to their best.”
Author: Lindsay King
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5 Star Champion Featured Athlete Jimmie Smith
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Profile: Johnny Salvo & Clay Acuna
[ If ever there was a match made in heaven, it was between Johnny Salvo and Clay Acuna during the World Series of Team Roping Finale XV in Las Vegas this last December. The pair grew up together in New Mexico junior rodeo, but life eventually led them both to team roping and, for several years in a row now, the World Series finale. ]
As a first-generation rodeo competitor, Johnny Salvo is no stranger to forging new paths in life. His dad, Bobby, taught him this lesson early and often.
“My dad grew up working on farms and just always liked cattle,” Salvo said. “He owned a construction company and was pretty successful at that, which allowed him to buy a ranch and fulfill his dream of raising cattle.”
At the tender age of 5, Salvo and his two older brothers – Dominic and Dylan – were moved to a ranch just outside of Horse Springs, New Mexico. Salvo describes it as the middle of nowhere, but perhaps the desolation was a driving force behind his desire to become a successful roper.
Much like Salvo, Acuna was raised around the very lifestyle that rodeo was born out of. With veterinarians as parents, Acuna was never short of horses or cattle at home. He first met Salvo through junior rodeos behind the calf roping chutes.
“My dad roped, so I grew up around it essentially,” Acuna said. “When I got to college in Las Cruces (New Mexico State University), I started team roping more.”Young Man’s Game
“My brothers wanted to rope calves and my dad was buying bits from Greg Dutton at the time,” Salvo said. “In my opinion Greg is the best calf horse trainer there is. I was little when he started teaching my brothers, but he started me on the dummy.”
Salvo’s breadth as a roper is illustrated by his past success in the tie-down roping and his ability to swap ends. He won the calf roping at the CNFR in 2008 and 2011 and made the Turquoise Circuit Finals in both calf and team roping in years past.
Both Salvo and Acuna dabbled in calf roping with the PRCA and found their fair share of success in the event. But as life often does, the ropers were taken in different directions.
“I blew out my knee and I haven’t been able to rope calves since, so now I’m just an old team roper,” Acuna joked. “Calf roping is a fit, young man’s sport and you have to work at it a bunch. When you have a full-time job it’s a lot easier to go team rope.”
Acuna eventually found himself in Stephenville, Texas, arguably the team roping capital of the world. With several hundred miles from Salvo’s front door to Acuna’s, it would be easy for the dynamics of their roping partnership to be ravished by time.
They were given a unique opportunity to prove that wasn’t the case when both of their partners were unable to rope in the number 13 in Vegas.
Perfectly Orchestrated
“I originally qualified with Hayden Moore, but they raised both his number and mine,” Salvo said. “I’ve known Clay forever. He qualified with Bodie Baize but then they raised his number. I was actually already going to direct enter with Clay if I didn’t qualify, but everything lined up for us.”
Neither roper had seen the timed event box together for several years, but their individual practice clearly paid off.
“My girlfriend, Catherine Hisel, turned a lot of steers for me in the practice pen before we left,” Salvo explained. “Clay and I roped together once the day before the first round of the finale.”
Salvo left for Vegas a few days early to run extra steers in Wickenburg, Arizona. He found himself hitting a dry spell before running his first steer in the finale.
“I didn’t win a dime out there [Arizona],” Salvo said. “Oren Matthews let me practice on some of his jackpot steers when we got to Vegas, and I think that really helped. It was nice to not be roping for money and just relax a bit.”
When asked about his practice for the finale, Acuna quoted Proverbs 27: 17, “As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.” Acuna sharpens his skills with some of the top professional ropers in the world who also live in Stephenville.
“If you’re the best guy in the pen, you’re probably not getting the most out of your practice,” Acuna said. “I get to rope with guys who are leaps and bounds better than I am almost daily, and they help me out a whole bunch.”Horsepower
A borrowed horse and trailer were part of the recipe for success for Salvo and Acuna.
After selling his trailer, Salvo couldn’t find the right one to replace it before heading north. The rodeo family came in clutch when Lee Kiehne hooked his trailer up to Salvo’s truck. Acuna experienced the same type of generosity, but with the other kind of horsepower.
“I had never ridden this horse until the day before the roping,” Acuna said. “Bodie Baize was the one who taught me to team rope, and he was the one I qualified for Vegas with until his number got moved. In Vegas I rode Ice Nation, who belongs to Bodie’s brother Bobby.”
As a header, Acuna depends on his horse as much as any other but in Vegas the 12-year-old gelding truly made all the difference.
“I’m not a big time reacher. I can’t make a fast run like that, so I have to use my horse more,” Acuna said. “The first steer I roped on him was the burn steer in the 13 and came back as the number two high call.”
Living on a ranch almost two hours from school opened the door to horses and roping for Salvo. Both have become his way of life as he trains and sells roping, ranch and trail horses.
“I really enjoy the horses, it’s just how I’ve always been,” Salvo said. “When we first moved to the ranch, my dad got me a Shetland pony and I begged him to let me move cattle on him. He finally did and I’ve been horseback ever since.”
Most of Salvo’s calf horses were made by his roping mentor Greg Dutton. Many of the horses he’s ridden in recent years come from Todd Hedrick all the way up in Michigan, including the heel horse Salvo won on in Vegas.
Salvo won an additional $10,000 while in Vegas heading on home-grown gelding he calls Mister. Although a smaller paycheck, it’s a special accomplishment for this horseman.
“Every time Todd has a horse he thinks I’ll like, I send him a check and he sends me a horse,” Salvo said. “He really knows what he’s doing and he’s an honest guy. He sent me Spade when he was 2 and I just babied him around because I liked him so much.”
For several years Salvo roped the donkey on Spade, which created both a breakaway and head horse. One day Salvo looked up and Spade was his only heel horse, so he started loading him up for seasoning.
“He was green and is probably just now getting made into the horse that I want him to be,” Salvo explained of the gelding. “He’s a good horse with a really great mind.”Round and Round
When it was all said and done, Salvo and Acuna agree that the first-round steer was their toughest. With a lot of try, the steer left Acuna in the box and Salvo did a double take on his dallies.
A quick-footed horse helped position Acuna to make a quality handle for Salvo coming up behind him. A trip on the corner for Spade slowed up Salvo’s dally, but the duo still clocked an 8-second run.
“We were 6 on our second steer after I necked him quick and Johnny T’d him off,” Acuna said. “Our third steer was in the other arena, and he looked really soft. And he was.”
Acuna said he scored for what felt like forever and credits his mount with making the most of three very different runs. He would’ve ran through the barrier on the short-round steer if he was on almost any other horse he’s ridden in the past.
“That steer was a little stronger than the rest and I actually had my thumb in the dally,” Acuna said. “We were roping for 200 grand, and I decided for that kind of money, they could have my thumb.”
Before the run even started Salvo had decided he was going to take one swing over the steer’s back and throw. This was the highest call back Salvo’s ever been in a World Series finale.
“As fifth high call, we were close enough to smell blood and I just wanted to make the most of the opportunity that we had in that,” Salvo said. “Everyone who roped after us either missed or roped a leg, and we certainly didn’t expect that to happen, especially here.”
Acuna only lost a small chunk of his thumb in that final dally and split $200,000 with Salvo.
“The World Series makes it where a nobody like me can rope, and win, $100,000,” Acuna said. “It was just our day. I’m no better of a header than anybody else there. It was the grace of God and just one of those things were everything worked out for us.” -
Jennie Murray – Time Marches On
There’s no question that rodeo is a generational sport, but how deep does that standard run? As it turns out, it breaches even the far corners of the rodeo office.
When Jennie Murray takes her place as assistant secretary for the 2021 Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, she will be the third generation in her immediate family to hold this position. But it won’t actually be the first time she’ll be making history at the Thomas & Mack.
“When Jennie kept time at the finals in 2005, she was the third generation in our family to do so,” said her mom, Vickie Shireman. “There’s never been a third-generation timer before, until Jennie.”
Like most rodeo legacies, it all started when someone fell in love with a cowboy. Una Beutler was raised with eight siblings, four of which were brothers who all dabbled in rodeo. She traveled to rodeos with her brothers and eventually stock contractors started asking her to keep time for them. And the rest, as they say, is history.
“When mom (Una) married my dad, Jiggs Beutler, she started secretarying all the Beutler rodeos,” Vickie said. “Rodeo was our way of life, so I was just born into it.”
Raising and hauling rodeo stock since 1929, the Beutler family has known little else. Vickie’s grandad, Elra, was one of the original Beutlers who started in the stock contracting business. In the early 50s, that same grandad started Beutler & Son Rodeo Co. with Jiggs.
“I got my timer’s card when I was 16 and then a couple years later, I got my secretary card,” said Vickie who will be completing her 50th year as a rodeo secretary in 2021. “As a kid, my sister (Dollie) and I grew up in the rodeo office with my mom because she was the secretary for my dad.”
As both girls got older, they started helping their mom in the rodeo office. They quickly absorbed everything they needed to know about the job from the unsung expert, Una.Time Stands Still
Just like her mom before her, Jennie spent every summer in the rodeo office as Vickie’s unofficial assistant secretary. Both Vickie and Jennie loved spending their entire summer on the rodeo trail. And now, Jennie is doing the same with her three girls – Josie, 15, Dacie, 12, and Carlie, 8.
“It’s super sweet that the girls get to go on the road, and that they get to experience the same things that I did when I was kid,” said Jennie who, just like her grandma Una, married a rodeo cowboy.
Naturally, Jennie met Dustin Murray at a rodeo she was working with her mom. At the time, Dustin was riding bareback horses for Southwestern Oklahoma State University with his eye on the PRCA circuit.
Also attending Southwestern at the time, Jennie was pursuing a marketing degree while running for the cross-country team. She was still spending her summers on the road with her mom, which was ultimately building her career as a secretary and timer.
“After Dustin and I got married in 2002, then I started working rodeos that he was entered in,” Jennie said. “Scotty Lovelace eventually hired Dustin and taught him the production side of rodeo and he hired me as a timer.”
Scotty sold Classic Pro Rodeo in 2013 and just two years later, Dustin launched Hi Lo ProRodeo. The Murrays were back on the rodeo trail, along with their three girls.
“We visit these cities once a year, but these people all become like family,” Jennie said. “And they really love our girls well, no matter where we are. They have become our rodeo family.”
That rodeo family transcends time itself as multiple generations continue to cross paths at the same events year after year.
“I still go to rodeos that I enjoyed as a kid, but now I get to take my granddaughters,” Vickie said. “It’s neat to go back to those places because of the people there who I’ve known my whole life.”Generation Two
“There was no PROCOM back when my mom was a secretary, so cowboys had to call in and enter the day before a rodeo,” Vickie said of her days spent in the rodeo office with her mom and sister.
Although both Vickie and Dollie have worked in the rodeo office for the last 50 years, they also dabbled in trick riding in the 70s.
Jennie plays rodeo secretary in November 1984 – courtesy 
The youngest Murray, Carlie, playing secretary during a rodeo in Wichita Falls, Texas, in August 2021 – courtesy 
Josie, Jennie, Carlie and Dacie at the Wichita Falls, Texas, PRCA rodeo in August 2021. – courtesy 
Jennie (as a timer) and Vickie (as secretary) at the 2005 WNFR. – courtesy 
Jennie working as a timer as a teenager at the Greeley Stampede while her mom was the secretary for the event. – courtesy 
Jennie with her grandma, Una Beutler, the one who started the tradition of working inside the rodeo office. – courtesy 
Jennie, Dollie and Vickie at the Greeley Stampede – July 2000 – courtesy “JW Stoker was a world champion trick rider and roper, and he was halfway kin to us,” Vickie said. “JW was in Burwell (Nebraska) every year and my sister really enjoyed the trick riding. We were probably 12 or 13 when she told my dad she wanted to learn.”
That following winter JW stayed with the Beutler’s for two weeks teaching Vickie, Dollie and their brother, Bennie, how to trick ride.
“My sister kept at it, but I realized I didn’t care for it too much,” Vickie said. “I was probably 20 when my dad decided he wanted to have trick riding at all his rodeos. I did it for a couple of years, but after I broke my back, I stayed in the office.”
Dollie has also worked at the NFR, first as a timer and most recently as assistant secretary in 2017 and 2018. But it was Una who got the family started at the NFR in 1972, when it was still in Oklahoma City.
Nineteen years later, Vickie was selected as the assistant secretary and the following year she was the secretary, 20 years after her mom. And now 30 years after Vickie’s first trip to the NFR, Jennie will be the assistant secretary.Vegas or Bust
Vickie learned everything she knows about working in the rodeo office from her mom. And she passed that knowledge down to Jennie.
“Back when Jennie was about to get her card as a PRCA secretary, you had to go through a school beforehand,” Vickie explained. “We got special permission from the PRCA office so that I could teach Jennie and my niece, Melissa Nevarre.”
A majority of the information passed through the NFR office in the last 40 years has gone through the hands of a Beutler relative. Vickie is continuing her reign as office manager in 2021.
“This will mark my 26th trip to the NFR as either a secretary, timer or the office manager,” Vickie said. “This will be my 16th year as the office manager. I really enjoy each position, so I don’t have a favorite.”
Like most of rodeo nation, Vickie is excited to see the NFR back in Vegas. Even a month before the event she said the anticipation was tangible among personnel and contestants alike. Working alongside Jennie again is what Vickie is looking forward to most about this year’s event.
Both Dustin and Jennie will have their hands full while in Vegas. Jennie will be learning the finer details of what it takes to be the NFR’s assistant secretary. And Dustin will wrangle the 10 head of Hi Lo ProRodeo horses selected for the bareback and saddle bronc.
“I’m not looking forward to being away from my girls for two weeks, but I am excited about the job itself and everything I’m going to learn from it,” Jennie said. “I’m always wanting to progress as a rodeo secretary and applying to work at the NFR was a surefire way to do just that.”
In years past, Jennie refrained from applying to work at the NFR because she was needed at home as a mom. Now that her girls are more self-sufficient, she felt like it was the right time to apply for the biggest rodeo in the world.
“I really don’t have a favorite rodeo to work, being at the NFR and the RNCFR have definitely been highlights for me,” Jennie said. “But my favorite events are the times when my family is all together.”
Just like Una, rodeo was and is everything that Vickie and Jennie have known all their lives. Perhaps they’ve already started training the next generation of great timers and secretaries without even knowing it. Only time will tell if the Beutler legacy Una began will continue with the next generation. -
OJHSRA Meet the Member: Cheyenne Semmel
Very few people can say their horse shares bloodlines with their role model, but that’s exactly the case for Cheyenne Semmel. Her mare MP One Day Hayday, Sylvia for short, is a first-generation daughter of Dinero just like Hailey Kinsel Lockwood’s mare, Sister. “Sylvia is really fun to ride; I feel like she keeps me safe. She has quite the personality though, she can be really sassy but is also super sweet,” said the Woodward, Oklahoma, barrel racer, pole bender and ribbon racer. Cheyenne has ran Sylvia for just over a year and a half. Sylvia was a step-up horse for Cheyenne between the OKJHSRA’s fall and spring season.
She started out junior high rodeo on Duke, another great mount. In 2018, Duke and Cheyenne were the NBHA OK 07 Youth 3D Champions and won the NWOJRA year-end barrel saddle. The following year followed suit, but this time with Sylvia; Cheyenne once again won the NWOJRA year-end saddle, the Young Guns barrel saddle and tied for first in the NBHA District 7 Youth 1D and 2D Open. “I was really proud and felt accomplished when I won the state championship in the NBHA youth, but I also am proud of myself when people talk about me being kind both inside and out of the arena.”
Cheyenne is simply thankful every day that God blessed her with good horses, the ability to rodeo and all the people who have helped and encouraged her. That’s something Cheyenne said she also admires about Haley. “I’ve learned that you don’t always win, but good things will still come out of it. You can learn from your mistakes and you always have the opportunity to do well next time.” These are all lessons Cheyenne has learned from first-hand experience, but she has also watched her parents – Lacey and Jason – lead by example. “My parents always help me work on my events and they encourage me. I’m very thankful for them. My dad always hauls me to rodeos and my mom helps me with horses at home.” Cheyenne’s sister – Callie, 8 – is also an avid rodeo competitor. “It’s fun to see how much she has grown and the difference between us; how she is good at one thing and I am good at another.”
Working hard and having fun go hand-in-hand for Cheyenne. Learning how to make adjustments when something isn’t working proves to be a challenge for this 12-year-old, but she’s working hard at learning from her mistakes and using them to her advantage. “I just really want to work hard and have fun. I practice as much as I can, but sometimes I just ride around for fun. I like to spend quality time with my horses.” Just like her fellow OKJHSRA competitors, Cheyenne hopes to make it to nationals next year as an 8th grader. “The competition in the OKJHSRA is very tough, so it makes me push myself a lot harder. I also have lots of fun and love all the people I meet.” Although Cheyenne enjoys all the rodeos, her favorite is in Thomas, Oklahoma. “I just like having fun with my friends and I really like the shaving cream fight we always have there.”
This Woodward Middle Schooler aspires to one day become a physical therapist. “One time I hurt my knee and I had to go to physical therapy for it. I want to do something that helps people, but I am not very good with blood. I decided physical therapy was the way to go.” Cheyenne got her first pony at just 2 years old and got led around the barrels at the local round-up club. At about the same time, Cheyenne took up dancing at the local studio. She continues to dance in tap, jazz, lyrical and ballet to this day. Of course, rodeo is her favorite sport, but Cheyenne enjoys mixing it up between rodeo, basketball and dance. -
NMHSRA Meet the Member: Natalie Larabee
At 16 years old, Natalie Larabee is the youngest of four – Emily, 25, Morgan, 20, and Lindsey, 21. She’s also the only one of her siblings who got serious about rodeo. “When I was little I can remember always going to small rodeos with my family. My dad has always owned horses and roped a little, but nobody in my family has ever competed at the level that I do. It’s something that I have explored on my own,” said the 16-year-old. And the level Natalie is talking about just so happens to be nationals. In the 8th grade, she took 8th in the nation in the goat tying. As a sophomore, Natalie is looking to get back to one of the biggest stages of high school rodeo.
“A week before state last year, at a local rodeo, I was getting some runs in when my breakaway horse kicked me in the knee.” Sitting third in the state, all Natalie had to do was tie clean and she would punch her ticket. “I drew a really good goat, but my knee was really bad and I fell during my run.” Natalie missed nationals by only two points. After state finals, Natalie didn’t rodeo or play sports while letting her knee heal properly. “I just had to realize it wasn’t about winning, it was about the process of getting there. Sometimes I lose focus of the bigger picture of rodeo.” As a five-event athlete, Natalie has a lot to capture her attention.
Sitting third in the state for goat tying, Natalie is hoping to recreate her first trip to nationals. “That was one of my favorite trips ever. My whole family got to go, even my grandparents from Nebraska came up.” Eight days in a horse trailer with her entire family and parked right next to her teammates was heaven for Natalie. Meeting people from all over the globe was just a fringe benefit. “I really love the environment of rodeo and how it is based a lot on faith. Everyone is so friendly too.”
It was a couple of friends that got Natalie into rodeo in the first place and they have only continued to bolster her decision to make it her main priority as a sport. This New Mexico transplant now lives in Midland, Texas, but continues to rodeo in her home state with the NMHSRA. It’s her friends that Natalie misses the most about her hometown. “New Mexico is a lot smaller than Texas, so we are really tight. I’ve roped with most of my friends my whole life.” Natalie only recently started team roping at more than just jackpots. Learning the ropes of her other four events – barrels, poles, goat tying and breakaway roping – from scratch set her up for success. “I’ve always known how to team rope and done it with my friends, but once you get in the arena to be serious about it the game changes some.”
Dan and Cheryl, Natalie’s parents, have learned a lot about rodeo right alongside their youngest daughter. “My dad has always been a coach for one sport or another. He knows how to break things down for me so I can understand them better. And he’s really good at focusing on the little things that make a big difference.” One of those details is follow through in roping. Natalie compares it to the follow required for a nothin’ but net free throw. “Rodeo has really made my mom and I get close. We both have a special love for it, so we have learned it all together and that’s been cool.” Still undecided between becoming a veterinarian or breaking into the world of business, one thing is for sure: Natalie doesn’t plan on leaving rodeo in the wake.
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Brandy Schaack is letting God take the reins
“God has a plan and I am just living it. That’s all I can do,” said Brandy Schaack, from Hyannis, Nebraska. The 23 year old was diagnosed in March with non-Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. “He dealt me this hand and I just have to keep going because I know I will get through it.” She finds her strength in knowing that if God brought her to it, he can bring her through it. This is how Brandy has always been and perhaps accounts for her success in the arena and on the court.
“Since I started competing, rodeo has been my niche. I have never not wanted to rodeo, said the 2015 Nebraska Class D2 top five three-point shooter for basketball. She was certainly never bored growing up. In addition to qualifying for the NHSFR, Brandy was an all-star athlete in both volleyball and basketball while being an active member in her FFA. “It was hectic for sure, but we managed. When I got home from practice, my mom would have the horses at least caught if not completely saddled for us. We roped until it was dark, did homework and then went to bed just to do it all over again the next day.”
When the time came for Brandy to decide on a college (2015), volleyball and basketball almost won out. “It was a hard decision to make actually, but I knew that I loved rodeo so much more than anything else.” She made the 2016 CNFR in the breakaway roping while competing for Northeastern Junior College in Sterling, Colorado. This was nothing new for Brandy though, as she made the high school finals in breakaway three years in a row (2013-2015) and once in the barrels (2014). This past fall was shaping up to be just as monumental as the previous ones. This past January, Brandy was set to rope in the American semifinals. That’s also when she unknowingly strapped into the roller coaster ride that has become her life.
She was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis (UC) in late January. This University of Wyoming elementary education junior simply saddled up and dealt with it. Brandy went back to school competing on the rodeo team immediately. However, she was left with a compromised immune system that makes her very susceptible to catching any and all air-born sicknesses.
“My mom and I got back on a Sunday night (March 24) to my apartment at school after Torrington’s college rodeo. My leg felt like it was constricted. I just thought I had pulled a muscle or something. It got bad enough that by Tuesday night I couldn’t walk, so I went to the ER.” Brandy was sent home with what the ER diagnosed as a strained muscle. Luckily, procedures for Brandy’s UC and a worrisome lump were scheduled for that Thursday in Scottsbluff, Nebraska.
“I’ve had a crazy life ever since then,” Brandy jokes about the last four months that eventually landed her in a Denver, Colorado, hospital in late April. “A blood infection traveled to my right leg and caused compartment syndrome.” This was why Brandy could not walk on it so suddenly at the end of March.
If there was a good time for her leg to get infected, that was it. “The doctor said I needed surgery on my leg right away.” Doctors made two cuts from Brandy’s knee to her ankle on either side of her shin bone to release the pressure. “I am going to have some pretty sweet scars. They said I could have picked up the infection anywhere. It was basically like strangles in horses. The Scottsbluff doctor said I am only the second person he has ever seen with this.” They will never know where exactly it came from.
“I had three procedures back-to-back that day in Scottsbluff while I was under anesthesia. When I woke up, they told me I have cancer.” Initially, the doctors in Nebraska were only worried about the cancer they found in the suspicious lump. When the staples came out of Brandy’s leg two weeks later, a PET scan revealed it had spread quickly to her liver and bones with small spores all over her body. “We were given a referral to Dr. Haverkos, a specialist in all types of lymphoma cancer. My family and I traveled to Denver on Sunday, April 14. That night, before my appointment with the cancer doctor, I couldn’t walk again. We had to do another surgery on it. And because of that, we had to wait to start chemo because it would prevent my leg from healing .”
On April 26, Brandy started her first round of chemotherapy. She spends five days in treatment at a hospital and then goes home for 16 days before coming back for more. “My leg is in a splinted cast. We are just balancing my leg and chemo right now. I have a pic line sewn into my arm that I can give myself antibiotics for the infection in my leg.” During those 16 days at home, Brandy gets blood tests twice a week just to keep an eye on everything. Nothing about Brandy’s demeanor hints that she is afraid of the future, mostly because she isn’t scared of the unknown. At no point in this journey has Brandy felt alone; that comes from the support of her family, friends and community. “I don’t think I can name everyone that has reached out or been there for me. The rodeo community has been phenomenal. People I have not seen since high school are reaching out. I just want everyone to know how loved and supported I have felt through all of this.” On that same token, the University of Wyoming has shown Brandy their support as well. “I love the university; they have been really great to work with through all of this. Most of my professors have come up with academic plans so I can finish out the semester.”
Brandy’s goal of becoming a kindergarten teacher to fulfill her love for children has not changed. Neither has her passion and drive for rodeo. However, her perspective has shifted. “This has kind of opened my eyes to the fact that there is more to life than just rodeo. We all want to be at the top and doing our best, but your overall health has to come first.” As Brandy heads into an estimated 18 weeks of chemotherapy, she is letting God take the reins. She knows He has a reason for His timing just the same as she only throws a loop at precisely the right second.