WHAT IT MEANS
Winning the year-end means a lot to me because of all the struggles I have had throughout the year and to see the hours I have put in pay off and to accomplish the goals I set at the beginning of the year.
MANAGING CHANGE
My number kept changing and that was really difficult. I’d get my partners lined out with my new number and they’d bump me again, so I was [always] trying to get new partners. It was like getting thrown another curve ball every time you thought you had something figured out.
HEALTH SCARES
In June, I was in the hospital for an allergic reaction that had me in the hospital for four days.
Then, in July, I broke my hand. We had just gotten back from the Guthrie US roping and went on vacation. I broke it playing volleyball with my dad (I’m kind of competitive), and they put pins and wire in it the next day. I wasn’t cleared to rope again until Labor Day weekend, and even then I was having trouble with it.
I also just got out of the hospital again. I started feeling pain in my side the Sunday after Thanksgiving, but I kept roping and getting ready for Vegas, which was just a few weeks away. Then on Wednesday, the pain got really bad and my mom took me to the ER when I said I couldn’t rope anymore. What we thought was a tumor turned out to be a, ovarian torsion due to a late cyst—a very large cyst with smaller ones around it. I had surgery on Friday and came home again on Sunday. I’m cancer free, so we are very happy. I don’t think I can rope in the All-Girl at The Plaza in Vegas unless I really start feeling better, but I will be roping in the Junior NFR #10 with Kaleb Macias.
TWO-SIDED COIN CALLED LIFE
It’s been a great year and a really terrible year all in the same boat. With the Cinch All-Girl, luckily I got a good enough lead before I got hurt.
LESSONS LEARNED
The biggest lessons I’ve learned were mainly just how to win in different setups and how to not let the pressure get to me.
Especially in the beginning of the year, I let the pressure get to me and I didn’t do quite what I needed to do but, by the end, I feel like I stayed more solid.
SWITCHING SIDES
I decided to heel in the all-girl championship at the Finals. That was kind of a last-minute decision. I usually don’t heel. After the first of the year I’m going to try to start heeling mostly for the all-girl ropings because there are so many girl headers, but not many girls heel.
THE RIGHT MOUNTS
Fritos carried me through the whole year. I’m really thankful for him; he’s an amazing horse. In fact, I just got a new one to try and back him off. Maui, she’s who I’m heeling on now.
I took her up to Oklahoma as a backup just in case something happened to him but, luckily, nothing did. I used her in Guthrie to let him rest up for Oklahoma City, but I did try to heel on her cause she’s who I’d been practicing heeling on before we left. They’re both amazing.
I’m going to take both of them to Vegas, but I’m probably just going to stay on Fritos because with all my surgeries and everything I’ve had, I think I feel a little bit more comfortable on him just because I’ve had him for so much longer.
ON TO THE NEXT SEASON
Next year, I’d like to win the Cinch again, and I’m just going to see how the year goes; how everything falls.
