Kaitlin Gustave: You won the #10 Gold Plus and the #13 at the Southern Colorado Classic. Tell me a little about your weekend.
Anna Gregory: I had a good weekend—I had a good weekend because I won the #13, I won fourth in the #11 and I won the #10 Gold Plus. We were 43.28 on four head in the #13, 45.36 on four in the #11 and 47.41 on 4 in the #10 Gold Plus. They have that roping every fall in Pueblo, Colo.—They usually have two in Pueblo every year. They have one in the spring and one in the fall. I always go to the one in the fall because it’s my nephew’s birthday. So that’s usually how we spend birthday parties.
KG: What horse were you roping on?
AG: I actually had taken a young horse to season because I left my two good horses at home. I’ve got two horses that I’ve been trying to haul a little bit and take them to new places and get some runs on them so my good horses don’t have to come, and then I’ll have something to replace them with here before too long. I was riding a horse named Hickory. He is 7 years old.
KG: Who were you roping with for each win?
AG: In the #13 I was roping with a fellow named Garrison Nippert— he’s from Oklahoma. In the #10 Gold Plus I was roping with a gentleman named R.P. McElreath, and he is actually my uncle.
KG: Do you rope with these partners on a regular basis?
AG: I rope with my uncle a lot. We rope in the #10 quite a bit. We actually won a spot last year to Vegas and won a little money in the #10 out there. I rope with Garrison on and off if we’re in Oklahoma and I need a run. Not a lot—but he is somebody that I do rope with once in a while
KG: What was you’re game plan going into the ropings?
AG: I didn’t have any nerves or anything like that. Pueblo (Colo.) is actually one of my favorite places. I’ve won a ton of stuff there because I grew up in Southeast Colorado. I showed horses, we high school rodeoed, and everything was right there so I’m pretty comfortable at the State Fairgrounds. So my plan was to go get them caught because that’s all we had to do—was go get them caught.
KG: Outside of roping, what’s your full-time job?
AG: I’m a sixth grade math teacher here in Amarillo (Texas).
KG: You mentioned roping with your uncle. Can you tell me a little background on your family?
AG: At Pueblo, my uncle was there who I roped with and my aunt and my mom and dad came up and watched. My mom’s side of the family ropes, and we’ve roped our entire lives. Everyone in my family ropes. John, my husband, was there and he was roping and usually my brother and nephew would be there roping but they were actually at a junior high rodeo that weekend so he didn’t even get to celebrate his own birthday party.
KG:What is your head number?
AG: I’m a 5 Elite.
KG: Do you rope on a daily basis?
AG: Yes, I come home and change clothes and saddle four to five horses a day, especially when the weather’s nice. I have seven horses that I can rope on and five that I can haul. We rope almost every day, or if we don’t run a pen of steers we at least rope the dummy, and I try to get everything exercised. It’s after dark by the time we get in the house.
KG:Is there anything specific that you work on?
AG: Oh everything. I’m always working on scoring. I’m riding some young horses so handling steers is probably my biggest thing that I work on. If I can make it easier for the heelers then they catch and we win. I try to set up the run as good as i can. There’s always something to work on—roping them faster, handling them better, facing and getting my rope up quicker.
