For the Bartleys and Veatches, the rodeo is all in the family.
“My mom, ever since she was little, she had ponies at her house and she rode them everywhere, then my dad team-roped a little,” Angela Bartley says. “I pretty much grew up in the rodeo atmosphere.”
“I’ve done rodeo since I was 3 or 4,” Cheyenne Veatch says. “It’s pretty much been my life growing up.”
“My dad and grandpa started me since I was young enough to ride a horse,” Kevin Veatch says.
Next week, the spotlight will be on the three youngest members of the Bartley and Veatch families. Angela, Cheyenne and Kevin qualified last month for the National High School Rodeo in Farmington, N.M., by finishing in the top four at the the State competition.
Angela, 16, won in breakaway roping and finished second in pole bending, and will compete in both events at Nationals for the first time.
Cheyenne, 17, finished third in barrel racing and will return to Nationals for the second straight year. And little brother Kevin, 15, will make his first trip after a fourth-place finish in the cutting competition at State.
All three will be accompanied to Farmington by Mom and Dad. The kids in both Emporia families grew up watching their dads compete. Grandpa Harry Veatch was in the rodeo. Older sister Michelle Bartley made it to Nationals during her high school career and now competes in the rodeo at the collegiate level at Northwestern Oklahoma State.
Angela hopes to one day follow her sister to NWOSU. But first, she wants to repeat her sister’s success at the high school level. Michelle made Nationals in 2004 and won the pole bending competition in the rodeo competition that both Angela and Cheyenne are competing in this week, the IFYR in Shawnee, Okla.
“She won on the same horse that I ride,” Angela said. “We’re hoping to maybe repeat that, because it was her sophomore year and this is my sophomore year.”
The horse Angela rides in pole bending is Bugs, whom Angela started riding at last year’s State meet. She also rides her sister’s old horse, Stitch, for roping. She’s started to feel comfortable this year on both horses, which has been the big difference from last year. Angela is no stranger to National meets, as she competed in the junior high competition in Gallup, N.M., in sixth, seventh and eighth grades.
“It was great,” she said. “I learned to try to turn pressure — because there was a lot of it down there — into adrenaline. ... I love pressure. A lot of people don’t like it and they don’t take it very well, but I love pressure.”
While Angela loves pressure, Cheyenne will go to Nationals this year with less of a burden on her shoulders. Last year, Cheyenne’s horse, Tip, cut his back foot and was in a cast during the three weeks leading up to Nationals. Tip did not make the trip to Shawnee, but he returned for Nationals. Even with a hurt horse, Cheyenne finished 30th.
Cheyenne is already showing what she can do on a healthy horse. Cheyenne is seventh after the first round at the IFYR this week, the final tuneup before Nationals.
“I’m hoping to make it back to the short go, and hopefully bring back the championship saddle,” Cheyenne said.
Kevin’s aspirations are not quite as grand as his sister’s. After all, he’s making his first trip to Nationals, and he just started competing in cutting in October.
“Most of the kids, it takes forever to learn this, and they said I picked it up fast,” Kevin said.
Kevin wanted to cut, because his Grandpa Harry, who died in February, was also a cutter, and Harry gave Kevin lessons. Kevin said he’ll be thinking about his grandpa next week.
Angela will be the first to compete at Nationals. Pole bending starts Monday night and the finals are July 24. The breakaway roping starts Wednesday morning and wraps up Wednesday night.
Cheyenne will be next up with barrel racing, beginning Tuesday night. The finals are Thursday morning. The boys cutting competition begins Wednesday morning, and the finals are Wednesday night.
Cowboys and cowgirls from the United States, Australia and Canada will be competing.
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