Quincy Montoya finished the 2022-2023 high school rodeo season as the number three cowgirl in the world in the goat tying.
The Hesperus, Colo. cowgirl, a Colorado High School Rodeo Association member, competed at the National High School Finals rodeo in the goat tying and the breakaway roping.
The feeling of being nearly at the top was a great one, she said. “It was awesome. It was honestly an unbelievable feeling that not a lot of people get to experience.”
At Nationals, her first run of 7.4 seconds was a “business run, to get me past,” she said. Her second run was 7.5, with a “pretty good goat, but he shot left and I got off a little late, which caused me to fall and cost me a little, but it was still a good run.”
In the short round, she was a 7.4. “I knew I had to stay consistent and make runs like I’d made all week.”
She also competed in the breakaway at Nationals, catching both calves but not fast enough to get to the short round.
Quincy’s goat tying horse is Leroy, a pony who the family got last fall. He’s a “crazy little guy,” she said. “He thinks he’s a stud. He has a really long mane, a long forelock and a long tail. He thinks he’s the most handsome thing ever. He’s wild.”
For the breakaway roping, she rides a sixteen-year-old palomino mare.
Quincy also competes in the barrels, but didn’t last spring. She rode a twenty-year-old horse, winning state on him in eighth grade, but after that, a mountain lion chased him through a fence, so he was out, due to injury. He’s recovered, but it’s time for him to stay home more.
She and her sister Rhiley are training a promising young horse named Jags who is a fast learner, really quick, and making good progress. Quincy started him and Rhiley is putting the barrel training on him.
A senior at Mancos High School, Quincy is a member of the National Honor Society and is on high honor roll. With thirty kids in the senior class, she likes the small-school feel. “It’s like a little family.” Her favorite teacher was Mrs. Farrar, her freshman and sophomore English teacher. “She was so understanding and so helpful. Even though she knows nothing about rodeo, she’s always asking me about it. She’s a really good person.”
She also plays high school basketball and doesn’t miss much of March Madness. She fills out several brackets, and during the day, watches games on her phone at school. Sometimes the teachers catch the students watching and aren’t happy, and sometimes the teachers ask what the score is. She’s a big Duke fan.
The best meal Quincy’s mom makes is corn chowder. She loves ice cream, especially cotton candy ice cream, and she got her fill of it at Nationals, along with a serving of salted caramel ice cream. “It was so amazing,” she said.
This past summer, Quincy worked in a real estate office, which she really enjoyed. She did a lot of the online marketing, taking pictures and making brochures.
She will compete in college rodeo next year, hopefully in the Southwest Region, “because it’s so competitive and tough there.”
Her sister Rhiley is a sophomore at Cisco (Texas) College.
She is the daughter of Jesse and Kerri Montoya.

Story by Ruth Nicolaus

Photo by Acentric Rodeo