story by Ruth Nicolaus
Austin McCalister is about to begin his first year of competition in the Louisiana Junior High School Rodeo Association.
The eleven year old cowboy competes in the tie-down roping, goat tying, breakaway roping, and ribbon roping (as a roper for his cousin, Marcie Mae Mudd.)
Austin, who lives in Jefferson, Texas, competes in the Louisiana association so he can rodeo with his cousins and be closer to family.
He is in the sixth grade and is homeschooled at River Crossing Cowboy Church in Marshall, where he loves spelling but isn’t a big fan of math. He plays baseball, where he is the pitcher, short stop and second baseman.
For his events, he rides a 24 year old gray horse named Little Gray. Gray is calm and collected in the arena, but when you put his headstall on him, sometimes he’ll jerk back because he doesn’t like anyone touching his ears.
The McCalister family has two pet dogs, almost “2,000” barn cats, (according to Austin’s count), chickens, ducks, and rabbits. One of their dogs is a blue heeler, Terrell, who loves to see her family when they come home. The other dog, a Jack Russell, is named Cowgirl and spends most of her time in the woods. Of the 2,000 cats, they’re all named “Black Cat,” even though some are orange. Some of them are wild, some of them are tame, and one of the “Black Cats” just had six babies.
Austin loves his mom’s chicken spaghetti and brownies, and for a snack, his favorite is dill pickles, honeybuns, and nearly any kind of Oreo: the regular kind, mint, and birthday cake Oreos.
Austin has competed in the Pineywoods Youth Rodeo Association and the Winners Youth Rodeo Association in Terrell, Texas. He’s also been to the Joe Beaver Roping, where he won the third round in September. He’s a regular at the Martha and R.E. Josey ranch, as well.
When he grows up, he’d like to be a pro rodeo cowboy and compete in the tie-down roping, team roping and steer wrestling.
Austin has a younger brother, Devan, who is eight. He is the son of Dean and Wendy McCalister.
