story by Riata Christiansen
Beretta Bradford is a fifteen-year-old eighth grader at Salem Jr High School. His favorite subjects include math and history, due to his good teachers. He lives in Salem, Utah, and despite the fact that there aren’t many rodeo people, everyone is nice, and Beretta enjoys living there. He is the second oldest and has an older sister, Brooklyn (17). He has one younger brother, Brit (12), and two younger sisters, Brynlie (10), and Brielle (8). Their parents are Tracie and Cody Bradford.
As a family, they spend most of their time roping or rodeoing. But they enjoy vacations and used to live in Hawaii. They lived there for five years and ran a dude ranch. Beretta played polo there and roped a little. When they moved back in 2015, there was no polo to play. Beretta started to follow the family tradition of rodeo, passed on from is great grandparents through his father. His dad is hero because he always works hard. His mother is their biggest supporter, attending every rodeo and always having dinner for them after practice. Her hard work keeps them feeling good and looking sharp for the rodeo.
He competes in tiedown roping, team roping, ribbon roping, and boy’s goat tying. His favorite is calf roping because it has a little more action for him. So far, his favorite rodeo has been the Utah Junior High School Finals or the International Silver State Rodeo, where he finished second in the average in team roping. He recently became the 2018 Jersey Jerkdown Champion and has had some success at various team ropings. This year he hopes to be a state champion and compete at the National Junior High School Rodeo Association. He practices every day, either roping the dummy or with his brother. The family has ten horses, but Beretta’s favorite is Roany who belongs to his Grandpa Clyde.
He practices with his little brother, and his partner at the rodeos is Howdy Jackson from Roosevelt, Utah. He receives help with Chris Hanks, Bryce Davis, Rhett Anderson, Witt Hill, Clint Robinson, and Jerry Christensen as well as most of their sons. He enjoys learning from them and appreciates all the help they give. Eventually, Beretta would like to college rodeo and rodeo professionally. He lives by the saying, “I’m not the biggest, I’m not the strongest, I’m not the toughest, but I can outwork everybody”. It’s sometimes hard for him to compete against his brother, but he tries to outwork him and everyone else. This determined attitude is just one of the many reasons Beretta is such a talented and successful rodeo athlete.
