story by Lindsay King
Faith, family, friends and rodeo sums up 13-year-old Callie Sellers’ life in Meeker, Oklahoma. She is a cowgirl with aspirations to one day go on multiple mission trips as well as visit every country in Europe. Callie loves to study math and science at Meeker Junior High School where she also runs track. She competes in the long-distance events, running the two- and one-mile relays as well as the 800-meter race. Callie is a well-rounded athlete, she is a guard for her basketball team and plays second base in softball. This spring she graduated valedictorian of her eighth grade class. Ever since she was little, Callie has wanted to become a neonatal doctor.
Callie first started to rodeo when she was seven years old, her brother Garrett, 16, got into rodeo first and she followed right along behind him. “I went to all of his rodeos to watch and I decided I wanted to give it a try.” Callie now competes in breakaway roping, goat tying, barrel racing and pole bending on her three Quarter Horses. Twenty-three-year-old Gizmo, a blue roan gelding, is her oldest mount who she uses for poles and breakaway. Lizzy, a 17-year-old bay mare, is her goat-tying horse and Jojo, a three-year-old red roan gelding, is a colt Callie hopes to use as a future barrel horse. She also has three Australian shepherds: Annie, Ranger and Cowgirl.
“Hard work beats talent when talent doesn’t work hard,” Callie lives and rides by this quote. All of Callie’s horses live at her house and they have an arena to practice in. She gets to practice with her brother who will sometimes hold the goat for her when she is tying and in return she will open shuts for him when he wants to practice his steer wrestling or roping. “We try to practice everyday but sometimes sports get in the way, with track meets or games.” Callie loves to ride fast horses, in fact, when she first saw barrel racing that is what peaked her interest in the sport. Her favorite event now is goat tying because she gets to step off a fast horse. Her dad Michael taught Callie and her brother both how to ride as well as rope. He was once a team roper but stopped after a shoulder injury and joining the Oklahoma City Police Department as a homicide detective. Callie’s mom Ashley is the Oklahoma Junior High School Rodeo Association secretary; though she does not have a background in rodeo Callie says she is their biggest fan in the stands.
Corn nuts is a favorite snack for traveling to rodeos, a sort of good luck charm for Callie and Garrett. “We usually go every weekend during the school year but during the summer it dies down a bit so we just go to some open rodeos.” Callie’s favorite part of competing in the OKJHSRA is the ability to compete with her friends from across the state. “One of my rodeo friends’ mom helps me a lot when we are at rodeos.” In 2015 she was in the top 15 in poles for OKJHSRA and in 2016 she finished in the top 15 for goat tying. She also competes in the Central Oklahoma Junior Rodeo Association where she won barrel racing in 2014 and reserve all-around in 2015. She recently competed in OKJHSRA finals in Woodward, Oklahoma, where she finished seventh in goat tying. When she finally does have free-time, Callie chooses to spend it taking care of her animals, spending time with her family or out fishing.
