story by Lily Weinacht
Haiden Thompson qualified for the NLBFR for the seventh time this summer and came home with world titles in the junior girls all-around, goat tying, and barrel racing, as well as winning the finals all-around. She won the exact same titles in 2011 as a Little Wrangler, but the 13-year-old’s favorite part of the finals this year was the fact that she and her sisters each took home a world title in the goat tying. “Jacey won the senior girl goat saddle and Hadley won the Little Wrangler goat saddle, so that is awesome that we all won goat saddles.”
Haiden and her sisters with their World Goat Tying Champion saddles – Courtesy of the family
While the cowgirl from Yoder, Wyoming, competes in all of the junior girls events, her favorite is a tie between goat tying and roping. “I’m good at goats, and it’s a fun one to practice, and I love roping! I could rope all day and be just plumb fine.” She heads in the team roping, competing with heeler Landry Haugen, and enters the ribbon roping with her brother Tiegen, who runs the ribbons. Haiden estimates she spends more than 10 hours a week practicing with her siblings. She is the third oldest of eight children, and four of them—Jacey, Haiden, Tiegen, and Hadley—competed at the NLBFR this summer. Their oldest sister, Jamie, is in college, and their younger brother, Turek, recently began rodeoing. The two youngest, Tinlee and Taisley, will likely start rodeoing in a few years. “My older sister Jacey has helped me a tremendous amount. She’s down there practicing with me every day,” says Haiden. “Rodeo is just one of the best sports ever, I think, and it means a lot to have the opportunity to do it. It does take a lot to get up and down the road, and it’s a very big blessing. I’d really like to thank my parents and my siblings for that, and also my sponsors: Jerry Nelson with Frontier Rodeo Company, and Rock and Roll Cowgirl.”
Haiden also competes in the WHSRA Junior High Division. She competed in the NJHFR in breakaway roping, ribbon roping, goat tying, and barrel racing, which she finished fifth in the nation in. The NJHFR kicked off the Thompson’s summer run across the country, followed by the Best of the Best Timed Event Rodeo which Jacey entered, along with the NLBFR, IFYR, and NHSFR. The Thompsons use many of the saddles they’ve won, and keep their buckles in their living room, which also serves as their trophy room. Haiden calculates they’ve won nearly 1,000 buckles.
Their horses are good travelers, and Haiden says they get them out to walk every four hours during road trips. She is the sole rider of Frosty, whom she runs in the barrels and poles, and shares Ruby and Scooby with her siblings. Frosty was Reserve Horse of the Year at the NJHFR this summer. “We stagger times to practice on the horses. I rope a few calves off one horse and get on another horse, and then the next kid down the line gets on a horse,” Haiden explains. The siblings also share animal chores since they have a dog, 10 roping calves, and 20 goats. Before they moved to Yoder, the Thompsons lived on a ranch in Whitney, Nebraska. Their dad, Thorpe Thompson, now runs a hay marketing business in Torrington, Wyoming.
An eighth-grader, Haiden enjoys being homeschooled, and usually studies at a desk in her room. She is studying the body and body systems in health, and after finishing school in the morning, she rides horses and works with several younger horses in the afternoon. “I have one my uncle gave me, and it’ll be an all-around horse,” she says. “I’d like to qualify for the Junior High National Finals again, and I’d like to qualify for the Little Britches Finals again this next year and win a few more world titles.”
