story by Lindsay King
Following in her dad’s footsteps means divulging from training cutting horses in favor of rodeo horses for Haley Brown from Ponca, Nebraska. Her parents, Rod and Holly, roped long before Haley and her younger sister Cheyenne were born. “My dad has ridden colts his entire life. I rode cutting horses starting when I was nine until I was a freshman in high school.” Barrel racing and roping looked like more fun so the family traded their cutters for rodeo horses. Haley graduated from South Dakota State University in 2015 with a dual degree in agricultural science and animal science. That summer she made a trip to the CNFR where she placed eighth in the breakaway roping.
“I did not know what I wanted to do after graduation, so I bought some cows to put on the family ranch in South Dakota. I decided I should ride horses for people since I love to ride so much.” Haley has been training out of Ponca ever since. The indoor barn was built three years ago and one year later Haley started her tack and feed store. “There are not many tack stores around here, so I opened Fringe and Feathers right out of my barn. I like to have stuff on hand for my customers, the store functions well for that.”
Rod has handed most of the training reins over to Haley. Now he travels back and forth between the ranches in South Dakota and Nebraska. “My dad taught me almost everything I know. On the weekends we will rope and ride colts together just like we did when I was in high school.” Haley competes in barrels, breakaway roping and heads in the team roping. “I have roped calves the longest, so it is probably my favorite event. My barrel horse is fun to run but I just like to rope a lot better.” Haley trains a lot of calf horses but she also works with barrel futurity prospects.
Haley takes a little bit of technique from everyone she has ridden with to formulate her own style of horsemanship. “Jackson Montgomery has kept me going. He answers his phone at all hours of the day, he has helped me the most with barrel horses.” She spent a winter with Phil Hoggen to improve her horsemanship and colt starting. “Jim Wakefield has been invaluable in the roping pen. For both my roping and making progress with rope horses.” Watching colts learn and grow is a big part of why Haley keeps training. “Setting my own schedule is a big perk because I have flexibility to help my dad ranch.”
Last year Haley won the all-around title at the M-SRA while wearing the number one back number. “This is my first year in the NSRA, but since most are co-sanctioned with the M-SRA that it just made sense. I joined about mid-season, but I was still able to make the finals in barrels.” Haley won the first round of barrels and placed in the third round. She is about to start seasoning some younger horses and running her futurity prospects. “I plan to start going to some pro rodeos with my barrel horse. I would like to get my tack store going a bit more, it has been on the back burner lately.” Haley hopes to sponsor people through her store just as she is sponsored by Healthy Coat, Blue Bonnet Feeds, MVP and Equibone today. “My goal is to make to the NFR and the American on a horse I have trained. It would be that much sweeter getting to that level on a horse I made.”
