story by Siri Stevens
Kase Bacque from Opelousas, Louisiana, has a goat herd and has started a breeding program – his Spanish Boar crosses are used for goat roping as well as meat goats. He and his family live on a ranch and he started with a few to rope and then decided he could get more. “I thought I might make a little money on the side,” said the 15-year-old All Around Cowboy for Louisiana High School Rodeo Association. Kase will be a sophomore next year and is home schooled. “We always grew up on a ranch and always had a rope in my hand,” he said. Kase lives on a sprawling family horse and cattle ranch outside Opelousa. His family raisese Corriente and Brangus cross cattle. They have 17 horses as well as 50 head of goats. “All the cattle we raise are roping cattle which they sell to local producers. My dad rodeoed a lot and I picked it up from him. I’m in three events, the calf roping, team roping, and cutting,” he said. “I did really good in all my events at Finals.” Kase is dedicated. “I spent every day practicing – I’d cut in the morning and either team rope or calf rope in the evening.”
His dad was a PRCA tie down roper, who made the NFR in 1992. He passed away in 2004. Kase was only three years old at the time, but has watched videos of him. In the rodeo world, Jeff Chapman is his coach. He lives in Mississippi and comes every other week to coach both Kase and his older brother, Karter. “Jeff has been coaching me for three years. He’s a calf roper and he helps me with my horses and mental game of roping. A lot of rodeo is mental. If you can control your emotions, then you can win.” For Kase, the hardest thing about roping is be consistent. “A lot of practice and patience and roping the dummy help with that consistency to catch.”
He also learned a lot from Karter. “Karter taught him everything about rodeo and now Kase his carrying forward those things that he learned from Karter,” said his mom, Chiara Bacque.
He has an older sister, Lindsey, 23, who is only one in family besides his mom, Chiara. They showed Brahma cattle instead They both have been supportive – opening the chute and untieing calves for him. Kase went to the National Junior High Finals for two years, ending his junior high year as the state junior high champion twice in the calf roping, and once in the team roping. He ended up 11th in the calf roping at the National level. Kase will head to his first National High School Finals in a few weeks. He made it in the cutting and calf roping. “I’m roping just about every day and going to ride cutting horses two to three times a week.” He also time in the gym and works cows and his goats on the ranch. “I’m always around horses and cows.”
His goals are to eventually make the WNFR and get a college degree, along with college rodeoing. When he’s done with rodeo, he hopes to open his own business using his business degree from college. “I’d like to have a western store or have my own duck hunting company to guide hunts. A Couple years back a buddy invited me on a duck hunting trip and I fell in love with it. In the winter time, if I’m not in a roping pen, you can find me in the duck pond.”
