story by Lindsay King
Trey Schomp has spent her entire life dallying a head loop for her family members and now her fiancé, Troy Hermelbracht. “My dad, Ben, and mom, Marilyn, started me in rodeo when I was little and I have done it ever since. My heart has always been in team roping, it is what my family has always done and it is my favorite thing to do,” said the Hershey, Nebraska, native. Her family put on jackpot events when she was growing up and now she helps Troy and his family do the same every Tuesday evening. “We both come from a long line of cowboys and team ropers. I am so fortunate to have grown up in the sport and to marry into it.” All three Schomp sisters, Josey, Trey and Pam, continue to team rope today.
Trey has competed for as long as she can remember, running barrels, poles, breakaway roping and team roping in junior, high school and college rodeos. She earned her bachelor’s degree in early childhood education. She is now a pre-school teacher in Sioux City, Iowa, only thirty miles from the Hermelbracht ranch in Homer. “I teach during the school year and then rodeo on weekends and during summer break. I find it rewarding to watch the kids grow and still get to ranch and rodeo.”
Troy’s family started the Ridge Ranch and now Troy and his dad, Ray, run it together. They raise black Angus cow/calf pairs as well as roping steers. “Troy and his dad have been a big help in improving my roping. It is handy getting married to a great horseman and roper.” The couple competes in the mixed team roping in the M-SRA, one of the few associations near them with the event. “It has been neat to watch the event grow in the past few years. A lot of M-SRA rodeos are finding that they will have more entries in the mixed than the regular team roping.” Trey has spent this year hauling her next great head horse after putting down her 20-year roping partner, Hook.
The 28-year-old gelding carried Trey through every major rodeo event in her life until now. “He gave me more opportunities than any other horse I have ever ridden. I owe a lot to that horse, he made my job easy.” She retired Hook two years ago after earning the reserve title in the mixed team roping at the finals. Trey then started on her new horse, winning the M-SRA team roping average at the finals last fall. “I had big plans for this year but the humbling sport of rodeo had other ones. I spent more time on my own technique and patterning that horse than anything else this year.” A tough year on a young horse allowed Trey the opportunity to develop her mental game.
“Rodeo is definitely fun when things are going well but the unavoidable slump takes its’ toll mentally. I have tried to be a more positive person both inside and out of the arena.” Surrounding herself with positive and successful people has helped Trey develop this exponentially. “I am only as good as the people I surround myself with, this mentality has helped me the most this year.” Troy, Andy Miller and her family are some of Trey’s strongest and most positive influences and supporters in her rodeo career today. “Rodeo has taught me a lot about life. At the end of the day it is a material thing and we are all fortunate to be able to do it.” Trey is thankful God allows her to do what she loves and that He blessed her with these skills. “I love rodeo but at the end of the day I know what really matters.”
