story by Lindsay King
A broken femur did not stop 17-year-old Yaleigh Yarbrough from Elk City, Oklahoma, from splitting the average on two calves at the 2016 OHSRA finals merely weeks after surgery. “I got done practicing the day before a rodeo and bent down to take off some back boots. I scared my horse and he kicked me in the leg, breaking my femur.” Kicked in early April, Yaleigh got on a horse two weeks post-surgery and placed at a roping event two weeks later. She is a header in the team roping but breakaway is easily her favorite event. “It is just me and my horse, everything has to be just right to catch fast. I like how fast and technical it all is.” Before the accident she also tied goats but will hold off from that for awhile.
On a horse at just three years old and roping at six, rodeo is a huge part of the Yarbrough family. Related to Stran Smith, Tuf, Cliff and Clint Cooper and Shada Brazile, roping is a family sport. “We all get together for holidays and I will go stay with all of them sometimes. They always help me with my roping a lot.” Yandy, her dad, was a bull dogger and is now a pickup man off Mate, Yaleigh’s horse. Bobbie, her mom, also roped calves, and helped get her started in rodeo. “I ran barrels and poles in junior rodeos until I was about ten and then I quit for a little bit. I started back up in the seventh grade and have been going ever since.” She has qualified for the Oklahoma junior high and high school finals for the past six years. She was reserve breakaway roper in the NWOJR in 2014 and this summer she placed fourth in the average at the Rising Stars Calf Roping.
Yaleigh will start her senior year homeschooling through Epic Charter Schools. “I wanted to be able to go with my dad more, and so I could rope and practice more. I think it is the best thing I have ever done. I get to practice and ride all I want.” She likes to learn about world wars and everything that has gone into maintaining America’s freedom, making history her favorite subject in school. Her dad works in the oil field full time but is a pick up man at many of the rodeos the family competes in. “I will sometimes pick up with him if it is not a pro rodeo. It is just something fun to do, and I will keep doing it as long as he is there with me.”
Yaleigh expanded her horsemanship skills when she bought four-year-old Woodrow in September 2016. “At first I would get on him and have to trot circles because if I asked him to lope he would take off with me. It took a lot of patience since I was used to riding broke horses.” She now ropes calves off Woodrow, something she is especially proud of doing. Yaleigh aspires to go to college on a rodeo scholarship in her pursuit of becoming a dental hygienist. She is a talented singer, opening many junior rodeos with the National Anthem in the past. “I sing at church but not any rodeos anymore because I get too nervous to sing and then compete later.”
A frequent competitor in Texas, Yaleigh prefers OHSRA events. “They are generally closer and I get to rodeo with all my friends.” Her role models include her dad, Stran Smith and Trevor Brazile. “Iron sharpens iron,” is the quote she lives and rides by. “I always try to surround myself with people who are going to build me up. I hang out with people who are better than me so I can get better.”
