story by Lily Weinacht
“I can’t imagine my life without rodeo. I love rodeo and everything about it, and I love the people. Even if you don’t win, yet get something out of it,” says Addie Weil. But win she did when the 14-year-old from Edna, Kansas, was crowned 2018 KJHSRA Rookie of the Year and qualified for the NJHFR in three of her five events. “I knew I had a chance to qualify, and going in I was in the top five in my three events that I ended up qualifying in. But it wasn’t a given that I was going to make it—I had to work for it.”
Addie made her first trip to the NJHFR and the state of South Dakota in June, placing in the top 10 in breakaway roping in the second round, and advancing to the short go in goat tying, where she finished 15th in the nation. She also finished 6th in the nation in the all-around rookie cowgirl standings. “I’ve loved roping for the longest time. With my dad being a tie-down roper, it just came naturally to me. You have to be well-rounded in it—you can’t just be a good horseman and not a good roper. You have to have it all.” Addie also competes in team roping as a heeler with her 13-year-old brother, Cutter, and the brother and sister enter the ribbon roping together. “It’s pretty nice that we can go and compete together.” Cutter traveled with Addie and their parents, Johnny and Stacey Weil, to Huron, South Dakota, for the NJHFR, where he entered several of the jackpots.
“A lot of help has been from my dad,” says Addie, who also competes in the American Cowboys Rodeo Association. “He pushes me to do better than I’m doing, and he’s the one who helps me with scoring and the start. He helped me train my breakaway horse and my barrel and pole horse, and we’re training and seasoning a young horse together.” Johnny competed in the World Series of Team Roping Finale in 2014 and 2016, and still ropes calves at home, while he and Addie enter local jackpots together in the team roping.
Nearly all of the Weil family’s horses are ones they raised and trained, including Addie’s three main horses, Cutter’s Colt, Pork Chop, and Cash. “Cutter’s Colt is my calf horse. He’s 10 or so and he’s an honest horse with a quick stop. He’s the best horse I’ve ever ridden, breakaway or overall. Pork Chop is my brother’s team roping horse and he’s a really good goat horse. My dad heeled on him in Vegas. Cash is my pole horse and he’s just a teddy bear. He’s really sweet and he can run a really good pole pattern, and that’s what got me to Nationals.” The family also has a dog, barn cats, Addie and Cutter’s retired rodeo ponies, and roping cattle. The brother and sister do much of the animal care, and practice every morning in their indoor calf lane, where Addie can also work on poles and goat tying.
Addie will be a freshman at Labette County High School this fall. She enjoys her math classes, and plans to keep rodeo as her main focus for high school sports. “I’d rather get extremely good at rodeo than be moderately good at rodeo and moderately good at another sport,” she explains. Addie plans to keep up with ACRA rodeos and enter the Roy Cooper roping in Decatur, Texas. Last year, she finished in the top five of the breakaway roping at both Chris Neal’s Future Stars Roping on Memorial Day and the Rising Stars Roping at Thanksgiving, while she won the short round at Cody Ohl’s Junior Calf Roping last year as well. She now has four champion saddles and multiple buckles to her name. “I have a couple of young barrel horses I’ve been working with and I want to get them seasoned,” she finishes. “And I want to make the ACRA finals.”