story by Riata Cummings
Afton Beck is the 13-year-old daughter of Beau and Meredith Beck of Eagle Mountain, Utah. She attends Frontier Middle School as an eighth grader, and her favorite classes are art and math. “I get to use my artistic ability and creativity in art and math stretches my brain.” Afton plays on the Utah Storm traveling basketball team. Afton has an eight-year-old brother, Brody. She enjoys spending time with Brody, who is starting to rodeo and rope. She enjoys riding to the rodeos with her mom and spending time at South Valley Equine where her father works as an equine veterinarian. The family also enjoys roping, going on trail rides together and playing basketball or football together.
Afton started competing in the riding club as a young girl and started going to rodeos when her father’s clients helped her get started. She now competes in the barrel racing, pole bending, ribbon roping and breakaway roping. Her favorite events are breakaway and barrel racing because she “rides the nicest horses for both of those events.”
Afton’s barrel horse, JJ, tore his deep flexor tendons and is undergoing treatments that will hopefully get him back in the arena. In the meantime, Afton is borrowing Carly Q, a 20-year-old mare who loves her job. Her pole bending horse, Rake, was Beau’s reining horse he trained in vet school, and Afton took him over when she started rodeoing. She uses Cheddar Bob and Barbara as breakaway horses, and Barbara doubles as a head horse in practice.
Last year at state finals, Afton won the average in the barrel racing and tied for third and fourth in the final standings. After the fall season, Afton is leading the barrel racing. She hopes to make it to nationals in the barrel racing, qualify for state finals in the pole bending and breakaway roping, and qualifying for nationals with Weston Milner in the ribbon roping.
One of Afton’s greatest strengths is her ability to make friends easily. She enjoys “talking to people and building relationships.” This has helped her learn from many of her father’s clients, many of whom have helped her, given her advice and loaned her horses when her own were hurt. Those people have become her heroes and friends and she is very grateful for their support and assistance.
Afton’s other heroes are her parents. “They haul me to all my rodeos; they encourage me and help me in everything I do. They would do anything to make me happy.” One day, Afton would like to train horses and operate a horse ranch with her parents. Afton would like to thank her parents and all of the other people who have helped her, given her advice and encouraged her. “I love rodeo and horses, and I hope to always have them in my life. I am grateful for the opportunity rodeo gives me to be with my family. There is no other sport like rodeo: we are all a family.”
