story by Ruth Nicolaus
Andrea Meyer has a way with troubled horses. It all began with a bucking horse that her granddad owned. When she was a little girl, her grandpa warned her to stay away from the horse, who had caused broken bones among the hired men who rode it.
But with a little love and a lot of time, Andrea rode the horse bareback. “She loved me,” Andrea said. “We were perfectly fine.” Roanie, the former bucking horse and now a 23-year-old, won her rider third place in the goat tying at the Nebraska State High School Finals Rodeo.
Andrea, a member of the state high school rodeo association, competes in the breakaway roping, goat tying and pole bending.
For the goats and poles, the Stapleton, Neb. cowgirl rides another horse that others had written off.
Booger, a 14-year-old bay roan, had been mistreated by a trainer and when Andrea got her, the mare couldn’t tolerate being touched from the shoulder up, including her head, which made it nearly impossible to put a bridle or halter on her, or even lead her. A family friend got her able to be ridden, and Andrea took over from there. It took a year for her to teach Booger to trust her enough to put a halter on her. She started riding her at junior and junior high rodeos, getting her used to things, and learning to trust again. “She and I finally clicked and we’ve worked well together,” she said. “She’s not afraid of anything.”
Her roping horse is a fourteen-year-old bay gelding named Super Dave, who is her favorite. The horse “has the greatest personality ever,” she said. “He’s always super excited when we back into the box, and that makes it extra fun for me.” Super Dave even loves to practice. “When we’re in the practice pen, I’ll be coiling my rope and I won’t have to touch the reins. He’ll walk to the box, back in, and it’s like, ‘OK, I’m ready to go.’ He loves his job.”
A senior at Dunning High School, Andrea loves government and American history classes. The teacher, Mr. Adam Martin, makes class easy and fun. “He’s always finding ways to make it exciting for us kids to learn, and easy to understand. And he’s always making jokes.” English, however, is not her favorite. “I’ve never been a big fan of grammar.”
Since she was an eighth grader, Andrea has been doing leatherwork. She started with her own tools, then was introduced to Terry Bath, who has a leather shop in North Platte. For Terry, she works on spur straps, headstalls, and she’s made belts, reins and more for herself and her family. He has taught her how to make the deeper cuts on leatherwork, make it look more realistic, how to use certain pieces of leather for certain items, and how to braid with three strands without cutting it. He’s also teaching her how to make saddles, which she really enjoys.
On the weekends, for fun, her siblings come home and the family has shooting competitions, either with clay pigeons or silhouette shootings. Usually she or her dad wins, which is no surprise, since both have won accolades with their shooting. Her dad is a Marine who was an expert rifle man, and Andrea is the 2019 Neb. State High School light rifle champion.
The eighteen-year-old cowgirl’s favorite food her mom makes is lasagna, and her favorite dessert is peach cobbler, baked in a skillet, also by her mom. She loves root beer, and as for favorite fruits and vegetables, she likes pineapple and corn on the cob.
Andrea has qualified for the state finals the past three years in all three of her events, and competed at the National High School Finals in 2018 and 2019 in the light rifle shooting.
After high school, she plans on attending college and earning a degree in business management, so someday she can own her own saddle shop in Nebraska and make saddles.
She is a member of the Junior AQHA, the Logan-McPherson Rodeo Club, and is on the honor roll.
She has two older brothers, Kevin, who lives in Arizona, Justin, who lives in Odessa, Neb., and an older sister, Sarah, who lives in Stapleton. She is the daughter of Tony and Bell Meyer.