story by Lily Weinacht
“My entire family rodeos, so I really like that it’s a family sport and we can do it all together. That makes it really fun,” says Anna Bahe. The 22-year-old from Grantsville, Utah, is currently sitting in the top ten of the RMPRA breakaway roping standings, traveling to rodeos with her sister and fellow breakaway roper Cassie Bahe. “We’re super competitive, but it’s good. We keep each other going.” The sisters also rope together at team roping and breakaway roping jackpots, and both women compete on the Wilderness Circuit. Anna was the 2018 Wilderness Circuit Breakaway Roping Rookie of the Year.
Anna’s dad, Francis Bahe, passed the roping tradition down to her and her siblings. “He sold all his good horses when we were younger so he could get us horses, and he stopped roping for a while, but now that we’re grown up he’s starting to team rope more,” says Anna. “It is a lot of hard work but I think it pays off, especially because we trained our breakaway horse, and once we got on him it felt like a huge achievement. I really like the sport of rodeo and it makes me super happy and grateful when we do good.”
She joined the RMPRA while also high school rodeoing for Idaho and has qualified for the RMPRA Finals several times since. “Their rodeos are really fun and I love the summer rodeos and the atmosphere.” Anna qualified for the 2018 Rope for the Crown in Las Vegas, which she’s hoping to qualify for again this year. “I just really like breakaway roping and how we’re able to compete for big money, and how much it’s grown over the last few years.” She also heads in the team roping on occasion, and breakaway roped, team roped, goat tied, and barrel raced for Weber State University’s college rodeo team for four years. She’s finishing her bachelor’s degree in communications and plans to graduate next spring.
Over summer break Anna’s been working for the government doing primarily maintenance work, and works four 10-hour days, giving her flexibility to rodeo on weekends. “My dad and I just won some money at a World Series team roping the other weekend, and that was really fun. My parents, Laurie and Francis, really like to come (to rodeos). I wouldn’t be able to rodeo without them and I’m so thankful for all their support. My little sister, Brenna, comes sometimes too. She’s really good at rodeo, but she likes to play basketball.”
Anna travels to rodeos with her family and practices with them as well in their home arena. “We spend the summertime out there every single night mostly.” Her main breakaway horse is Roy, a 12-year-old gelding they raised and trained. “I take him everywhere and he always runs to the calves hard and we can always rely on him. My dad heels on him and I just do breakaway roping.”
Once in a while, Anna trades her rope for a fishing pole and goes fly fishing whenever there’s a river close to the rodeo grounds. She also enjoys snowboarding, and recently started paddle boarding as well. “I’m looking forward to graduating, and I really want to qualify for the World Series in Las Vegas,” she finishes. “I want to do good in the Wilderness Circuit again this year for breakaway, and I’m also hoping to qualify for the RMPRA Finals.”
