KJHSRA member Blaine Hinrichs
– Nicole Hinrichs
story by Lily Weinacht
Blaine Hinrichs from Emporia, Kan., is stepping into the saddle of his second year with the KJHSRA, but he has been competing in rodeo since he was five. The 14 year old was instilled with a love of the sport by his parents, Nicole and Jeff Hinrichs, who have both competed in rodeo and wanted to raise their son in the same western atmosphere. Currently, Blaine competes in tie-down roping, team roping as a header, and chute doggin’. The teamwork and finesse required for team roping makes that event his favorite. “I’m really good friends with my partner, Cade Pearson, and I like being successful together,” says Blaine. “We’ve been roping together for about five years now.” Danny Pearson, Cade’s dad, has also been a major influence in Blaine’s roping, as well as Blaine’s dad and several other family friends.
Blaine enjoys his school sports and rodeo equally, and he juggles the two throughout the school year, roping and riding several nights a week when he doesn’t have football practice or track meets. Football is his other passion in life, and he is all business when he steps onto the field. He plans to spend his upcoming summer break attending several football camps, roping and riding with friends, and going on turkey hunts. He shot his largest turkey, a five-year-old tom, last year. Blaine’s mom then seasons and fries the meat in a skillet – one of Blaine’s favorite foods. He also spends several weeks every summer in Eufaula, Okla., with his family’s friends the Turners, who own a ranch on Lake Eufaula. He is given a young horse to work with and train during the summer, ropes, rides, builds fence, and has also been introduced to catfish noodling and kayaking.
The Hinrichs’ home is situated five miles from Emporia, trees and fields quilting their way across the farmland. Blaine, an only child, enjoys the company of his black lab puppy, Enos, and their eight-year-old Weimaraner, Rosco. His two rodeo horses, Big Mac, and Squatch, belong to Danny Pearson. He also has his own tie-down roping horse, Bucky. “I head off Big Mac, a big sorrel. Danny trained him from a colt, and we trained Bucky, who was originally a heeling horse,” Blaine explains. “It’s pretty nice of the Pearsons to let me use their horses.”
Happy to have more time to rope and ride now that school is out, Blaine recently finished his eighth grade year with Olpe High School. “I like science pretty good,” says Blaine. “We worked on a lot of projects, building models of cells, and making posters for our science fair. It was pretty fun!” Also an avid athlete, Blaine threw the discus, ran 75 meter hurdles, 4×100 meter relay, and 200 meter dash in track and field. During this past football season, his team, the Olpe Eagles, went undefeated. Blaine has additionally been involved in 4-H since 2011, raising Cornish Cross meat chickens and competing in team roping and tie-down roping in 4-H rodeo.
Blaine’s greatest goal for the summer is to qualify for the NJHFR for the first time in team roping and tie-down roping. He’ll keep himself sharp rodeoing locally, and then plans to pursue football more seriously this fall in high school, while keeping up his team roping on the side. “I’d like to go to college at Emporia State University and maybe play football for them,” Blaine adds. Wherever life takes him, he has the confidence of a rodeo competitor to succeed, and he finishes, “I’d like to say thanks to my dad, Danny Pearson, and all the people that have taught me to rope and practiced with me through all these years.”
