story by Ruth Nicolaus
Boyd Sawyer is in his final two months of high school rodeo.
The Thedford, Neb. cowboy just graduated last month from Thedford High School, and he’s about to head to the Nebraska High School Finals Rodeo in Hastings later this month, and then, hopefully, on to Nationals.
He competes in the steer wrestling and the saddle bronc riding, and likes steer wrestling better, because it gives him a good adrenaline rush.
He has two mounts in the bulldogging: Sis, a fourteen year old palomino mare, and OK, a nine year old chestnut gelding. Sis is on maternity leave, since she had a colt this year, so Boyd is riding OK more. He trained OK, who runs faster than Sis does, but has less experience.
Both horses are owned by Bill Manning, a neighbor for whom Boyd has worked since he was twelve. Manning is well-known for helping kids get their start in bulldogging and with training horses. The practice sessions he and Boyd have are often focused on horsemanship. “We work on the horsemanship at practice more than anything,” Boyd said. “It’s hard to have a horse be able to stand still in the box when you’re about to ask it to go 100 miles per hour in a second,” he quipped.
In high school, Boyd played golf one year, football for two years, and wrestled for two years. He was involved in FCCLA, was treasurer for the FFA, and a member of the Thedford High School Rodeo Club for all four years, serving as vice-president his junior year and secretary his senior year. Last September, he won first place in the steer wrestling at the Douglas County (Neb.) Fair Champions Challenge, where his prize was a $1,000 scholarship.
He’ll spend the first half of the summer fencing with his brother-in-law, and the last half working in the hayfield for Manning.
For fun, he loves to hunt and fish and hang out with his buddies on the Middle Loup River. Sometimes they will tube it, but they love to get in Boyd’s buddy’s pickup and drive through the middle of the river. The pickup has very tall tires, with the floor at about chest level. Boyd has never been with his buddy when the pickup has gotten stuck, but if it does, his buddy has a bulldozer he uses to pull it out!
This fall, he’ll attend Odessa (Texas) College on a rodeo scholarship. He’ll bulldog and ride broncs for them, and get his general education classes out of the way while he decides what he’d like to major in. Whatever he chooses, it will be agriculture or animal-science related.
Next month will be his fourth trip to the state finals. He was the 2014-2015 State Trap Shoot champion, and in 2014, went to Nationals in trap. Last year, he went to Nationals in trap, steer wrestling and saddle bronc riding.
He has two older sisters: Mariah Elliott and Marissa Lempka. He is the son of Brad and Sally Sawyer.
