story by Lindsay King
Trading weekends of boating in for cutting horses was the best thing that ever happened to Cheyenne Brown from Ponca, Nebraska, and her family. “Each of my parents, Rod and Holly, had a cutting horse that my sister Haley and I competed on. Once we got into high school we started rodeo because they had cutting. That turned into roping and other timed events,” said the M-SRA breakaway roper. As a senior in high school, Cheyenne heeled for her sister. But last winter she swapped ends with her dad and it has just stuck. Right now, Cheyenne heads and breakaway ropes with the later being her favorite. “I just enjoy practicing it, all of our colts start on the calf sled anyways. It is not an easy event, there are always a lot of good competitors up here. I like that side of it also.”
Though Cheyenne was always a spot or two away from a trip to high school nationals in the breakaway and barrels, she qualified all four years in the cutting. “My senior year is when I first started team roping and we made it to nationals. That was really exciting, because I was not expecting it.” Though she never made the college finals, Cheyenne won a handful of rodeos on the NIRA circuit. She double majored in agricultural business and business economics with a minor in agricultural marketing at South Dakota State University.
Her senior year of college, she started competing in the M-SRA where some of her proudest moments unfolded. “I really enjoyed getting to rope with my dad in the mixed team roping this year. It is always neat when we get out good, he ropes two feet and I just look at him and he is so excited.” Not many have the opportunity to travel and rope with their family after high school, Cheyenne is thankful she is one of the few. Competing in Iowa during high school kept Cheyenne out of the M-SRA until three years ago. “The M-SRA is definitely one of my favorites. They always have good stock, ground and committees.”
Cheyenne is working towards a second appearance at the finals. Her barrel horse is out of commission for the year, but she is gunning for another breakaway appearance. Trevor Brazile is a big proponent of never giving up on a run, he is someone Cheyenne looks up to. “That motivates me, I was really long in the breakaway once and still managed to catch my calf. I ended up in the last hole. Trevor really promotes finishing a run and to just do the best that you can on the stock that you draw.” She also tries to ride like Lari Dee Guy, whose horsemanship she admires.
Luckily, Cheyenne’s job is seasonal so she can compete in the summer and fall. “I take online bids for DVAuction at bull auctions across the Midwest. I work mostly from December to May.” Though she would like to get more practice in the winter, when she is home she uses the Arrow B Arena her family built four years ago. “We have an indoor arena where we host team pennings, ropings, jackpots… pretty much all equine events, we have them here.” The family still goes to the lake sometimes, but mostly they do all things pertaining to rodeo. “We ranch quite a bit so we are out with the cattle on weekends we aren’t rodeoing. Basically, we just rodeo and do what it is based off of: ranching.” Competitive by nature, rodeo is the perfect sport for Cheyenne. “Rodeo is not an easy thing to do. You cannot just get on a horse and expect to win, it is something you have to work at. My whole family does it. I like that it is something you can do forever, especially breakaway since you can do it until you can’t swing a rope anymore.”
