story by Ruth Nicolaus
Gracey Taylor’s dad and his bulldogging friends love it when she goes to rodeos with them. That’s because the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association member saddles and warms up their horses and videotapes their runs. Gracey’s dad, Gabe Taylor, and his friends, are appreciative of her work, and she loves to do it.
At her junior high rodeos, she competes in the barrel racing, pole bending, breakaway roping and ribbon roping (where she runs for Sage Schrunk). Her best event is pole bending, in part because of the horse she rides.
Her pole horse is seven-year-old bay mare named Sammy, who was purchased from Zoe Ann Huffman of Whitman, Neb. Gracey bought Sammy with her own money, earned from training a pony for the poles and barrels. Sammy had been started but Gracey got her going in the poles. “She was easy to start,” she said. “She is really sweet. We get along really well and work together really good.”
For the barrels, Gracey rides Goose, a former bulldogging horse who wasn’t good at bulldogging. She took the ten-year-old sorrel and “he’s made a pretty good barrel horse,” she said. She sometimes takes her dad’s bulldogging horses to turn them into barrel horses, “but it doesn’t always work,” she said. “It’s hard to make a (bulldogging) horse turn.”
For the breakaway, she rides Farmer, a twelve-year-old sorrel who was also purchased from Huffman. Farmer is versatile; he’s a good kids horse, too, and Gracey’s brothers ride him.
The Valentine, Neb. cowgirl is an eighth grade student at Valentine Middle School, where the best parts of the school day are study hall and lunch. In study hall, once kids have their work done, they play Uno. Her favorite subject is social studies; she loves to learn about Nebraska history and, if she could visit the past, would like to meet an immigrant who came from Europe and settled on the plains.
Her favorite teacher was Mrs. Breuklander, or “Mrs. B.” as the kids called her. Mrs. B, the sixth and seventh grade reading teacher, “was the nicest person ever,” Gracey said. “She made reading fun.”
In school, she plays volleyball, is a member of student council, and is on high honor roll.
Her favorite school food is macaroni and cheese, and her favorite candy is a Heath bar. Her mom makes so many good meals, Gracey can’t decide which is her favorite, but ham sliders are at the top of the list. Her favorite beverage is Ruby Red Squirt, and she loves Chinese food and jalapenos. “I love spicy food,” she said.
The funnest trips she’s taken have been with her family. They skied in Colorado last winter, and she loved it. And she loves going with the family to Cheyenne Frontier Days, when her dad competes. They stay in the trailer, watch morning slack, and ride the carnival rides in the evening. Her grandparents come, and she loves soaking up the family time and the rodeo atmosphere.
When she grows up, she’d like to be involved in the medical field, like her mom, Renee, a chiropractor.
She has two younger brothers: Thane, who is twelve, and Keene, who is seven years old.
Gracey competed at the state junior high finals last year. She did not rodeo as a sixth grader.
