story by Lindsay King
After the first round of nationals in the barrel racing, Jayde Wamel, from Las Cruces, New Mexico, sat in the 36th spot. “I never ever lose my stirrups, that’s why I don’t wear rubber bands. Going into the first barrel of the first round, both feet fly out of the stirrups. I am trying to hang on, get my stirrups back, keep pushing and still have a clean run,” said the 18 year old. She turned in two wicked fast runs in the next two rounds to take sixth in the average. Last year was not only her first time in the NMHSRA, it was also her first trip to the national stage. “I went into state leading the barrels last year. In the short round I hit a barrel, so I figured I was out of it. I ended up placing third.” The sheer size of nationals was a shock, one the Wamel family quickly adjusted to. “This is the biggest rodeo in high school ever and I got to be a part of it. I thought that was cool.”
The daughter of Van and Susan Wamel, and older sister to Jordan, 12, remembers when her family lived in town and the closest she got to horses was pretending she was one. “My mom and I laugh about it now, but I used to crawl around on my knees pretending I was a horse. All of my jeans had holes in the knees.” Her family moved to a property when Jayde was 10 and she got her first horse. “We were told he was 15, but the vet looked at him and said he was over 30 at least. He was old, but he was not a little kids horse. He really taught me how to ride. He would buck me off any chance he got. I remember trying to get on him and he would just trot off.”
Luckily, her extensive horsemanship skills were fostered by her dad, who grew up on a ranch and team roped before college. “My dad knows a lot about horses. He helps me ride better still today. My mom had horses too, but she was mainly around pleasure horses.” Jayde attended a Horse’O’Rama when she was 10, where she first discovered how much she loved going fast. Though most of her success on the national level is in barrel racing, she also runs poles, ties goats and breakaway ropes. “My favorite event is probably goat tying. It depends more on the person. You are the one actually doing all the hard work. I think it is fun because I like doing interactive things.”
Jayde started out in 4-H rodeo, it was not until her junior year of high school that she finally competed in the NMHSRA. “My whole family kept pushing me to try it. It took me awhile to convince myself that I could compete on that level. I wish I could turn back time and start my freshman year.” She will miss all the quality time with family and friends that rodeo provides as she ventures off to college at New Mexico State University. Only living ten minutes from campus will allow Jayde to live at home and keep training horses. “I enjoy training the most, that is probably my favorite part. Eventually I just want to train and sell horses for other people to run.” She will be getting a biology degree with aspirations to become a marine biologist one day. With big dreams for her career and fast-approaching internships, Jayde will not college rodeo. However, she will be getting her permit to fill this fall. “I want to get an internship on the east coast next summer, so I really want to focus on that. I would like to get into a foreign exchange program so I can go to a school that offers marine biology.”
