story by Lily Weinacht
This is Josh Meyer’s second season in the KJHSRA and rodeoing competitively, but he’s been riding and roping since he was knee high. His older brothers and sisters all rodeoed, and today, the 13-year-old from St. John, Kansas, is forging his own rodeo trail, competing in team roping with Mason Gibson, tie-down roping, and ribbon roping with Haddison Hatcher. Along with junior high rodeos, he has competed in Young Guns, the KJRA, CYRA, and FJRA, where he recently won all-around champion in the boys 13–15 division. He plans to ride his all-around saddle, and is steadily filling the slots on his buckle rack.
“Tie-down roping and heeling are my favorites. Tie-down roping is a challenge, and there’s a lot going on to make a good run. Heeling is an art—you have to be in position, be patient, and work on timing,” Josh explains. “Rodeo is a lot of fun and a lot of work. I enjoy working with my horses and making them better, along with myself, and I plan to rodeo most of my life.” One of the highlights of Josh’s junior high rodeo career thus far was competing at the Oklahoma/Kansas Border Bash Rodeo this spring for the first time.
He travels to rodeos with his dad, Todd Meyer, and sister Makayla, who competes in the KHSRA. Their mom, Karla Meyer, usually stays home to care for animals, and they also have older brothers and sisters with sons who are starting to ride, and helping them get started is a lot of fun. “I look up to my whole family. We work hard helping each other out, and helping people in the community,” says Josh. “My dad practices with me most nights and takes me to all my rodeos.
“My heeling horse is Molly, and I got her when she was six months old. I’m training her for team roping and she’s been doing really good—she’s six now. My calf roping horse is Pecos and we got him five years ago. He was needing a good home and a lot of TLC. I’ve been training him for tie-down, and ribbon roping.” The family also has dogs, and sheep and goats, which Makayla shows in 4-H. Josh showed beef and goats in 4-H in the past as well, but decided to focus on rodeo this year.
An eighth-grader at St. John, Josh enjoys science and math. “When I get home from school, I do chores and then I rope the dummy. When my dad gets home, we go to the arena to practice roping or work horses.” Josh also enjoys roping with all of his friends, who compete in the KJHSRA and KJRA as well. When they’re not at the rodeo grounds, the Meyers go fishing and tubing with more of their family at Lake McConaughy in Nebraska during the summer, and Josh likes turkey and deer hunting in the fall. He also enjoys helping out during branding season, along with working colts. He plans to high school rodeo, and his main goal for the year is competing in the KJHSRA state finals.
