story by Ruth Nicolaus
Karter Bacque loves to rope calves. The nineteen year old cowboy, a member of the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association, also does the boys cutting and team ropes, heeling for Cameron Duncan.
He lives outside Opelousas, La., on the Cross B Ranch, with his mom, Chiara, older sister, Lindsey, and younger brother, Kase. The ranch is home to his tie-down horse, (an eighteen year old bay named Bailey), his head and heel horse (a twelve year old Paint named Indian), and his cutting horse (a fourteen year old whose barn name is Rocket).
Of his three horses, Paint is his favorite. He’s owned Indian for about five years, and “he was the first horse I ever won money on,” Karter said. “He takes care of me. If I need him for anything, I can use him.” Indian can be used for tie-down, heading, heeling, ranch work, whatever. “Whatever you need him to do, he’s there.”
Karter is in his senior year and is being homeschooled by his mom. Algebra is his favorite subject, but writing in English class is not his favorite.
For fun, he likes to hang out with his friends, either at their houses or his. If they come to the ranch, they love to goof around, including with the cattle. “Anything we can get a saddle on, we’ll ride,” he said, “or at least my buddies do. I just stand back and watch,” he laughed. “I get a few pictures, and then we get them out later and laugh about them.”
Karter and his brother Kase are the manpower behind the ranch, doing everything needed around the place. They run about 160 head of Corriente longhorn cattle and Brangus, and use the Corrientes for roping steers and calves.
He gives a lot of credit to his mom, as his dad Ken, a 1992 National Finals Rodeo qualifier, passed away when he was seven. “None of this would have been possible without my mom,” he said. “She’s gotten us this far, and continues to help us progress.” His dad’s good friend Jeff Chapman has also been very helpful. Chapman, a six-time NFR qualifier, has helped Karter and Kase as well. “There are two guys I really look up to. One is my dad, and the other is Jeff. I haven’t had a whole lot of people who had time or made time to help. He comes out of his way, drives four hours from Mississippi to help us rope, and teaches us to be a better person. He’s just a phone call away if we ever need him.” Jeff traveled with Ken when they were hitting the rodeo road, and set an arena record at the NFR. “He knows what he’s talking about,” Karter said.
After high school, Karter will attend college and major in ag business. He’ll continue to run the family cattle business and hopes to pro rodeo some day, just like his dad.
He qualified for state his sophomore and junior years.
