By Ruth Nicolaus
Micah Samples is in her second year of competition in the Central Plains Rodeo Association.
The Abilene, Kan. cowgirl, a barrel racer, graduated from Abilene High School in 2010 and from Northwestern Oklahoma State in Alva in May of last year, with an animal science degree.
She grew up in a rodeo family, with a mom, Donna, who ran barrels, her dad, Mike, who rode barebacks and roped, and an older brother, Marshall, who team ropes.
She works with her family’s horse herd of about fifty head, riding young horses, roping, and running barrels. She also helps out at her dad’s livestock sale barn in Salina.
In addition to the CPRA, she is a member of the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association and will compete at pro rodeos this year again.
She calls herself a “homebody” and loves spending time with her animals, which include four cats, a ten year old Jack Russell named Chloe, and a six month old Great Pyrenees named Cleo. “I don’t mind being home and being around my horses and my other animals,” she said. “You get comfortable being home.”
In high school, Micah competed at the National High School Finals all four years, finishing her freshman year as the fifth place barrel racer in the nation. In college, she was reserve all-around her junior year for the Central Plains Region, and finished fifth at the College National Finals her senior year in the breakaway.
Micah was featured on the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo buckle for the Abilene, Kan. rodeo last year. Each year, the rodeo chooses a Kansas person to be on the buckle, and she was chosen for the sixth buckle in the fourth series. The buckles are auctioned off as a fundraiser for the rodeo. Micah’s mom, Donna, was featured on the buckle in 1993. Micah has run at the Abilene rodeo several times in its novice category and as a pro.
It was an honor to be on the buckle, she said. “It was an awesome feeling. I’ve run at my hometown rodeo forever.”
