story by Lindsay Humphrey
Even though Mylee Modlin was born in Alaska, she spent a few years in Japan before moving to Blanchard, Oklahoma, when she was just 4 years old. A lifetime in the military for her mom – Amy Saunders – bred an innate sense of adventure and love for travel in Mylee. “One of my favorite parts about rodeo is getting to travel outside of the Oklahoma and Texas area,” said the 15-year-old. “Because rodeo is so time consuming, it’s about the only way I get to travel and see new places right now.” This will be Mylee’s fourth year with Epic Charter Schools as she enters her junior year. The opportunity to travel more for rodeo is what initially drew her to homeschooling. Neither one of Mylee’s siblings – Abby and Gabe, both 13, are homeschooled and they don’t rodeo either.
“They aren’t twins because Abby is actually adopted, but their birthdays are ten days apart. They are both very hard core into gymnastics. They’re on the elite track at their gym so they can compete in college. They’re in the gym six days a week for at least four hours at a time.” Their dedication to gymnastics is synonymous with Mylee’s for the toughest sport on dirt. And the only one whose dedication surpasses that is their mom. “My mom taught me how to ride and how to do everything with a horse because she used to rodeo in high school and college. She’s always there when I need her, and I can count on her for everything. She’s our biggest supporter no matter what sport we’re doing.” Sometimes Mylee entertains the thought: what if I didn’t rodeo or ride horses? “Sometimes it sounds really nice to do a normal sport that didn’t involve horses, but then I don’t know what I would do with myself. Horses make me happy.”
Much like horses, it’s her rodeo friends that show up in Mylee’s fondest memories to date. “My favorite moments are when I come out of the gate after a good run, and everyone is running up screaming and cheering for me. That’s always such a good moment.” This past season was only Mylee’s second in the OHSRA. She competed in Kansas through junior high and then made the switch back to her home state. Unfortunately, this past season got off to a rocky start, but Mylee certainly made the most of it. “In August, I wanted to quit goat tying because I was so frustrated with it. I had to change my mindset and stop putting so much pressure on myself so I could focus on making smooth runs no matter if they were fast or not. That’s when I finally started getting better.”
Today, goat tying is one of Mylee’s favorite events. She also competes in barrels, poles, breakaway roping and cowhorse. As an intern for NRCHA Professional Todd Crawford, Mylee’s learned a lot about horsemanship and cow work in the last two years. “I’m new to this event but I really enjoy it. Riding cowhorses has improved my riding in all my other events. Going down the fence on a cow is definitely my favorite part.” While her other events didn’t go as planned at state finals, Mylee represented Oklahoma at high school nationals for the second year in a row in the cowhorse event.