story by Ruth Nicolaus
Samara Ruether has the best equine partners a cowgirl could want.
“I have the two best horses anybody could ever ask for,” she said.
As a Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association member, the thirteen-year-old rides Polly, her bay mare, for the barrels and poles, and Pinto, her pinto-colored gelding, for the breakaway roping and goat tying.
Polly is a new addition to the family; she’s been at the Ruether farm near Cordova, Neb. for the last year and a half. Pinto has been a part of Samara’s life since the girl was four years old. She learned to ride on Pinto, who was her uncle David’s rope horse before he became her horse. Her younger brothers and sister ride Pinto.
Samara is an eighth grade student at St. Paul Lutheran School in Utica, where she loves science class but is not a big fan of algebra. Using letters (x-y=z, for example), in math makes no sense to her.
Her favorite teacher is Mr. Brauer, or Mr. B, as the students call him. He is her current teacher, and he’s good at explaining things. “Anytime I ever have a problem with a subject, especially algebra, he always figures out a way for me to understand it. I joke around that I want to keep him on speed dial for high school,” she said. “He’s a smart man.”
She participates in volleyball, basketball and track and field, and is a member of the Boots and Trailers 4-H Club, where she competes in the speed events: the barrels, poles, keyhole, figure eight stake race, and the breakaway roping.
The best dish Samara’s mom makes is casseroles that include hamburger, a lot of cheese, and sour cream. (She could eat sour cream straight out of the container.) She loves desserts, especially anything with chocolate and peanut butter, and Reese’s is her favorite candy. The most fun she’s had on vacation was when her family went to the Grand Canyon. “It was a sight to see,” she said.
For fun, she likes to hang out with friends at her house and at high school ball games, telling jokes, giggling, Snappchatting, and Instagraming.
The highlight of last year was when Samara won the barrels at the state 4-H finals in Grand Island. She got third in the poles, too. She wasn’t expecting the win at all, and barrel horse Polly really came through. The family calls Polly a soldier, “because she does her job well,” Samara said. “She knows what she’s doing. She’s taught me a lot in the past year and a half. I’ve learned a lot from her. I’ll probably never have a better horse than her.”
The Ruether household has several pets: Dixie the “Wonder Wiener Dog,” Doug the goat, and cattle and horses, Samara reports. Any cats they might have are strays because Dixie tries to kill them. Dixie is a good hunter. At seven pounds, she has caught a possum, birds, and even kills snakes.
When she grows up, Samara would like to do a variety of things. She’d love to train horses and “ride horses all day,” but if that isn’t possible, she might be a teacher or a track and field coach, or a rodeo coach. She’s also interested in forensic science.
She has two younger brothers: Kasten, who is eleven, and Leyton, who is six, and a younger sister, Aislyn, age four.
She is the daughter of Stephanie and Jason Ruether.
