story by Riata Cummings
Stran Christensen is a 13-year-old cowboy from small town Hanna, Utah. He attends Tabiona High School, where his favorite classes are gym, art, and science. Stran is the son of Tyler Christensen, McCall Nielsen and Travis Iverson. He has five siblings, brother Gus, step brother Kolton, and step sisters Kenleigh, Kaelyn, and Kamrie. As a family they spend most of their weekends rodeoing, but also enjoy camping and going on razor rides. The family has three dogs; Chewy, Boa, and Penny. Stran’s hobbies include riding dirt bikes, going on the mountain, and playing basketball. When he gets older he would like to work at the Hill Airforce Base as a manager.
Stran started learning the ways of rodeo at a young age and first competed at a PRCA rodeo in Ogden, Utah. Today he competes in team roping, tiedown roping, ribbon roping and goat tying, but his best fit is the tiedown. He team ropes on a big buckskin named Dan, ropes calves on Dooley, and goat ties on his long-time partner Woody, a big sorrel horse. Stran practices every day he can and has set a goal to make it to the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo. His favorite rodeo is the Utah Junior High School State Finals, where adrenaline is at a peak for the season.
Rodeo has taught Stran to work hard for the things that you want. He knows that the only way to find success is to never stop trying. Rodeo has also shown him the value of horsemanship and caring for our animal partners. He loves that rodeo gives him the opportunity to interact with the horses on the daily, learning from them and with them. When Stran’s head horse died, he had to work hard to get back in the arena on another mount. The trial gave him the opportunity to grow as a person and as a horseman.
Stran’s hero is his mother and he couldn’t live without her. She has taught him to be a hard worker and always encourages him to hustle. Stran has learned that we should work until the job is done. The hardest part of rodeo for him is losing, which happens despite all our effort and practice. He would like to thank his parents for their support and help, in and out of the arena. Thanks to them he has been able to get through the hard times and become the rodeo athlete he is today.
