story by Lily Weinacht
“I feel like it’s just my passion—it’s what makes me happy. I put all other sports aside and just focused on rodeo, and it’s all worth it in the end,” says Tally Wikum. Since focusing on rodeo as her sole sport, the 14-year-old feels her competition has noticeably improved. She’s currently leading the goat tying in the KJHSRA, and also competes in pole bending, barrel racing, breakaway roping, and ribbon roping with Garrett Novotny. “I felt very good about the fall season. I’m more of a mudder, and there have been a lot of muddy rodeos. I was blessed with amazing horses that love the mud too. And it’s fun going to friends’ houses and hanging out after the rodeos.”
Tally, who remembers barrel racing when she was just 3 years old, enjoys all of her events, but goat tying is her favorite because of the athleticism it requires. She qualified in goat tying for the 2018 NJHFR last summer. “I thought it was cool. I like how competitive it was, and I want to be more competitive there next time and be in the top. I look up to my mom and dad. They help me practice, and they take me everywhere, and we go to a lot of barrel races and jackpots. They donate a lot of time and money in general, and their knowledge. My mom is a barrel racer and my dad was a calf roper and steer wrestler,” says Tally. “I’m very Christian, and I would say that my faith helps me through rodeo.”
Tally and her parents, Tisha and Jace Wikum, and her siblings, Wyatt (15) and Taycie (8), make their home near Hoisington, Kansas. All three siblings compete in the Young Guns Association, and they always practice together. “We’re always giving pointers, and we’re still riding horses right now since we have so many jackpots, and Young Guns,” says Tally. She rides Story in the pole bending, Doc in the barrel racing, Paint in the breakaway roping, and Snake, her one-eyed gelding, in the goat tying. “We have to put a blinder on him so he’ll go straight, so all he sees is one little line, and it’s perfect for goat tying. Story is my all-heart horse. My sister and brother both ride her, so she’s riding all day long doing different patterns and she still gives me her all. My mom trained her from the ground up. We have dogs and goats, and I have a goat that looks like a sheep. His name is Lucky after the one-horned goat in Despicable Me 3.”
An eighth-grader at Hoisington Middle School, Tally enjoys studying Algebra 1, along with going on agricultural field trips for FFA. Until recently, she also played volleyball and basketball, but she’s enjoying having more time for rodeo practice now. “I like traveling with my family, and some of my family lives out of state, so we go see them, and we’ve been to California for Disney Land and things like that,” says Tally. Her favorite KJHSRA rodeo destination is state finals because of the competition, and she’s working hard to return to the NJHFR in Huron, South Dakota, again. “I would like to keep good grades, and I would like to make the top four and go to Nationals in as many events as possible. I want to keep a good attitude all the time with my horses and rodeo, and just stay positive.”
