Wheatland, Wyoming, cowgirl, Rayne Grant, took home the 2022 National High School Finals Rodeo All Around title, AQHA horse of the year, pole bending championship as well as reserve world champion in the barrels. “It feels crazy still,” said the 18-year-old. “I remember in junior high looking at all the national champions; those kids seemed so cool to me. Now that I’ve won it, it doesn’t feel any different, I’m still just a normal person.”
Growing up on a fifth generation ranch south of Wheatland, Rayne is accustomed to roping and riding. She started riding when she was three, and watched her older sister, Allie, and her dad, Mike, compete. Rayne started competing in Colorado Junior Rodeo Association when she was five, entering all the events she could. Rodeo News wrote about her seven years ago. https://rodeolife.com/association/meet-the-member-rayne-grant/
She moved up to Wyoming High School rodeo and also helped her parents put on a weekly team roping jackpot in the summer. Rayne competes in the Colorado Pro Rodeo and the Wyoming Rodeo Association as well as entering futurities with her barrel racing prospects.
Her barrel racing and pole bending horse, Chily, won the girls AQHA Horse of the Year award at the 2022 NHSFR. VF A famous Lady, has been part of the Grant family for four years. “We were looking for a barrel horse and she was a really nice horse – Chily was 8 and I took her to some races and it went good. A year and a half later, my pole horse got hurt so I entered Chily in the event. Her first time running, she clocked a 20.3 – the fastest time I’ve ever made.” The Grant family all ride Quarter horses. “They are the best – I don’t know why I’d try anything else.”
Rayne will be a freshman this fall at Laramie County Community College in Cheyenne, Wyo., where she will continue to compete in college rodeo in team roping, breakaway, barrels, and goats. “This region (Central Rocky Mountain) is so tough; I feel like I fit in well here. I’ve been fortunate to go to Arizona in the winters, but I don’t want to go to school there.” She is studying applied management; “to do something with horses. I want to train futurity barrel horses – they are amazing, and I love being in that industry.” She will take five of her quarter horses with her to school; four to compete on and one colt that she will continue to train and futurity on. “I’m confident about going to college and making it all work with the horses and school. My parents have prepared me very well. I am pretty independent, and I’ve taken five or six horses to rodeos all year, so I can handle it.”
The Grants have been buying, training, and selling Quarter horses for years. “We have one that we raised, but for the most part we buy two or three-year-olds,” explained Rayne. “You are investing in bloodlines, and you find the bloodlines that are winning and you like and go from there. My dad trains more of the head horses and I do more with the breakaway and barrel horses. Mom (Becky), videos and supports us and gets mad when we buy more horses.” Mike still does general ranch work on the family ranch, but he also manages Fox Farm Storage, a company the family has built up. Rayne is quick to be grateful to her parents for providing her with horses all of her life. “I’ve ridden so many – I’ve had four-year-olds since I was 12 and then I’d sell them. It’s what I want to do for a living, train and sell horses. You keep going and better yourself to move up.”
One of the obstacles Rayne had to overcome at the National High School Finals was three broken vertebrae. “I had a horse fall with me a month ago before Nationals and broke L1, 2, and 3.” Doctors orders as well as the pain made practice for Finals impossible. “I think I went to two jackpots between state Finals and Nationals and I wore a back brace at Nationals. The doctor said I could do what felt ok to me – they told me to take it easy, that’s why I didn’t go anywhere but it didn’t stop me from going to Nationals.”
She made Nationals all four years of high school. “Nationals is a completely different set up – it’s not like any other rodeo you’ll compete at in the high school level. It’s the top four people from every state and the competition is tough.” One of the advantages that Rayne had was the winters spent in Arizona. “We would head down in November and come back in May. My sister (Allie Eddington) and her husband – he’s a banker in Wheatland – live on the ranch and they stay and take care of everything. We take all the horses – we have three rigs that go down every year.” With this win, Rayne will add three more saddles to her collection of 9 trophy saddles. Rayne’s interest is strictly horses. “I honestly don’t think I could do anything else.”
For now, Rayne is heading to Cheyenne for college. “I’m excited about college – I’m ready to experience something new, move out and be on my own.” She’s not sure she’s excited about the winter though. “Wyoming will always be home, but I can train horses a lot better in the heat than in the cold. When it’s hot, I can still ride in the early morning – when it’s cold I just can’t get away from it.”
One thing she is sure of is that she is following her passion. “Do whatever makes you happy and have fun. I think part of myself having this success, is I’ve always wanted to rodeo. It truly makes me happy and I focus on all the positives and have fun. I think people forget to have fun – I love my horses and I want to take care of them, and you do whatever you have to do. It makes winning a lot sweeter.”
