Fifth grader Maddie Glover has quite the successful history of barrel racing.
Maddie Glover, a fifth grader at Caliente Elementary School, was born into a rodeo family. She is a third generation cowgirl. Her grandmother, Carol Young will turn 75 this year and still runs in the Senior Pro Rodeo Circuit as does her mother and cousins.
Maddie, as she likes to be called, races and trained four horses. She named them: Hope the Rockstar, Hollywood Star, Patches and Chex Out the Smoke. Maddie competes in barrel racing as well as pole bending and participates in horse camps in the summer with her grandmother and cousins at Tara’s in Panaca.
Maddie’s goal is to get to the NFR. Her role model is Vickie Carter who made it to the NFR last year.
Barrel racing is a sport that some people know little about. Divisions are never set until the last runner runs for a time. For example, if the fastest time is 15 seconds, that would be Division 1. The next division is determined by half-seconds so using the example above, Division 2 would be 15.5 with Division 3 being a 16 second run. There are five Divisions. Some races may only pay the first three or four runners in each division whereas the larger events can pay down to 11 riders in each division.
Professional riders and beginners all run together in the Open Race where there are so many different levels of horses and riders. Maddie will also enter youth races which are those events for riders under 18 years of age.
Maddie has quite the successful history of barrel racing. For example, at Southpoint in Las Vegas in 2014 while riding Smoke the Horse, Maddie placed 7th in the open barrel race in Division 1 and won $250.00. At the same event she placed 6th in the 2D open and walked away with $274.00. Riding high, she placed 2nd in the 1D youth for an additional $159 and 2nd in the 2D youth for a $132 prize. She didn’t stop there but finished the day placing first in 1D youth for an additional $205 making her total winnings for the day $1,020 plus a shiny new belt buckle!
Since this time, Maddie’s parents, Bob and Debbie Maxwell, have taken Maddie to rodeo events in St. George, Salina, and Heber City, Utah. In all these events, Maddie has never placed lower than 7th place with many times coming out division winner! In fact, at the Salina event, she won the 2D with a time of 15.962 with over 200 other participants!
Maddie’s last event was in Heber City, Utah April 15-17. In the Open Race 4D which included about 400 riders, she placed 5th adding $550 to her pocket but then turned around and placed 1st in 2D youth netting an additional $95.00 It is interesting to note that at every event, Maddie comes away winning big bucks, belt buckles and other prizes but
When asked what she enjoys most about barrel racing, Maddie stated, “I have always had a dream of barrel racing in the National Finals Rodeo. I could see myself taking each turn around the three barrels and turning my horse full speed to the timeline. I know what my future is. I was born to ride horses and that is where you will find me. It isn’t about the money or the buckles. It is about making myself better and getting better and better while loving what I do.”
Words spoken from a child.
