Evie Davis from Alamo, began competing in the Wrangler Junior Rodeo Association (WJRA) in sixth grade, but she’s been doing rodeos “pretty much [her] whole life.”
She does “all of the events pretty much”; barrels, poles, goats, break-away and team roping. This season was Evie’s first year competing in the senior girls age group. Though one of the youngest in the group, Evie excelled and became the All-Around Champion for 2023, bringing home her first saddle at the end of the WJRA season. The accolades are nice, but she says the thing she’s most proud of is “making the horses I have, with the help of my dad, into good horses. I’ve trained them for the events I do. So yeah, winning the saddle and being able to say that my dad and I did it all by ourselves.”
Rodeo isn’t an easy thing. Aside from the countless hours of work she puts in, Evie says one thing she struggles with is, “seeing all of my friends doing other things while I’m away. I’m happy to be at the rodeo, but it still makes me a little sad to miss out.” However, she says her family and friends are very supportive of her passion, always pushing her to be her best and always being there for her as she trains and competes.
“Ever since I can remember, I’ve loved horses,” Evie explained. “I would always go down with my dad to ride them or feed them or whatever and I’ve grown up doing it.”
Although doing the thing she loves most is a struggle, she finds that it can be very rewarding.
“You can put in as much work as you want to. If you want it that bad, you can put in that much work.”