Cowgirl up: Millersville teen competes in two national rodeo events

There is a broken wood plank on the front porch on the Siebert home, a cabin near Millersville.

"This is where my horse tried to come into the house with me," said Colby Siebert, 18.

Colby has been riding horses for 10 years and started competing in rodeos seven years ago.

Smugs, a 10-year-old quarterhorse, has competed with her for five of those years. Last month the pair competed in the National High School Finals Rodeo in Farmington, N.M.

Colby said she trained Smugs to compete in pole bending and has finished his training in barrel racing.

"He was an excitable horse," she said. "He was very spooky at first."

Although he is bigger compared to other rodeo horses, she said, he has heart for his owner and competition.

"He's a people pleaser," she said.

Barrel racing, an event where a rider races around three barrels in a cloverleaf pattern, is her stronger event, Siebert said. The event is based on speed, which helps her family's nerves, said her mother, Denah Siebert.

"You can hold your breath the entire time and it doesn't matter," Denah said.

Colby graduated from Jackson High School in May. She said she got up at 4 a.m. most days to ride her horse before school so she could work at Millersville Gas and Grocery in the afternoon.

"During the school year, I tried to get all of my work done during school," she said.

During senior year, she competed for the Illinois High School Rodeo Association. She accumulated the most points in barrel racing during the year, which included 20 rodeo competitions. Her performance at the state competition at Altamont, Ill., in June earned her a spot in the event at the national competition, the third time she made it to the national level.

She also qualified in the pole bending event and earned 23rd place out of 180. In pole bending the rider weaves around six poles placed in a line.

She said she did not place well in barrel racing, her favorite event. She said she was fouled during the competition and is currently disputing a ruling.

"I keep telling myself that God was teaching me a humungous lesson in humility," she said. "I guess I needed it."

Responsibility and humility, she said, are the two biggest lessons of competing in rodeos.

Colby will attend Southeast Missouri State University to study to be a high school teacher. Even though the university does not have a rodeo team, she said she wants to continue competing against other college students independently.

Her performance at the state-level competition also earned her a card with the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, allowing her to compete in professional rodeos as well.

Competition will slow down after high school, and her parents said they will miss cheering for her. Over the years it was a slow but natural progression to rodeos from Western pleasure riding.

"When she won that first ribbon, it just continued," said her father, Roger Siebert.

abusch@semissourian.com

388-3627

Pertinent address:

Millersville, MO