By STEPAHNIE BUNKER
Moapa Valley Progress
Haley Bowen never dreamed of being a rodeo gal until two years ago. It was then she decided she was going to compete in High School Rodeo. Now, at the close of her senior year, Bowen became stiff competition and qualified to attend Nationals.
Bowen has been on the road traveling to three different rodeos in just the last month. At the end of June she went to Reno Rodeo and BFI Week where she was the winner of the Charlie One Horse all girls youth team roping. Bowen and her partner Bailey Fullmer won $5,500 and multiple prizes.
After the Reno Rodeo the Bowen’s traveled to Guthrie, Oklahoma to the National Little Britches Rodeo National Finals. There Haley was qualified in Barrels, Breakaway, Team Roping, Goat Tying, and Ribbon Roping. She competed against 200 ropers in Breakaway and won the first round with a time of 26 seconds. She came back to the second round as high call but missed her calf.
After a week in Oklahoma the Bowen family came home for four days before they got back on the road again for the High School Nationals Rodeo in Gillette, Wyoming. The National High School Rodeo takes the top four competitors in each event from each state. Bowen qualified to compete in Barrel Racing but wasn’t able to place this time.
High School Rodeo has come to an end for Bowen, but she hopes it is just the beginning of her rodeo career. In just a few weeks she will be headed to Weatherford, Texas, with her five horses and two dogs, to start school. She will be a part of the Weatherford Rodeo Team where she will compete in Barrel Racing, Team Roping and Breakaway. She will be majoring in Equine Management and Production and hopes to use this degree to work at, or one day own, a horse breeding facility.
Bowen has had three sponsors that have supported her through rodeo: Biomane, 4 Flat Tack and Herbs 4 Winners. She explained that the sponsors have helped her out with entry fees and gas money, she also receives free product.
“Gas money doesn’t seem like that much,” Bowen said, “But when you’re hauling 5 horses clear to Oklahoma it can be a lot!”
Bowen started high school as a typical teenage girl in public school ranking in the middle of her class. But at the start of her Junior year she decided to be home schooled and dedicate time to rodeo.
“Rodeo has changed her life,” said Haley’s mother, Teresa Bowen. “She was never interested until her junior year, and we wanted her to want it. She stepped up and became competitive right away.”
Haley said she wanted to be a part of her family’s activities, and that is rodeo. “It’s awesome that we can all do it now,” she said.
Haley has worked to bring about noticeable improvements in her performance. She still recalls the first high school rodeo event she attended where she received a no time in all four of her events. By the end of that year she nearly qualified for Nationals. By the next time she attended the location of her first rodeo she won the Barrel Race and placed in Team Roping.
Haley graduated from Bridgeway Academy with a 4.0 and became a member of the National Society of High School Scholars. She received several scholarships that paid for her first semester of college. She received a scholarship from San Antonio Livestock Exposition, the Karen Alsum Professional Women Scholarship, Mesa View Home Care Scholarship, and the Moapa Valley Rodeo Club scholarship.
With ambition and drive in her back pocket Bowen is set up for success. With more than enough responsibility for an 18 year old, Bowen plans to make her dreams a reality in Texas.
