Laura Young
ECB Publishing, Inc.
Keira Evans of Monticello had some unusual add-ons to the usual packing list for college this Fall. Pillow, check. Desk lamp, check.... Horse trailer, check!
Evans was headed for Southern Arkansas University (SAU) on a rodeo scholarship, and her horses, James and Ziggy, were coming with her.
SAU Rodeo Coach Rusty Hayes is pleased to have Evans on the team.
“Keira's a great girl. It was fate, her being here,” says Hayes, recalling how he and Evans first met at a rodeo last Spring. She visited the campus about two weeks after that, sent in a video with a list of accomplishments, and pretty quickly it was a done deal.
“When I visited the campus,” says Evans, “the town of Magnolia reminded me a lot of Monticello. It felt like home to me.”
When she moved herself to this home-away-from-home, she also moved her horses into the university stables. Before and after classes each day, Evans joins her teammates at the barn for all the horse-care activities and training she grew up doing at home.
Evans got her first pony, a Morgan, at the age of seven, and at age eight she got her first Quarter Horse for barrel racing. The horse she races competitively now is James.
“I've had James since age 12,” says Evans. “He is very difficult for me to ride, but he is very fast and very skilled.”
She began competing in Professional Cowboy Association (PCA) rodeos at the age of 14, with the kind of success that landed her the scholarship to SAU. The SAU Rodeo Team competes in 10 tournaments per year against 16 other college teams in the Ozark region. At the end of October, it was the SAU team’s turn to host a rodeo for the circuit, which allowed her to learn about how to run an event, not just compete in one. Being on a team has been a new experience for Evans because all of her previous competitions were as an individual.
“I really like making friends who love what I love,” she says. “We always have fun doing the barn chores. The rodeos are fun to do together, and it's fun to travel together.”
Coach Hayes explained that the SAU Rodeo Team has 37 students and 75 horses. The university has a full rodeo facility, including three outdoor practice arenas and one indoor facility.
As her freshman year unfolds, Evans is balancing the demands of being on the SAU Rodeo Team, continuing to compete individually in PCA rodeos, studying for a degree in Business Management, singing every week in her church, making time to workout and learning to manage herself.
“Doing both rodeo and working on my college degree is rewarding but also exhausting, because you never get a day off,” she says, “but, it keeps me busy, which I love.”
Evans encourages others to “always set goals and never doubt yourself. If you put in the work, you can make it happen. But most of all trust that God has the next chapter of your life in His hands.”
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