Chapter 2

Last time I gave you some background on my parents so that you would understand that I truly was bred and born to be a bucking horse.

Just because it’s bred into you to be something doesn’t mean that you will want to do that or be successful at it. To show you what I mean, I’m going to tell you about one of my heroes and mentors.

His name is Khadafy and he is a three-time world champion bareback horse. Like me, he was born in Wyoming. Unlike me, his parents were not bucking horses and probably did not encourage him to buck like mine did. He is a registered Quarter Horse and he could have been anything. He has a lot of Thoroughbred influence in his genetics going back to Top Deck and Three Bars. His dad was a black horse named Tom Micks that sired 78 foals. He is out of a mare named Steen’s Star that goes back to Oklahoma Star and Ranger Hancock. With these bloodlines, Khadafy could have been a top-notch ranch, roping or performance horse.

It’s not surprising that Khadafy is an athlete. It is surprising that he is a bucking horse when all the rest of his family were raised to be saddle horses. To hear him tell it, he bucked off every ranch hand from Bridger National Forest to the Wind River Country where we now live.

I think that might be an exaggeration. He was four-years-old when the Franzens purchased him for Powder River Rodeo Company. They picked him as the best bareback horse the first time in 1990 when he was seven. Then he won again in 1995 and 1996. They retired him in 2004 at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR). He was 21-years-old then and that dude was still bucking.

I hope that my career lasts as long as Khadafy’s did. When we were young, he’d lead us into the trailer and he was great to prepare us for the adventure ahead. I wish everybody could be at a ranch where there is a pasture full of bucking horses and see what happens when a trailer backs up to the loading chute.

Horses’ heads come up and we all start jockeying for position to get in line and get on the truck. At the Franzen’s place, Khadafy used to always take the lead. He’d get so excited and looked like he was having so much fun that we all had to join him.

Khadafy wasn’t bred to buck, but I never saw a horse that loved it more than he did and that includes me. I may love it as much, but not more. He was always calm in the back pens and the chute, saving all of his energy for when the chute gate opened.

He still hangs out with the young horses at the ranch and while they don’t get to see him in action like I did, they pay a lot of attention to his stories. And, even though he’s not bucking anymore, he still has a lot to teach them if they just listen.

Most of the time, Franzens start bucking their horses when they are about four-years-old. They might take them to a high school or college rodeo or put them in a rookie event somewhere. That’s kind of how I got started. But my trip was nothing like they had expected.
The first two times they took me anywhere, I jumped out of the arena. One of those times was during the rookie bronc riding at Belle Fourche, S.D. It was there that I got my name. It was about the time that the movie came out where Sandra Bullock plays an FBI agent that wins a beauty contest.

Not to brag, but I think they found the perfect name for me. I may be big and strong, but I do have that long flowing black curly mane and I know I could win a beauty contest for bucking horses. But it definitely is not all about beauty. I’m smart, athletic and do try to get along with everybody.

After that I never tried to jump out of another arena. I was in the rookie bronc riding at Belle Fourche and I figured out that I liked what happened inside the arena. I was big and strong for a four-year-old, bucking off everybody that tried to ride me, so Hank and Lori decided I was ready to go on the rodeo trail. I’m sure glad they made that decision, because I was selected for the NFR that very same year.

Now every time I get loaded on a trailer, I get a good look at the Wyoming license plate that is on the back. It’s said that the bucking horse that’s on those plates is the legendary horse Steamboat. I think it’s pretty cool that Wyoming’s state symbol is a bucking horse and I sure wish I could have known Steamboat. Whenever I see that image I’m inspired to go be the best that I can be.

I had my baby since I last wrote and I’m proud to tell you that I had a filly that looks just like me. I’m not so proud to tell you that she is a sassy little thing already. If I didn’t know better I would think she only had one word in her vocabulary and it would be why. It’s going to be a long trip to Belle Fourche for the Fourth of July.

I can just hear her, “Why are we getting on this trailer, why are we going towards the sunrise, why are we leaving Wyoming, why, why, why?” It will be a good lesson for me to be a patient mother and I hope I can remember that she only asks because she is smart and she’s sassy because she’s proud. It will be fun to show her off a little and give her a taste of the rodeo life. Because, like me, that’s what she’s bred and born to do. Then we’ll let her grow up and let Khadafy have some time with her to teach her about what’s in her heart!

After Belle Fourche, we’ll be in Estes Park, Colo., and Vernal, Utah, before coming back to Wyoming for Rock Springs. Even though Rock Springs isn’t the biggest rodeo in the state, it’s one of my favorites. We always get good cowboys there because of a little rodeo down the road they call the “Daddy of ‘em All”. I wanted to let you know that I have a myspace page too and would love to have you on my friend list!

My name is Miss Congeniality and I’m proud to be a Wyoming bucking horse.

Chapter One

Out in the eastern plains of Wyoming, on a windy March day, a mare by the name of Red Bird gave birth to a bay filly.

That filly was me, Miss Congeniality, the 2007 world champion saddle bronc horse owned by Powder River Rodeo. My mom had been in the business of raising bucking horses for a few years when I came along. She had a lot of practice and was the best mom ever. One of my first memories is of her nudging me, encouraging me to get up and telling me that I had great things to do in my life.

My mom spent the next few months telling me that I was born to be a bucking horse. She told me about my dad, Cut the Cards, a little stud horse that came from Harry Vold. He has a long black curly mane and is a deep blood bay. She was always telling me how much I looked like my dad and how I was destined to be a bucking horse.

My dad was selected for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo three times, so the Franzens, owners of Powder River knew what he could do in the arena before they kept him at home to let him be a dad. Well I listened to everything that my Mom told me. When I would complain about the wind, or that it was cold, she told me to be quiet. The weather would just make me tough.

My mom reminded me every day that I was growing big and strong and that I had a legacy to fulfill. We’d be walking across the pasture and she’d give me a big nudge that would almost knock me over. I asked her “what was that for?” She explained that she was teaching me about balance.

She was always after me to eat telling me if I wanted to grow big and strong it was important to get my fill of grass. She would watch me buck and play with the other foals in the pasture and always gave me encouragement and advice. She also explained to me that Wyoming’s state logo was a bucking horse and that all of us horses born in this state were representing that logo.

The Franzens purchased my mom with a group of other mares from Johnny Morris. They came out of Montana. Johnny had some great horses and I’m proud to say that my mom was one of them. He was a former bronc rider and an accomplished pilot that used to fly rodeo cowboys around. He needed money for an engine for his plane and that’s when he decided to sell the horses that included my mom.

Johnny was flying four cowboys from Bozeman, Mont., to the Cow Palace in San Francisco in 1998 when their plane crashed. Bareback rider Mark Garrett had minor injuries, his brother Marvin along with saddle bronc rider Scott Johnston and bull rider Thad Bothwell all sustained broken backs. Johnny died from injuries he got in the accident. My mom told me that Johnny was a very kind man and took real good care of all of them. She told me about Johnny’s love of flying and said that he will always be an angel looking over the horses and cowboys in the sport he loved so much.

All of those stories made a big impression on me as I was growing up. I’m now a 10-year-old mare that has made a career in the arena as a saddle bronc horse and outside of the arena as a mom. I’ve just given birth to my fourth foal, a filly that I’m trying to teach the same lessons that my mom taught me.

About a year and a half ago, the Franzens loaded us all up and I knew we weren’t just going to a rodeo, because I mean they loaded everything. We moved from the eastern prairies of Wyoming to the Wind River area. We now call Riverton home and I think this will be a fine place to raise the next generation of Powder River Rodeo bucking horses.

The wind doesn’t blow as much here, so I’m nudging my baby more than my mom did to teach her about balance. There’s a little more snow but so far we all like the climate. It’s good for growing strong babies.

If I am half as good of a teacher as my mom was, my babies will have it made. When I was just five, I earned my first championship title. Then last year, the top 30 bronc riders in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association picked me again. I think last year was outstanding. I only had three guys make the whistle on me during the regular season and each time they were 91 points.

One of those guys was Anthony Bello, who had me at Idaho Falls, Idaho. He was lucky enough to get me again in the 10th round of the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo, but I don’t think he had as good a trip. We only got an 86.5 point ride there.

I’m pretty proud of the other seven rides where I bucked the cowboys off. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind when they ride and we win, but it’s a lot of fun to see them dusting off their britches after I’ve thrown them in the dirt.

I’ve been told that I’m an honest bucker. I’m not really sure what that means, I just know that this is what I was born and bred to do, and every time they open the gate, I’m going to kick as high as I can, drop my head as low as they let me and do my best to get that cowboy off my back.

This month I’ve told you what influenced me outside of the arena. Next month, I’ll be talking about what has happened in the arena for the last five years. For the rest of the year, I’m going to share my experiences with you and I hope that you’ll get a chance to see me in action.

My name is Miss Congeniality and I’m proud to be a Wyoming bucking horse.

Images:
1) Miss Congeniality
2) Anthony Bello on Miss Congeniality, image provided by Dan Hubbell