story by Lily Weinacht
Marci Loucks from Pittsburg, Illinois, is entering her second year in the NLBRA. The 7-year-old Little Wrangler competes in goat tail untying, barrel racing, and pole bending, and qualified in all three events for the 2016 NLBFR. She heard the cheers of the crowd with the help of her bilateral cochlear implants, which have been her “ears” since she was 12 months old. Marci is profoundly deaf, but after undergoing a 10 hour surgery as an infant that could potentially have paralyzed her face, she heard sound for the first time. “You don’t realize how much you hear as a baby – incidental sounds you take for granted – so we had a year to make up for,” says Hassi Loucks, Marci’s mom. “We’d drive two and a half hours for therapy and speech, and it’s absolutely worth it for us. Marci is in regular school and does very well. The technology behind those implants is amazing – if Marci had been born twenty or thirty years ago, she wouldn’t be where she is now.”
With the exception of finding a cowboy hat that works with her implants, Marci competes with the best of the Little Wranglers, while Resistol helped fit her with one of their new RideSafe hats. Her favorite event is barrel racing, and she practices several times a week with her parents, Marty and Hassi, and 11-year-old brother, Leo. “I feed and brush the horses, and sometimes the goats, and I help my brother,” says Marci. Leo qualified for the 2016 NLBFR in team roping, goat tying, and breakaway roping, and he helps Marci with practicing her events. “We have a friend whose son did Little Britches and they asked about Leo team roping with him,” says Hassi. “We have a lot of local rodeos in Illinois and the state association, and it was quite an adventure for us to travel to different states. That was our first time in Oklahoma and the Lazy E, and Leo and Marci felt like celebrities. We’ve been back since then for Leo to do Rising Stars, and we’re fortunate Marci has an older brother to be an example and keep up with. He’ll tell her to keep her tip up in roping or get her horse up there, and we’re very thankful she can hear him.”
Marci rides two horses in her events – a 13-year-old pony, Half Pint, and a gelding nearing 30, Trigger. “I do barrels and poles on Half Pint, and goats on Trigger,” says Marci. “We have dogs and cats and cows. I have three cats, Don Krieger, Don Krieger, Jr., and Don Krieger III. I’m a good trainer of cats, and my brother trained our dog Roy.” Marci is also the proud owner of an alligator head, which one of the contestants gave her at the NLBFR. “We learned about alligators and watched a video about them,” says Marci. “I keep my alligator head on my dresser, and it has very sharp teeth.”
Both Marci and Leo go to Washington Elementary School, where Marci enjoys writing. “I write about my horses and friends and family, and I draw pictures of my horses and my friends too.” Marci has been in gymnastics since she was three, and she can do eight back handsprings in a row. Her goal is to qualify for the NLBFR again, and win a saddle in one of her events.
“In her spare time, if she’s not doing back handsprings, Marci’s roping a dummy or riding a horse,” Hassi finishes. “Our biggest thing with our kids is for them to keep pushing. If something is a goal, then it’s attainable.”
