story by Lily Weinacht
It’s McKylee Brown’s rookie season in both the NLBRA and the sport of rodeo, and the 13-year-old from Gunnison, Utah, is leading the junior girl rookie standings by more than 800 points. “I never thought I’d get this far, and now that I have, I couldn’t have done it without my horses or my mom and step-dad,” says McKylee, who started riding three years ago. She’s qualified for the NLBFR in all of her events—barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, and trail course—and is excited for her first trip to Oklahoma. She and her parents, Bobbie and Kirk Dahl, have also traveled beyond their local NLBRA Blackhawk Winter Series Rodeo to the Wild West Little Britches Rodeo Association in Pahrump, Nevada, and even into Colorado. They learned about the association from their neighbors, Paul and Tiffany Peterson, who are also helping McKylee with breakaway roping.
“McKylee has a pretty solid connection with both the horses she rides, and we honestly spend every spare moment we have practicing, either at home or taking the horses to the hills for trail rides,” says Bobbie, McKylee’s mom. “Her step-dad built a full trail course in her home riding arena and she loves that. Sometimes we can’t get her to come into the house—she’s constantly out there with the horses.” McKylee rides Hollywoods Golden Girl “GG”, a 9-year-old palomino paint mare, in barrel racing and pole bending, and Fergie Firewater “Fergie” in goat tying and trail course. “Fergie is 8 and she’s a buckskin, and I’m starting her on breakaway. She does barrels too,” says McKylee. She also travels to rodeos with her Miniature American Eskimo dog, Bella.
Along with Little Britches, McKylee competes in 4-H rodeos, doing barrel racing, pole bending, and flag racing, along with western pleasure, showmanship, and reining. This summer she’s on the Revolution Flag Team for the first time, carrying the American flag while performing a drill at rodeos. Drill practice is once a week, and McKylee rides here horses every day and practices her rodeo events three times a week. “I just love it, and I don’t really ever want to quit. I set goals for each rodeo, so I’m excited to see what I can reach. My horse hasn’t been turning the top pole as tight as I want, so I’m working on turning the top pole tight and getting about a 27 in trail course.”
McKylee is equally at home in her dance shoes as her cowboy boots, and takes jazz dance lessons, doing solo dances, team dances, and competitions around the state. She also does tumbling, a form of gymnastics. “She’s a pretty dedicated kid, and she loves her animals,” says Bobbie. “She gets up and feeds in the morning and stays up late at night to scoop pens, and she tries really hard to be the best at everything she does.”
While McKylee loves summer break, she also enjoys school and will start eighth grade this fall at North Sevier Middle School. Her art class is a favorite, particularly drawing. She plans to spend the bulk of her summer rodeoing, however, and never leaves without a special feather in her hat. “It’s one of the things that reminds me to stay calm and do my best. I found it at my first rodeo. I really want to accomplish going to Nationals, and I want to do my best and not be down if I don’t. I want to think of it like another run in my home arena.”
