story by Lindsay Whelchel
Savannah Prater has roots in roping. Her father was a team roper, and she went to USTRC ropings as a kid, but growing up, at first, she focused on being quick with her feet as a varsity and traveling team soccer player, rather than quick with a rope.
By the eleventh grade though, Savannah couldn’t stay away from the sport of rodeo and competed in high school rodeo, making the finals her junior and senior year.
After high school she began to rodeo competitively, where she met her now boyfriend Cody Mousseau, an IPRA world champion team roper and steer wrestler. That first year Savannah traveled to Oklahoma City and the International Finals Rodeo as a spectator. There she vowed to make the finals as a competitor herself.
As a rookie Savannah came close to qualifying, it came down to the last rodeo of the season in Fort Worth where a broken barrier cost her the win that night, as well as a qualification to the IFR. She did however, walk away as the 2015 Rookie of the Year.
“I was disappointed not to have made the finals, but winning Rookie of the Year kind of softened the blow,” Savannah laughs. “My first year was a heartbreaker then last year was way better.”
Last year proved to be Savannah’s dream come true qualifying for the IFR for the 2016 season. After selling her rookie year horse to fellow IPRA cowgirl Casey Allen to take to college rodeo, Savannah stumbled upon her current mount, a sorrel gelding named Franklin. The pair has proven successful.
“That year I went to Canada and spent all summer, because I knew I was going to make the IFR, so I just made sure I went to Canada and made it happen,” she says and adds, “It was awesome. I told Cody I was going to wear my IFR jacket whether it was a hundred degrees outside or not, I was going to wear it every day. So that’s what it was like making the IFR, and then winning a round was just the coolest thing.”
Rodeo has taught Savannah a lot beyond her early experience playing team sports.
“I think rodeo is different, because it’s not so much a team event. It’s really you, and it’s so much in your head. The main thing that I’ve learned is that you have to be able to take a loss and bounce back from it the next day, or even later in the day; sometimes we go to two rodeos a day in the summertime. You have to be able to take a really hard loss one night and the next night be able to go out there and act like it never happened.”
The opportunity to breakaway rope in professional rodeo with the IPRA is special to Savannah.
“It’s really cool, because I think so many other places, they focus on the barrel racing, and it’s the only thing there is for girls. And for girls that don’t barrel race, it’s really important to have breakaway roping. There’s so many girls in the IPRA that are just so talented and rope so good, and it’s really neat for them to be able to showcase their talent as well,” she says citing the growing number of rodeos and increased added money for the sport within the IPRA. “It’s something the girls can actually travel the way that everybody else has been able to.”
This year Savannah is keeping busy with nursing school and work, but still has her sights set on making the IFR. She’s just going to do it while staying south of the border this time.
“I’m off to a good start. I placed at Athens, Georgia and won a good bit of money there. I won Greensboro, so I’d really like to make the finals. I don’t plan on going to Canada this year, there’s tons of rodeos down here in the southeast, so maybe I could go to the Southeast Region Finals again, win some money there. That’s always been a really good rodeo.”
Savannah is quick to thank all of the people and sponsors who have helped her along the way.
“I just got a new saddle from Oxbow Tack. They are amazing. They’re really good to work with, and they’ve just done a lot for us. Chad Langley at PHT, he has made some really good magnetic products for my horse, helps them travel good. Gold Fields Straw and Hay, they make dust-free straw that we use to travel in our trailer. It’s really good. I want to thank my family. They help me so much. My boyfriend, I travel with him all the time and just all my friends I travel with; Peyton Morrow, Justin Thigpen, Amanda Stewart, she helps me a lot. The Griffins, they’re a really good family down here that let us practice there all the time. Hal Alexander lets Cody and I keep our horses at his house. They’re all really vital.”
Above all, it’s the friendships and relationships made through rodeo that Savannah values, which includes the opportunity to travel, as well as meet people from all over.
“I think that’s something all rodeo people encounter but definitely the IPRA. [Australians], Ty Parkinson, Ben Maytom, Luke Morgan, they all stayed with us here in South Carolina, and we’ve all stayed up at Cody’s house in Canada. Just getting to see all of that stuff and make friends that are actually international, that’s such a big thing, and that’s what I love about the IPRA.”
