story by Ruth Nicolaus
Just as Miranda Lambert has a song, The House that Built Me, Sierra Edwards has her own version of the song, and it is entitled The Horse that Built Me.
Sierra has ridden horses since she was a little girl, but always rode her brother and sister’s hand-me-down horses. When it was time for junior high rodeo and tougher competition, before her parents would buy a new horse for her, she had to ride what the family had, a mare named Ginger.
Ginger was not her top choice: no one else but Sierra’s dad wanted to ride her. But she did, training her for the barrels and poles, and showing her parents that she was serious about it, “that I was in it for fun, but also to compete,” she said.
Sierra, a member of the Utah High School Rodeo Association, has been rodeoing ever since, competing in high school rodeo in the barrels, poles, breakaway and goat tying.
Ginger is no longer fast enough for the barrels and poles and is now the seventeen-year-old cowgirl’s breakaway and goat tying horse. Sierra has a second horse for the barrels and poles, Boston, a sixteen-year-old dun. Boston is excellent at poles, which is Sierra’s favorite event. She’s not papered, but “she’s a great horse. She loves poles. She does great in the barrels, but she just loves poles,” Sierra said.
The Price, Utah resident is homeschooled through online classes. Her favorite class is Foundations for Living, a class that shows how the Bible applies to everyday life. She spends a class period every day at Carbon High School in the woodworking class, where she is making a bedroom set. The bed and nightstand are completed, and Sierra is finishing up the dresser. The pieces are made of cedar, and when they are done, she will replace the bedroom set she currently has with the cedar set. She became interested in woodworking when her older brother, Bo, was making cool things, and she is talented at it.
Sierra competes in S2 Barrel Races in Castle Dale, Utah, and in the All In Barrel Race in Las Vegas. In the S2 events, she usually places in the 1D and in the poles.
For fun, she likes to play basketball and take care of the animals on the family’s farm: horses, cows, dogs, chickens, ducks, goats and cats. One of the dogs, Hannah, a cow dog, is Sierra’s favorite. She also likes to camp with her family and hunt for deer and elk.
The best meal Sierra’s mom makes is beef enchiladas; her favorite dessert is cookies and cream ice cream. Her favorite beverage is Pepsi, and her favorite snack is mixed berry fruit snacks.
Sierra competed at the 2017 Utah High School Finals in the barrels and poles and finished in the top fifteen in the poles, qualifying her to go to Silver State.
In addition to her brother Bo, she has an older sister, Taylor. She is the daughter of Kyle and Tonya Edwards.
