story by Lindsay King
Two years ago Animas, New Mexico, cowgirl Tierney Washburn sat at the WNFR to watch top cowboys ride her bull, Fireball. “My dad Owen was the 1996 PBR World Champion, and when he retired he bought some bucking cows and bulls,” said the 16 year old. Tierney and her brother Braiden, 20, have always had their own bucking stock. Her count is up to 10, most of them are two years old. “We usually go to the NFR to watch my dad’s bulls buck, it was a lot more fun to watch my own though. If we are not on the road for a rodeo, then we are taking bulls somewhere it seems like.”
Though Tierney has tried her hand at barrels and poles, this year she is focusing on goat tying and team roping on the head side. “My dad taught me how to rope and I started heading my freshman year; I like getting to spend time with him in the practice pen.” Both her dad and mom, Tricia, grew up rodeoing. “My parents are great about pushing me to work hard to be better than I was the day before. Both my dad and brother heel for me at jackpots so I get a lot of practice at home in team roping.” It happens to be her favorite event because of the time she gets to spend with her family.
Braiden currently attends New Mexico State University, Tierney hopes to follow in his footsteps. The Animas High School junior hopes to major in something related to animal science, with the idea of being an equine chiropractor on her mind now. “My high school is really small, so I get to play both a post and a guard since I am both the tallest and fastest person on the basketball team. I am super competitive, so basketball is a good outlet for that, aside from rodeo of course.” She spends a lot of time in the gym to stay in shape for sports and rodeo.
In the goat tying, Tierney is working a new horse for this season. “My goal for this year is to be really consistent on this gelding and get him to a competitive level.” The NMHSRA goat tying champion placed fourth in the team roping at state in 2016, sending her to her first high school national finals rodeo. “It was neat to meet so many new people at nationals. I am not the most social person, but that made me get out of my comfort zone. It also gave me time with my parents since they drove me there.” The hardest part about rodeo is the pressure Tierney puts on herself to do well. “I stress about everything, no matter what it is. I think about anything and everything, good or bad, that could possibly happen. Basically, I stress about all the things that don’t really matter at the end of the day.” She has started to teach herself to think about each step instead of the whole picture to reduce the self-imposed stress.
“We live in the southwest corner of New Mexico, so it is neat to get to see the rest of the state when we go to NMHSRA events. It is a small enough association that I can have good relationships with almost everyone.” Day in and out, Tierney looks forward to getting home from school and heading to the barn. “My team roping partner and I, along with one other boy, are the only ones at my school who rodeo. We have a county fair and all that, so they know the gist of it, but I still have to explain a lot of things to them about it.”
