story by Lindsay King
Fourteen-year-old Trevor Hale from Perryton, Texas, is no stranger to competitive roping of any kind. An avid hand with a loop in calf roping, team roping and ribbon roping, he has made many trips to the American Quarter Horse Youth World Show as well as the National Junior High Finals Rodeo. A fourth-generation cattle rancher, Trevor grew up on Hale Ranch in the Texas Panhandle, he lives and breaths cattle and horses. He made the switch to homeschooling through Grace Christian Academy last year to allow more time outside doing what he loves. “My favorite subject is more than likely history. There are not very many numbers and some pretty fun facts.” Going into his freshman year, Trevor is excited to get to the high school rodeo association and up his own level of competition. “Oklahoma has a long line of very tough competitors. I always like being in a tough environment to push myself to be better.” Trevor has always been around tough competition, his mom Cindy trains AQHA English horses while his dad Greg showed rope horses when he was younger. “My dad has been in Perryton ranching his entire life, he showed a little bit but has always ben taking care of cows.” Trevor first started to rodeo when he was five years old, he never really had any interest in learning how to ride jumpers like his mom.
During the school year Trevor starts his day by working on school until about noon, then he heads outside to ride horses and help out on the ranch. “School is very important to my family and we always get that done first before we do other things.” During the summer he spends his time exclusively outside, not only helping with cattle work but also riding with various AQHA and PRCA professionals. “I have had a lot of people help me and appreciate them a lot.” Trevor likes to spend his time with Stran Smith, Marcus Costa, Brad Lund and Gary Wells, just to name a few of his rodeo mentors. “Stran is a great mentor, not just in the roping pen but in life, school and everything I do. He has helped me a tremendous amount.” All this help and Trevor’s work ethic led him to AQHYA world titles in tie-down roping in 2014 and breakaway roping in 2016, as well as winning the tie-down roping at the NJHSRA finals last year. Amongst all this work, Trevor also led the Oklahoma Junior High School Rodeo Association as president this past year. “I am just always trying to get better, improve my riding skills and ultimately become more of a horseman.” Aside from roping, he also competes in goat tying, chute dogging and the working cow horse events. While in Tennessee for nationals for ten consecutive days, Trevor will be found competing in tie-down roping, ribbon roping and team roping as well as goat tying and chute dogging. He won both the ribbon roping and tie-down roping at state finals this year which led him to the all-around cowboy title as well. “It is just another rodeo, that’s all you have to think. It is another roping to go to.” Trevor’s main mount is Kate, a 12-year-old sorrel mare used for calf roping. His other calf horse is Goose, a 13-year-old bay gelding. He also has Duke, a seven-year-old bay head horse. They are all Quarter Horses of course. If it is in the cards, Trevor would like to rodeo professionally in the future. However, his ultimate goal is to become a rancher like the rest of his family and eventually run Hale Ranch alongside his dad, and remain involved in the horse industry.
