story by Ruth Nicolaus
Dawson Doggett has a great sense of humor, and he’s a hard worker.
So reports his mother, when she talks about the only cowboy she’s raising, alongside his three sisters.
Dawson, a member of the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association, competes in the chute dogging, tie-down roping, team roping (heeling for Chase Gracey), and ribbon roping (roping for Tessa Barthel.)
His main horse is Amy, an eighteen-year-old sorrel who was shown in AQHA shows and was formerly owned by Mike Van Egdom. He uses Amy for the roping, and loves her. “She gives me the best opportunity to catch,” he said.
During the COVID-19 quarantine, Dawson missed out on the last few months of his eighth grade year at Arnold School. But he didn’t mind too much, as he spent most of his time working around the ranch and practicing.
He had broken his arm last fall, and was looking forward to being healthy for spring rodeos, but they didn’t happen, due to the pandemic. But Dawson is mature and handled the cancelation of the spring rodeo season and state finals well.
In school, he plays football, wrestles, golfs, lifts weights, and is a member of 4-H. In 4-H, he shows swine and horses.
The best food his mom makes is a beef casserole, with noodles, vegetables and ketchup. He loves bananas, and his favorite vegetable dish is zucchini and squash fried in a bit of butter, with some onion. “It’s the best thing ever,” he says. He loves chocolate mooncake, steak, and Cherry Coca-Cola.
His favorite place to be at home is in the barn, where he’s close to his horses, he can rope, and shoot hoops (the portable basketball goal is close to the barn.)
The best trip he’s taken was to Cancun two years ago, for his aunt’s wedding. “They had the best food, and the room service was amazing,” he said. He got to swim in the ocean for the first time.
He’s pretty handy around the ranch with the heavy equipment, including the skidsteer, tractor, the Caterpillar and the baler.
This summer, he’s working around the ranch, doing nearly every job there is: fixing fence, moving, feeding and working cows, branding, checking water, and putting out mineral and salt.
When he grows up, he’d like to be a pro rodeo athlete and work in the ag business industry.
His mom and dad, Makayla and Rod, are proud of their son. “He’s a very hard worker,” Makayla said. “We asked a lot of him when he was home (through the quarantine.) He helped us calve and paired out every day for us. We fall behind in that, but he kept us going.”
He has three sisters: Breckn, who is six, Olivia, age eight, and Taylar, who is seventeen. He is especially close to Taylar, because “she has a car,” he laughs, “and she makes good caramel frappes.” He enjoys her fun personality, too.
At the National Junior High School Finals in 2018, he qualified for light rifle shooting. This year, he finished his junior high rodeo career as reserve champion in the chute dogging.
