story by Ruth Nicolaus
Emma Ohm is the 2019-2020 Nebraska High School Rodeo goat tying champion.
The Arthur, Neb. cowgirl was in third place all season long, headed into state. At state in Burwell, she was consistent. “I tied three goats down solid,” she said. “The two girls ahead of me had done awesome all year and they are very, very competitive. I tied one more goat down than them, and I got those average points.” In the first round, her time was 9.32 seconds; her second round time was 8.36, and in the short round, she had a time of 7.71.
The sixteen-year-old rides three horses for her events, which include breakaway, team roping, goat tying, and the occasional barrel racing. Two of those horses are home raised, including Two Perks, her fourteen year old sorrel mare, who is her goat and head horse.
Her breakaway horse, Maggie, another mare, “doesn’t have a mean bone in her body,” she said. “She tries really hard for me. We’ve been together for a long time. I learned how to rope on her. We’ve gone a lot of miles together.” Maggie is out of a stud the family used to have.
Her barrel horse, Ricky Bobby, is a sorrel gelding who was purchased from a lady in New York.
Emma is a junior at Arthur Public School, where she is involved in band (playing the flute), volleyball, basketball, student council, and the National Honor Society. She is the chaplain of her FFA chapter. During the coronavirus pandemic, the rest of the world “was bored and freaking out,” she said. “We were working at home.” She helped with calving cows and did her homework. “It really wasn’t too big of a deal.”
The National High School Finals didn’t go as she planned. In the first round, her goat got up, and in the second, she ran an 8.31 second time. But she enjoyed her time anyway, visiting aunts, uncles and cousins who live close to Guthrie, and was grateful to compete at the Lazy E Arena. “I’m very thankful we had somewhere to go,” she said. “”I was super excited. The Lazy E is an extremely nice facility.”
Emma spent the summer in the saddle, working for her dad. “We ride horses all the time, every single day,” she said. “Whether we’re moving cows, AIing, or starting rope and barrel horses, everything revolves around horses.” Some of their days start at 4 am, and they’re not done working till twelve hours later.
The best meal Emma’s mom makes is softshell tacos, with all the fixings: beef, lettuce, sour cream, and cheese sauce, and for dessert, she loves Oreo ice cream dessert. Her favorite vegetable is corn on the cob, and her favorite fruit is watermelon. She loves to wash it all down with lemonade.
She also competed at state this year in the breakaway and team roping, finishing the year in fifth place in the breakaway and thirteenth place in the team roping, heading for Payton Gorwill.
After high school, Emma would like to rodeo collegiately then pursue a career in agriculture.
She has four younger siblings: sisters Laynee (14), Jaycee (12), and Ruby (7), and a brother, Isaak, who is ten.
She is the daughter of Jason and Kaycee Ohm.
