story by Ruth Nicolaus
Emma Warren loves to rodeo, and she loves to bake. The Thedford cowgirl is a member of the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association, competing in the goat tying and breakaway roping. Of her two events, goat tying is the one she is best at.
But she’s also good at making Black Forest Chocolate Cake from her great-grandma’s recipe. It’s so good she gets requests to make it for potlucks at church and other community gatherings, and she loves it as a layer cake with her mom’s chocolate frosting. Emma’s specialties are desserts, like brownies and white chocolate cookies with butterscotch chips, but she’s also good at meals. Oftentimes, she’ll cook the evening meal for the family, making pizza and runzas, both from scratch.
She rides two horses for her events. Belle, a red roan, is her goat tying horse, and Dale, a sorrel, is her breakaway horse. Belle, who is ten years old, is a good halter horse. “She can’t turn real well, but as long as you keep her in a straight line, she’s really good,” Emma said. Emma shares Dale with her older sister; both girls ride her for the breakaway. Emma loves Dale because “she’s a cool little horse,” but Dale does not like to be tied up. She’ll break the halter as she pulls back.
Emma just finished her eighth grade year. She is homeschooled, and she loves studying science and history, especially American history and World War II. Her great-grandfather was part of the U.S. military who stormed Normandy Beach for the largest amphibious invasion in history on June 6, 1944.
In addition to helping out in the kitchen, she loves to help around the ranch. Her dad has her pairing out cows and calves in the spring, moving bulls and cows in the summer, checking windmills, and even taking the 10 pm shift for checking heifers during calving season. She also loves to wrestle calves at brandings.
The most fun Emma has had on a trip was when the family has visited Disney World. Her favorite part of Disney World was Kringla Bakeri Og Kafe, the Norwegian cuisine café at Epcot. She loved the desserts.
Emma’s favorite meal her mom makes is chicken fried steak; her favorite beverage is iced tea, and her favorite snack is a Ghirardelli dark chocolate sea salt bar.
She hasn’t quite decided what she’d like to do when she grows up. She loves building things and baking, so her path may follow those two interests.
The Warren family has three dogs: Daisy and Missy, both Great Pyrenees and a doxiepoo named Scout.
Emma is the reserve champion in the goat tying after this year’s state finals, and she represented Nebraska at the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo in June.
She has an older sister, Raesha, who is seventeen, and a younger sister, Ella, who is nine. She is the daughter of Nat and Mindy Warren.
