story by Lily Weinacht
Hadley Hubble is the 2018 AJRA Goat Tying Champion in the 8 and Under division. The 9-year-old from Stephenville, Texas, finished her rookie year in the AJRA with high stakes as she led the barrel racing going into the finals. She hit a barrel to win the year-end and qualify for The American Semi-Finals, which doubled her resolve to qualify this year. With the 2019 season underway, Hadley is sitting third in the barrel racing in the 9–12 division and tenth in the pole bending, while she also competes in goat tying. “Pole bending, I like going fast and doing obstacles, and goat tying I like getting off. Barrel racing is really, really fun,” says Hadley, who also loves seeing her friends at rodeos.
She started rodeoing when she was 5, inspired to compete by her parents, Paul and Lavada Hubble. Paul team roped, and Lavada tied goats, ran barrels, and breakaway and team roped for the West Hills College and Tarleton State University rodeo teams. They both coach Hadley in breakaway roping, which she plans to start competing in this summer. She also looks up to her grandpa Myrl Tibbitts, who rodeoed and helped her start competing. “He comes to all my rodeos and he shoes my horses. Rodeo is fun and my horses love it,” says Hadley, who is responsible for brushing her horses and loading them in the trailer. “I practice every day, and sometimes I ride with my mom.”
Hadley runs barrels and poles on her 11-year-old mare My Te Talent “Mia”, and ties goats and ropes off of her 15-year-old mare, Lizzy. “When I was pregnant with Hadley, my dad had three fillies. I owned the stud and he had the mares. He picked this mare (Mia) out of the three and started her and got her patterned,” says Lavada. “When Hadley was 5, she took her over and she’s been the only one to ride her. She just loves it—that’s all she wants to do all day long. As long as I’m saddling them, she’s riding them.” Hadley also has a miniature donkey, Coco, and four dogs of all sizes, Hondo, Copper, Bolt, and Willow, who occasionally travel to rodeos with the family. She helps feed all the animals, including the roping calves and goats she practices on.
A third-grader, Hadley is homeschooled and particularly enjoys science. “I’m learning about the world, and I do math, language, and reading. I like horse books,” she explains. Her brother, Cooper (15), doesn’t rodeo but loves to play football, and the family goes to football games and rodeos together throughout the year. They also spend many weekends at the lake in the summer, where Hadley loves surfing and wakeboarding. “We bring my friends and my dogs,” says Hadley, who is also competing in the TJRA this year in all of her usual events, as well as flag racing. Her goal is to win more year-end titles in her associations, and ultimately, to run barrels with Mia at The American.
