story by Riata Cummings
Hayden Boren is a 17-year-old senior at Uintah High School. His favorite classes include welding and drafting, where he enjoys learning valuable life skills. After high school he would like to attend college and possibly go on an LDS mission. After that, he is considering a career in electrical engineering or drafting and hopes to be able to continue rodeoing.
He is the son of Herk and Jackie Boren from Vernal, Utah. Hayden has three siblings, Mackenzie, Chet, and Taylor. He is also the proud uncle of three little boys, Jackson, Rigdyn, and Hayzen. As a family, they spend a lot of time roping, riding, and hunting. They have several traditions that have shaped Hayden’s life, including clay pigeon shooting on Christmas or going up the river to fish. He also enjoys wrestling and leather work. Because both of his parents rodeoed, it was natural for the kids to join in the fun. Hayden was fairly young when he competed in his first rodeo, a Jr rodeo in Randlett, Utah. He competed in the pole bending, barrel racing, ribbon pulling and roping. He moved through the ranks in 5th and Under Rodeo and Jr. High Rodeo. Now, he is in his final year of Utah High School Rodeo, competing in the tiedown roping, team roping, steer wrestling, boys cutting and reined cow horse. His favorites are tiedown and steer wrestling, where the fast pace and high pressure bring the thrill of adrenaline.
Rodeo has taught Hayden to keep his chin up and keep pushing forward. He knows that hard runs and bad days happen, but the important thing is persistence. Hayden lives by the John Wayne quote, “Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway”. He knows that the only true failure is the failure to try, and the key to success is never giving up. So far, his favorite rodeo was the 2018 Uintah High School Rodeo. Hard work paid off, and he went home with the high point saddle.
Hayden ropes off a horse named DA, shows reined cow horse using Rango, steer wrestles off of Bear, and cuts on Flash. He has put a good deal of training and effort into most of his horses and strives to be a better horseman and competitor. Hayden tries to practice every day, exercising his horses and drilling the basics. This year he hopes to be the best he can, remembering to have fun and keep his chin up. Rodeo has brought to light Hayden’s perfectionism, and thus a challenge to his competing. He is hard on himself, always trying to be better.
Hayden holds himself to a high level of respectability and courtesy, striving to always hold doors and shake hands. He believes in working for what you want and earning your keep. The old principles of hard work, reliability, and respect are important to him, and he hopes to leave a legacy of those things. If Hayden could give advice to a rodeo rookie, he would encourage them to never give up and give it their all.
