Story by Ruth Nicolaus
The cats in the Seibert household were terrorized when Jackson Seibert was young.
That’s because the cowboy, as a little kid, roped them constantly.
Now he’s in the rodeo arena, team roping as a heeler for Trey Richards.
As a youngster, the Colorado High School Rodeo Association member moved to Broomfield and became a “city kid,” he said. “I grew up in the city for most of my life, but I always knew I wanted to be a cowboy in some sort of fashion.”
Now the Seibert family lives near Bennett, so Jackson is able to have a horse.
He began high school competition in the spring of his junior year. His dad, who grew up around team roping, taught him to swing a rope and how to ride a horse.
It wasn’t always easy, but Jackson didn’t quit. “A couple of times, I was questioning if it was really what I wanted to do,” he said. “Then I started being consistent in catching and started practicing more. I knew I loved it, I didn’t want to quit, but I did get angry at times.”
This year has been much better. Team roping mentors gave him advice and help. Tom McManus helped him learn to ride aggressively, and helped him with being able to ride and rope at the same time.
And Jason DeVore also helped him with his horsemanship. “I’ve gotten so much better,” Jackson said.
A senior at Strasburg High School, he loves physics class and keeps his grades up. His parents have insisted that he get As and Bs, no Cs. “Even if I’m still eligible to rodeo, if I have one C, they won’t let me. I’m going to look back one day and realize it did a lot of good.”
He has two trucks and one car at home, all waiting to be worked on.
The first is a 2002 Chevy Silverado that he built, the ranch truck that he drives to school. The second is a 1995 Dodge 2500 with a Cummins engine. The Dodge is a “massive undertaking,” because he’s stripping it down to the frame and motor and putting a different body from a different truck on it. He’s also putting “go faster” parts on it, “anything within a reasonable budget that will bolt on to an engine without having to tear it all down.”
The car is on the back burner, he said. It’s a 1974 Dodge Dart, which he’ll work on when he has more time.
For fun, he and his friends like to drive around Bennett, Strasburg or Byers. They might eat at Chick -Fil-A, or Slim Chickens in Aurora.
He played high school golf for three years and used to be an FFA member. He raises Maine-Anjou show cattle. His sister and dad raise show pigs. The family has an annual club cattle sale, called the Wild West Club Calf Sale.
When he graduates, he’d like to attend Texas Tech and major in engineering and compete on the rodeo team.
Jackson is also a member of the Little Britches Rodeo Association.
He has a younger sister, Avery, who is 14.
He is the son of Jeff and Sarah Seibert.
