By Siri Stevens
Blending work with passion, Kacey Kobza has been competing in rodeo since she was five. “We started with the CJRA and as we got older, we went to the NLBRA, and then high school.” She has 32 saddles between the breakaway, goat tying, barrel racing, and all around. She won the CSHSRA all four years in the breakaway, the goat tying in 2005, and in 2006 was in the top ten in the nation. She went on the college for two years at Vernon, and finished at Eastern New Mexico University for the rest of her Bachelors and Masters.
She graduated in 2012 with a Masters in Business Administration and currently works as Assistant Finance Officer at Valley Bank. “We’re locally owned, right there in Brighton, with seven other branches scattered around the region.” Her job description includes under shadowing the CFO and managing all the retirement and investment accounts. “I worked there as a teller when I was in high school and when I came back from school they offered me that job. It’s been a good growing experience and I’ve learned a lot.” The hardest decision Kacey made when she got my BA was to continue on for her Masters. “I rodeoed my fifth year on my MBA. They encourage you to go work and come back for it, but I felt I couldn’t pass up the opportunity.”
Kacey is the breakaway director for the CPRA. “We co-sanction the majority of the rodeos with the WPRA, and that helps the talent from our association go further into the national level with the WPRA.” Thanks to this co-sanction agreement, Kacey was able to win the Rookie of the Year for the WPRA in 2012. Kacey believes that rodeo teaches life skills. “Rodeo has taught me how to take care of things and prioritize my time. I still love taking care of my horses and competing every single day so I work to play. Rodeo teaches great comradarie and support for all people – from your toughest competitor who is also your best friend. You want them to win and they want you to win. There’s not another sport like that.”
Kacey works eight miles from home and in the summertime when the clock strikes five she’s ready to be out the door, home, and on her horses. “In the wintertime, it’s not so easy, but I still have the chores to do. I spend the winter roping the dummy. We put a TV in the barn and I go hang out with my dad (Kevin). If I’d won the Power Ball I would have built an indoor barn.”
Last year was her first year to make the Finals. “I really enjoyed Grand Junction, but I think as a whole for the association it will be better to move them to Denver. It’s a great facility and I can’t wait to see what the committee will come up with.”
Kacey is excited for the future. “I have dated my boyfriend (Justin Trupp) now for the past three years and I’ve enjoyed the show cattle world he’s in and I look forward to that. I also enjoy the rodeo part. My dad is still riding young horses and I love taking his horses and winning on them. I can’t quit my banker job, but I think that would be an amazing end goat to have. They are two different worlds and I’ve enjoyed both sides of them.” Her brother (Clay and his wife, Hayley) lives in Texas and she still thinks about that warmer temperature in the winter. At the end of the day, it would be to continue to ride horses with my dad and take the best of both my worlds and make it work.”
