story by Lindsay King
Crownpoint, New Mexico, cowgirl Kadin Jodie proved she is wicked fast with a rope both aimed at a calf and a steer. At state finals she took third overall in the breakaway roping and fourth in the team roping for her inaugural trip to junior high nationals. This isn’t her first trip to nationals per say, but it was the first time Kadin got to compete on the stage. “I was sixth in the breakaway going into state but I won the first round, fourth in the second and I missed the short round calf.” The team roping came down to the wire: after missing both their first and second steer, Kadin and Laramie Martinez needed to win the short round. That’s exactly what they did and the points were enough to punch their ticket to South Dakota.
“My dad (Sheridan) is the whole reason I am here [rodeo]. He has been taking us to all the rodeos since I was really little,” said the 14-year-old. She is the second oldest of her three siblings: Matthew, 19, Kail, 6, and Cai, 2. Her dad is a two-time world champion steer wrestler at the INFR. “My dad taught me to ride and he has always been a really good teacher.” The whole family rodeos except for Lenora, Kadin’s mom. “Mom is the video person, but she also supports and encourages us to work hard.”
Rodeoing with your brother can be tough, but Kadin has some added pressure because she regularly hazes for him. “He is fun to rodeo with but sometimes when I don’t do well in my events he gets on to me.” This fall Kadin will be a freshman at Crownpoint High School and will move up into the NMHSRA just as her brother leaves it. “Traveling is the best part of rodeo, it is fun to go to faraway places. My favorite place in New Mexico so far is Carlsbad. The arena is really big and there are a bunch of places around town to go see too.” During all that traveling last year, Kadin made a point to thoroughly explore each new place while she was competing in the NMJHSRA. “I have to thank my aunts on the Jodie side of the family, especially my aunt Michaelyn. She is always driving us all night to hit multiple rodeos across several states.”
The places may be unique and the people are unforgettable, but what Kadin really loves about rodeo is the time she gets to spend with her horses. “When I was little I used to pretend I was a horse,” she said with a shy laugh. “They make everything fun and are just fun to be around.” Kadin currently ropes on Piggy and Pixie, but as a sixth grader she also ran barrels and tied goats. “My horse wasn’t running well in those two events, so my seventh-grade year I just decided to focus on roping. And that’s what I did this past year also.”
During her first year in the NMJHSRA, Kadin wasn’t roping all that great either. “I used to miss a lot and I was really hard on myself about it. I just had to buckle down and practice even harder. I roped the dummy all the time and worked with my dad to make myself a better roper.” This was the type of lesson that stuck with Kadin: leaving everything at the last rodeo – good or bad – and always doing her best to reach the next level. And that she did with a trip to nationals.
“Nationals didn’t go as planned, I missed in everything. I feel bad for my heeler but my parents reassured me that I am young and have many more finals ahead of me. I plan to work harder and make high school nationals so I can do better.” Regardless of all that happened in South Dakota, Kadin is looking forward to the Navajo Nation Fair rodeo in Window Rock, Arizona, coming up in September. It’s a rodeo her dad has entered for the last 20 years. “It’s the biggest rodeo there is around here. I got to enter for the first time last year.” As she looks toward the upcoming rodeo season, Kadin is simply working towards more consistency. “Last season I started off by missing a ton of calves. My goal is to catch all my calves and rope tough.”
