story by Ruth Nicolaus
Lane Haddock is the life of the party.
Whether he’s at a rodeo, at school, or horsing around with friends, the Elbert, Colo. cowboy loves being social.
A member of the Colorado High School Rodeo Association, he competes in the tie-down and team roping, heeling for his sister, Tara Lee.
He has two horses that he can use for both his events. The gray, Smoke, is one he’s ridden since he was a kid. Smoke was out of commission last fall due to an injury and surgery, so Lane relied on a newer horse, a roan named Pabst. Pabst was intended for the tie-down, but when Smoke was injured, Pabst did both events for Lane. Pabst has made Lane a better competitor, because of his abilities. The horse “made me way more aggressive,” Lane said. “You have to ride him to your shot, and unlike the gray horse, he puts you there.”
A senior at Elbert High School, Lane loves his friends and “being social” but doesn’t enjoy the work that comes along with school. He loves his ag classes, but English class, which this year has included plenty of writing assignments, is his least favorite.
He played football all four years of high school and is in FFA, as a member of the ag mechanics team. Last time the team competed in CDEs, he was the highest scorer on the team and in the top ten in the district.
For fun, Lane and his friends like to cruise around and go to Sonic or Walmart. He’s a self-proclaimed social butterfly and makes friends easily.
As part of his high school classes, he spends the afternoon doing work study at Twisted G Enterprises, a heavy equipment repair and sales shop. He works there in the summers too, doing what he considers the “tedious stuff,” but also getting the opportunity to help the mechanics, which he really enjoys.
His boss is great to work for, and sponsored him for the Vegas Tuffest tie-down roping event, held in December in Las Vegas. Lane made a solid 11.3 second run in the first round, but in the second round, he hit the box as he left it, and at that point, was too far down the arena to make a fast run. So “I turned it into a practice run for my horse,” he said.
The best food his dad makes is a Mississippi melt, shredded pot roast that’s been cooked with pepperoncini peppers and is served on a hoagie bun. For desserts, he likes “anything with sugar,” his mom reported, but key lime pie is his favorite. Since he’s the only one in the house who likes it, his mom will sometimes buy him one or two pieces. And his favorite beverage? Dr. Pepper, “all day long,” he said.
Lane’s freshman year of high school rodeo did not go well. At 110 lbs., he had trouble flanking calves. “I’m pretty sure I missed all my calves that year on purpose, so I didn’t have to tie them,” he said. The team roping went well, though. He’s grown since then, and tie-down roping goes a lot better now.
He and his sister Tara are close, his mom said, and Lane has served as her mentor and biggest cheerleader for rodeo. During her freshman year at state finals, Lane helped her with the score, watched the cattle for her, and told her how to get out. Because of his help, she won the average in the breakaway at the finals. Lane shrugs it off, laughing that he only helped her “so she wouldn’t mess up my calf horse.”
He competed at state finals his freshman year, then a broken leg in the fall of his sophomore year kept him out. Last year, Colorado had no state finals.
This fall, he will attend Tulsa (Okla.) Welding School, because of its excellent reputation and high job placement rate.
He is the son of Shawn and Jessica Haddock.
