story by Lily Weinacht
“It’s fun to see all your friends at the rodeo and to compete with them, and I just love the rodeos in general,” says Madison Richmann. The 13-year-old CJHSRA member from Keenesburg, Colorado, made her debut at the NJHFR this summer in pole bending and finished 11th in the nation in the breakaway roping. “It was a great experience. In the pole bending, I had some room for improvement, but there’s always next year. I learned that all of the rodeo kids all across the country all care for each other and are friends at the end of the day. I knew everyone there from Colorado, and we met some people from Hawaii.” Madison also won the contestant talent show at the NJHFR, singing One Republic’s song “Counting Stars” while playing her guitar. She returned home with a $250 scholarship, Cinch certificate, and the determination to qualify again next season.
Rodeo started with Madison’s parents, Justin and Shawnda Richmann, who still compete, while Madison and her 9-year-old brother, Rylan, both jumped into the family tradition as soon as they could ride a horse. The whole family competes in the Circle A Family Rodeos in Keenesburg, and Madison and her mom enter True West Productions barrel races. Along with pole bending and breakaway roping, Madison competes in goat tying and barrel racing at junior high rodeos, and she’s adding ribbon roping and team roping to her résumé this season. “Barrel racing is my favorite because of the horse I ride. Our good friend Wendy Hoefer-Chambers is letting me ride her horse Celie. She’s just fun to be around—I’ve been riding her about a year and a half. In the pole bending, I ride a white pony named Sparkle—she was also trained by Wendy—and in breakaway I ride my brother’s horse Jessie.”
Whenever Madison and her horses compete, she does so in style, wearing Cruel Girl and Cinch jeans and shirts since she started modeling for the company several years ago. Rylan also models for Cinch, and the brother and sister enjoy going on photo shoots, while Madison was even a fitting model for one of Cruel Girl’s jeans. Madison also wears her Cruel Girl jeans while showing her Suffolk/Hampshire sheep at the Southeast Weld County Fair every summer. “I like being at the fair with everybody, and I’m competitive, so all the competitions are really fun. I’ve won showmanship twice and my lambs were second in my class last year,” she explains. “We also have dogs, cats, cows, and a goat. Our whole family goes out and does chores every morning and evening, and it’s fun to go out and work with the lambs.”
Madison also does performing arts in 4-H playing guitar and singing, and enjoys writing her own songs. “I had a good barrel horse get hurt and had to put her down, and I wrote a song about that called ‘Forever Free,’ and it won at 4-H. I’d like to learn as many instruments as I can—I want to be a singer and songwriter. I’ve liked Taylor Swift ever since I was really little, and George Strait.” She takes guitar lessons throughout the year, and Madison also likes to play basketball at Cardinal Community Academy in Keenesburg, where she’s starting eighth grade this fall.
“I want to try to make it to Nationals again this coming year, and I want to try to make it in more than two events,” Madison finishes. “I’m starting ribbon roping and team roping, so I want to keep getting better at that.”
