story by Linda Clark
“Rodeo is a part of who I am. I don’t know any different kind of life and I like it like that, ” says 22-year-old cowgirl, Oaklie Sanders from Taylor, Utah, a town that is so small it can’t be found on a road map. “I try to live by this quote from Finding Nemo’s ‘Crush’ the turtle that I heard at Disneyland, ‘Whenever life throws you a wave, don’t fight it. Just ride it and it’ll take you to where you are meant to be.”’
From the age of five, Oaklie competed in mutton busting and the ‘stick barrels’ (stick horse barrel racing) while traveling with her family to watch her dad, J.C. Sanders, compete in PRCA bull ridings. She credits J.C. with being her greatest influence. “He’s my best bud,” Oaklie states proudly. Her mom, Dustie Sanders, grew up in rodeo, however never competed, but has always been a supportive and driving force when it comes to helping out with all things rodeo. On her great-grandparent’s place that is ten miles out of Ogden, Oaklie, the oldest, lives with her two siblings, brother, Gradie and sister, Averie. Gradie is the hardest working 17 year old Oaklie knows and spends his time riding and helping out at home. Averie, at 15, just completed her first year of high school rodeo.
Oaklie started competing in junior rodeos when her mutton busting days were behind her. After, she graduated to the NHSRA at the junior high and high school level where she competed in barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying, ribbon roping, and breakaway roping. She competed in the NIRA for one year and attended classes for two years at Weber State University in Ogden, Utah. Since leaving college, Oaklie has enjoyed being a nanny and an EKG technician. More recently she took a job as office manager for a local company, VK Electric. She is fortunate enough that the owners are ‘rodeo minded’. They have given her the opportunity to work remotely which frees up some time to rodeo and train her young horses in barrel racing. Oaklie also spends her freed-up time up on Mountain Green hunting elk, deer, and mountain lions.
Oaklie has been a long time member of the Rocky Mountain Professional Rodeo Association. The last two years she has qualified for the RMPRA finals in the breakaway roping, finishing up the season 4th in 2020 and 12th in 2021. She joined the WPRA when she turned 18 and rodeos out of the Wilderness Circuit where she qualified for the finals in 2021. In the week following the finals, she won the breakaway roping in her first Pro Rodeo at the Las Vegas Days. To make the win even more special, her boyfriend, Pro tiedown roper and steer wrestler, Chet Boren, won the steer wrestling.
Another memorable win in 2021 was the 4th of July rodeo in Tooele, Utah. Oaklie was in a bit of a struggle with her roping, and the 2.5 second run catapulted both her confidence and bank account. “Everything about the run felt so good and correct. It was the run that got me out of my slump!” she said.
Looking forward to the 2022 summer rodeo season, Oaklie plans on rodeoing with her traveling partner of the past few years, Erika Frost, who is married to the PBR bull rider, Josh Frost. The horse that will be in her trailer is 17-year-old gelding, Tennessee, whom Oaklie has had since she was nine years old. He was acquired from her dad’s cousin after he was done high school rodeoing. Tennessee is the first horse she ever swung a rope on and shows no signs of slowing down.
