story by Ruth Nicolaus
Payton McNiel is grateful to her granddad. It was Danny McNiel who got his grandkids, Payton, and her older sister Hayley, involved in rodeo. He taught them how to run barrels, how to rope, tie goats, and do poles. Their horses are at his house, and every day, after school, Payton, a New Mexico Junior High School Rodeo Association member, and Hayley, head to Granddad’s to ride. He rides with them, and so far, he’s never missed one of their rodeos. Grandma Rosanne also supports her granddaughters.
Payton, a resident of Los Lunas, N.M., competes in the barrel racing, goat tying, breakaway roping, pole bending and ribbon roping, where she is the runner for Cash Hooper.
She rides three different horses for her events. Judy is her breakaway and goat tying horse that she acquired last year. Bugs is her pole horse, a sorrel that used to be her barrel horse. She will occasionally use Bugs for the barrel racing in big arenas, where Bugs excels. For the barrel racing, she’s trying out a new horse, a sorrel named Arnold. Arnold is new to the McNiel family and Payton is working with him, to see if they’ll make a good partnership.
The 13-year-old cowgirl is a seventh grade student at Valencia Middle School. She loves studying pre-algebra, and can’t choose a class that she doesn’t enjoy. She is a good student who is on the honor roll and is faithful about studying her notes every night. Her favorite teacher was Miss Wanstall, her fifth grade teacher who “explained a lot of things better than other teachers, and she prepared me for sixth grade,” Payton said. Miss Wanstall is now teaching high school Spanish, which Payton plans on taking, so she’ll have her as a teacher again.
Payton plays volleyball and in her spare time loves to draw animals, especially horses, cats and dogs. She also loves to read. Her favorite genre is science fiction, and her favorite book is Divergent. She’s seen the movie but prefers the book.
At state finals last summer, she won the New Mexico Junior High Barrel Racing title aboard her horse Ichi. Ichi got hurt during the first round at Nationals, so she rode Bugs in the second round. She also won second in the breakaway at state.
Payton admires pro barrel racer Fallon Taylor, and when she grows up, would like to be a large animal veterinarian.
In addition to her older sister Hayley, who is fifteen, she has a younger sister Cheyenne, who is five. She is the daughter of Chris and Summer McNiel.
