story by Riata Cummings
Ram Hughes is the 13-year-old son of Laura and Ramzi Hughes of Newcastle, Utah. Ram is an eighth grader at Enterprise High School where his favorite classes are physical education and math. He is the oldest of eight children, the others being Roxi (the only girl), Rio, Riley, Rance, Ryler, Robbie, and Ridge. Together they spend a lot of time on the ranch taking care of the cows, and in the rodeo arena. Ram has been around rodeo for as long as he can remember and joined in the family tradition at a young age. During his first rodeo, a local show in Enterprise, he competed in the special breakaway and the team roping.
Today he competes in the team roping, ribbon roping, tiedown roping, goat tying, saddle bronc steer riding, bareback steer riding, and the chute dogging. His horses include Quinn, Double, Champ, Tuff and Leo, but his favorite is Quinn. Ram loves the connection he has with the heel horse and believes that Quinn is the best horse he has ever ridden. Ram and his siblings practice six days a week, doing a little of each event every day, but focusing on team roping.
At one of the latest Utah Junior High School Rodeos, Ram and his partner Kanden Coronado got a time of 6.8 seconds in the team roping. At the 2018 Utah Junior High State Finals Rodeo, Ram won both the first and second go rounds of team roping, and they year before he won all three go rounds of the saddle bronc steer riding. This summer he was blessed enough to win two trucks at team roping jackpots, heeling both times. The high energy UJHSRA State Finals have been some of Ram’s favorite rodeos. This year he is aiming for the All-Around Cowboy title and the team roping championship. Within 10 years, Ram wants to have qualified for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and to have roped in the Bob Feist Invitational Team Roping.
Rodeo has taught Ram how to set and achieve goals. The challenging sport pushes him to work hard in and out of the arena, never taking his eyes off the prize. Ram’s hero is Billy Etbauer, ProRodeo Hall of Fame cowboy and five-time PRCA World Champion saddle bronc rider. Ram looks up to the way Etbauer always aimed for first place, despite challenging circumstances and overwhelming odds. Ram lives by the saying, “Go for it”. He believes that if you aren’t there to win, your effort will be wasted. Being willing to give it everything is the only way to get anything. When he walks into the box, he reminds himself to be aggressive and to rope to win. One day he hopes to be remembered as someone who had a good attitude in and out of the arena, someone who was always willing to “go for it”. That determination to try and willingness to work will help turn his dreams into buckles as he continues down the rodeo road.
