story by Lindsay Humphrey
If it wasn’t for goat tying, Rylee Mosley may have never gotten back on a horse again. A riding accident at 7 prompted Rylee to give up riding for almost three whole years. “We had some friends come over and practice tying goats and I wanted to give it a try and ended up really liking it,” said the 17-year-old from Canyon, Texas. “We were living in east Texas at the time, and they had an association that offered goat tying without the horse. My mom (Heather Davis) told me if she was going to haul me to these rodeos, that I had to tie goats off a horse too.”
It didn’t take long for Rylee to get over her fear of riding and fall back in love with it. During her riding hiatus, Rylee gave competitive cheerleading a try. Being six feet in the air had more appeal from the back of a horse, so Rylee quit cheering. In an interesting turn of events, Rylee now dismounts at rocket speeds from a horse standing 16.2 hands. “He’s the only horse that won’t duck out or leave me in the dirt. When I first started stepping off him it was a huge learning curve. I hit the ground more than I should’ve and just this year I’ve been getting off him really good.” It’s taken almost a year and a half for Rylee to figure out how to dismount Duke without constantly eating dirt in the process.
Dismounting wasn’t the only aspect of the event that worked against Rylee last year. Even when she landed on her feet, tying the goat never seemed to work out well for her either. “Last year was just really rough for me. It didn’t seem like anything would go right for me during a run.” Determined to change her luck for her junior season, Rylee hit several goat tying clinics last summer. “Amy Othier helped me get back to the basics and really broke everything down for me. And then Kaley Moyer helped me add the speed back into it.”
This is only Rylee’s second year competing in the OHSRA. Previously, she only competed in Little Britches, but some Oklahoma friends convinced Rylee to head north to high school rodeo. “I just love the people and the competition. When you rodeo around people who are better than you it pushes you to be better. Last year when my mental game was not where it needed to be, I had some really good goat tying friends who helped me mentally and physically to be better all around.” Armed with new skills and confidence Rylee is optimistic that she can make it to the short round at state finals this coming summer.
More than just a goat tyer, Rylee also runs barrels on a mare she’s been around since she was 4 years old. “When I was little, my grandma asked what we should name her and I said Slax. They name all of their horses with an S and that’s just what came off the top of my head.” Standing at 14.1 hands, Slax is the only short horse Rylee actually enjoys riding. “It’s taken about two years to convince my grandma to let me run her. She’s real quick and catty. I love the way she gets down and turns. She gets so low that it’s a lot of fun to ride.”
After Rylee started driving, she knew she wanted to get a job and earn some money. That was part of her argument when convincing her mom to let her be homeschooled almost two years ago. Rylee works around 30 hours a week as a front cashier at Coolhorse – a tack, saddle and trailer retailor. “I’m really good with time management, so I just fit everything in. I normally get off around one and then head home to work horses and tie goats. Then I’ll go inside and do my schoolwork.” Because of homeschooling, Rylee gets to spend a lot of extra time with her best friend at home, her mom. “She’s always pushed me to be the best I can be without burning me out on it. She’s always been there to help and just push me. We pretty much do everything that we can together. My favorite thing to do with her is just go ride for fun.”
