story by Lily Weinacht
Sadie Shake and her horse Romances Lil Lovey “Bertha” are hauling to the Junior NFR for the second time this December since winning the KK Run for Vegas Qualifier in Castle Rock, Colorado. “I was third out, and I thought I had an okay run, but I thought I probably wouldn’t qualify,” says the 17-year-old from Buena Vista, Colorado. “I didn’t even know I was leading the seniors for the whole race, and it ended up that my horse had won it. She’s the horse I took down to Vegas last year and we didn’t do that great, so it’s a cool feeling to win it on her. Last year it was my tenth run on her ever in Vegas, and this year I think we’re better prepared—we know each other better. I won’t try anything different with her other than keeping her in shape. Last year was a really easy winter, but this year might be a hard winter, so I might go somewhere else to keep her in shape.”
If Sadie hadn’t qualified on Bertha, her run on her other horse, Gotta Bee Blazin “Driller” would have qualified her as well. She placed fourth at the KK Run for Vegas qualifier in Loveland, Colorado, on Driller last year, but decided to run Bertha instead since she does better in indoor arenas. “Driller is the horse that got me started at a higher level, like in high school rodeo. I thought he was hard to ride, and I was in for a surprise when I got Bertha, who is even harder. With Driller, now I can make a mistake and still be able to place, but with Bertha I can’t. It’s interesting to see which one will run better that day, because they’re both the same.”
When she’s not at barrel races, Sadie enjoys running barrels in the CPRA, along with barrel racing and pole bending in the CSHSRA. She qualified for the 2018 NHSFR in the barrel racing and also managed to compete at the Best of the Best Timed Event Rodeo even after hitting a cow on the way there. “It totaled the truck, so my grandpa Donald Shake brought my truck to Gallup. We thought we had everything fixed on it and headed to Shawnee, but the carrier bearing and the clutch fan and clutch bearing went out. We had a close family friend nearby, so I stayed with them and hit some rodeos locally, but it wasn’t the same as being in Shawnee. I really like the arena there at the IFYR, and my horses like it too.
“Rodeo is my life, and I would probably be pretty bored if I didn’t do that. And the chance of winning motivates me. You go through any social media site and you see people posting about their wins, and that keeps me motivated. Any time I don’t want to ride, I see that my competitors are riding, so I go ride.” On occasion, Sadie travels to Hudson, Colorado, to work with Kelly Conrado, who became her trainer several years ago. “I’ll send him my runs and see what he has to say. We met by coincidence at a rodeo, and my dad started talking to him and the rest is history.”
A senior, Sadie does her school through Monte Vista Online Academy and maintains a 4.0 GPA, but admits she’d much rather be rodeoing. She also enjoys snowboarding and hiking. “I definitely want to go to dental school because school comes first and horses come second, but if something happens where I could rodeo full time, that would be great. I definitely want to go to Nationals and place again and show the horse that I do have, and definitely do good in Vegas and Shawnee again. I don’t think winning is everything, but it certainly is nice.”
