story by Ruth Nicolaus
Taylor Marrou is about to wrap up one part of her rodeo career and trade it for the next.
The Colorado High School Rodeo Association cowgirl graduated from Poudre High School in Ft. Collins, Colo., last month and will begin her collegiate rodeo career at Cal Poly this fall.
A resident of Livermore, Colo., Taylor competes in the barrel racing and breakaway roping. For the barrels, she rides Roxie, a fifteen-year-old bay with a “big personality.” Roxie is special to Taylor, because she finished the horse herself. The horse likes to smile, her rider said. “I always stretch her with treats after we ride, and she smiles. She also can go without a halter or bridle and follows me everywhere. She’s a great horse.”
For the breakaway, Taylor rides G.G., a seventeen-year-old red roan gelding who has been a part of the Marrou ranch for the past year. “He’s awesome,” Taylor said. “He does his job.”
Taylor’s senior year didn’t go as planned. Because of COVID, her school canceled or restricted many activities; no fans could attend high school football games and there was no homecoming or spirit week. For a while students attended “hybrid” school: part of the week in person and part of it online. Online learning wasn’t ideal, but Taylor made it work. “I did fairly well,” she said. “I was just not super enthusiastic about doing it, because it was boring.”
But by late April, students were back to school full time, which Taylor appreciated. It was good to be back. “I actually missed school a lot, surprisingly. I missed the social interaction piece of it, and definitely all the events the seniors get to do.”
In school, she competed in track and field (the long jump, triple jump, and sprints) and played basketball. She also took International Baccalaureate (IB) classes, similar but more strenuous than AP classes. She took her IB tests in May and has earned an IB diploma, which gives her college credits. Taking IB classes and the tests was a challenge she made herself do. “I guess I was a little bit ambitious and went for it.”
For fun, she loves to spend time with family and friends and be outdoors. “I’m definitely a summer girl,” she said. She loves being at Horse Tooth Lake or at Wellington Lake. She also likes to ski at Snowy Range or in Steamboat Springs.
Taylor loves to work out, attending CrossFit workouts five days a week in Ft. Collins. She is up by 5:15 am and ready to exercise by 6:30 am.
This fall, she will attend Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo, Calif. and rodeo collegiately. She’ll also work on her animal sciences degree with a pre-veterinary medicine track. She’s spent time with local veterinarians and has loved the hands-on aspect of the job, plus she loves being around animals.
Taylor made it to the short rounds at state finals in both of her events her freshman and sophomore years. Last year, she was ranked seventh in the state in the barrels when the season ended due to COVID. This year, she’s in the top ten in the barrels, as of press time.
She has two younger sisters: Brooke, age fourteen, and Ashlee, age eleven.
She is the daughter of David and Julie Marrou.
