Story by Ruth Nicolaus
On his first qualification to the National Junior High School Finals Rodeo, Tyler McCauley came home as the number ten man in the world in the tie-down roping.
The Pender, Neb. cowboy, a member of the Nebraska Junior High School Rodeo Association, did well at Nationals.
His first run in Perry, Georgia, “was just a little bumpy,” he said. “I had a couple of bobbles in my flank and tie.”
His second run was “nice and smooth and consistent,” he said. For the short round, the crowd was loud, which distracted his horse. “I had to do a lot of it on my own but we still did pretty decent,” Tyler said. “I didn’t make a bad run.”
The horse he rode at Nationals and throughout the rodeo season is a nineteen-year-old sorrel named Baby, a colt that Tyler and his dad trained. Baby started as a team roping horse but the McCauleys decided he should be a tie-down horse, “and sure enough, he did pretty good at it,” Tyler said.
Baby has a wonderful personality. “He wants to do nothing but please you,” he said. “He gives it all he’s got every round. He never hurts anybody, he’s very gentle and quiet, and just wants to please you and make you happy.”
This summer, Tyler worked at a neighbor’s dairy, helping with the evening milking. He also roped and pursued his second passion: fishing.
“I love to fish,” he said. He goes to farm ponds, lakes, creeks, rivers, anywhere there’s water. Around his home, he fishes at Hubbard and Tekamah Lakes and the Missouri River, catching mostly large-mouth bass, catfish, drum, sometimes bullheads and a little bit of crappie.
If the fish are large enough, he cleans them and his mom fries them up. If they’re too small, he throws them back.
In July, he and his family and friends traveled to the Lake of the Ozarks where he enjoyed fishing, catching blue gill, bass, and catfish.
At state finals, Tyler finished as fourth overall in the tie-down. He also team ropes.
He loved every bit of Nationals: the golf carts, roping and shopping, and buying plenty of tack and ropes.
And the water balloons, an ubiquitous part of Nationals.
“I got hit by a water balloon every day,” he said. “It was common to drive around and get hit because it was so hot.” He did his share of water balloon-throwing, too.
This fall, Tyler will be a freshman at Pender Public School.
He has an older sister, Amber, who is seventeen.
He is the son of Justin and Natalie McCauley.
