Kaydin Davis knows what it means to be a hard worker. Only through hard work and long days is she able to compete in rodeo and help her family run their ranch. Kaydin has been competing since she was four, and today, the 11-year-old competes in barrel racing, breakaway roping, pole bending, goat tying, and ribbon roping. She has been in Little Britches for a year, and in 2013 she went to the NLBFR in all five of her events. In the junior girls division, Kaydin is the NLBRA 2013 World Champion in barrel racing, and she won the average in barrel racing as well as Rookie of the Year.
Kaydin names her dad, Zach Davis, as her inspiration to rodeo. He rodeoed through high school and college and competed in the PRCA. Two family friends, Mandie Menzel and Kristi Birkeland have also coached Kaydin in her rodeo events and been role models. “I like to compete and see friends and try my hardest,” Kaydin says about rodeo. She has three younger sisters, and in 2014, three of the Davis sisters will be rodeoing in the NLBRA. Kamry, seven, is a Little Wrangler in Little Britches, and Karly, five, will start competing in 2014. The youngest sister, Karsyn, is one, and the family fully expects that she will want to rodeo in a few years.
The Davis family lives on a ranch in Dupree, S.D. The ranch was started in 1910 and has been family run from the very beginning. The Davises breed and raise American Quarter Horses in addition to beef cattle. Kaydin has been helping her family with branding, doctoring, and sorting cattle since she could walk and ride a horse. Her first horse was a pony named Pokey and she and Pokey loved to gather cows in from the pasture together. Today, Kaydin has three horses that she rodeos with. Ike is her breakaway and goat tying horse, Junior is her barrel and pole horse and she also runs poles on Smarty. Through the summer, the Davises enjoy roping and riding with friends and neighbors at their arena, and in the winter, they have a barn that Kaydin can ride in. Both of Kaydin’s parents are teachers, so it takes the entire family to keep the ranch running. “Kaydin is a huge help and we couldn’t do it without her,” her mom says.
Kaydin is a sixth grader at Dupree School, and her favorite subjects are social studies and math. She is an A student and has been on the A Honor Roll since the first grade. Kaydin also plays basketball, which her mom coached for the season, and the team was undefeated. Kaydin loves to run off of the basketball court as well, and she and her mom ran a 5K race together on Thanksgiving Day. Additionally, she competes in 4-H rodeo and will start competing in the South Dakota Junior High Rodeo Association in 2014.
In 2013, Kaydin’s favorite rodeos included the NLBFR in Pueblo, Colo. and the Rapid City Little Britches Series that were held in South Dakota. Rodeo is a sport for the whole Davis family, and they love the family atmosphere of Little Britches. “There’s not a better sport (than rodeo) as far as the people who are involved in it. They are so generous,” says Kim, Kaydin’s mom. Kaydin concluded by saying, “I want to get good grades, and my rodeo goals are to someday compete in the NFR and to get a college scholarship and college rodeo. I want to continue to get better in all my events.”
