Written by: Siri Stevens

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Kelli Neville is a barrel racer in the Kansas High School Rodeo Association. The eighteen year old Kingman, Kan. cowgirl used to run poles, but when her pole horse sold more quickly than she planned, she let him go, and now she concentrates on barrels.

She has two barrel horses. Ace, who is 17, is a big bay quarter horse who “is the biggest sweetheart ever,” she says. “He gives me 110% every time. He always takes care of whoever is on him.” Her second horse is a little palomino mare named Ira who is new to Kelli this summer. Ira will eventually replace Ace, and the ten year old mare is not typical. “She is very mellow for a mare. She’s almost like having another gelding around. She’s not moody or cranky, but very sensitive. You can put anybody on her, but if somebody is heavy-handed or rough, she doesn’t like that.”

Kelli is a senior at Kingman High School, where she enjoys it, but is excited for her senior year to end so she can get out and “start a whole new chapter in life.” Her younger sister, Valerie, is a freshman and plays sports, so Kelli enjoys watching her play. “She does the sports, I do the rodeo. During the week, we’re at her games, cheering her on, and on the weekends, she comes to the rodeos and cheers me on. It’s fun to watch my little sister do well at sports.”

After school, she works as a clerk at the Kingman Drug Store. She packages and delivers medicine for the local nursing home, and loves the experience she is gaining. She is saving her earnings for college. After Kelli gets home from work, she helps out on the family farm and hog operation. She, her brother, and her dad rotate in doing hog chores each evening, so after riding horses, she does her chores, showers, homework, and heads to bed.

Her mom and dad raise wheat and own Neville Built Trailers and a welding shop. Her dad made a deal with her. If she’d pay for the grain, he’d provide the hay from the waterways between wheat fields.

When she’s not at school, working, riding, or doing chores, she likes to go with friends to Wichita. They like to watch movies or go to the Buckle (“that isn’t good because I like jeans”) or Shepler’s, “and that isn’t good because I like shirts. Mom doesn’t let me go to Wichita for that reason.” They like to stop at Texas Roadhouse for their delicious steaks.

After high school, Kelli might attend Ft. Hays State University, of which her dad is an alumni. She’d like to major in sports medicine. In school, she is reporter for her FFA chapter, and is on the Eagle Honor Roll. In addition to her sister Valerie, Kelli has an older brother, Cole, who is 20. She is the daughter of Marvin and Jill, who have “done so much for me, to get me where I’m at,” she says.