Pro File: Summer Kosel

Summer Kosel from Glenham, South Dakota, was talked into entering Cheyenne to “experience it just once.” That experience will be with this mother of four for a long time as she and her eight-year-old gelding, Apollo (registered as FireWaterFrenchFame), set the arena record during the qualifying round on July 22. Her time of 17.02 broke the 26-year-old record set by Kristie Peterson and her horse, Bozo. Summer devotes most of her time to her family, helping on the family ranch and stock contracting business, Smokin Guns Rodeo Production. “My husband, Kevin, was a bull rider, and now we put on amateur rodeos in South Dakota and we have a few bulls that we take to PBR events,” she explained. “We ranch for a living and Kevin is a cattle order buyer as well. Our kids compete, so we’re running in one direction or another all the time.
“I honestly didn’t think the time was that fast,” said Summer about her arena record. “It felt wild to me. Apollo is very broke and touchy- feely; I have to be careful how I ride. He just felt like he was running through me. Apparently, he was just running very hard.”
“I always say that ‘The horse is prepared for the day of battle, but victory belongs to the Lord.’” says Summer, quoting Proverbs 21:31 in an interview with Cheyenne Frontier Days. “Most days I’m amazed myself when I come out!” She is currently sitting in the top 30 of the world barrel racing standings and second in the WPRA Badlands Circuit.
The drive to Cheyenne was a little over nine hours. “My trailer is a stock back instead of slant, so my horses have water and hay strung for them. I check their water when I get fuel. They adjust themselves and move around. They have soft rides and wraps to keep them more comfortable.” She came back and ran three more times in Cheyenne, and left Wyoming with a little over $12,000.
Summer had no plans to rodeo outside her circuit this year. “I made up my mind that when Apollo started firing again, I’d go to where God sent me. I had no intent on trying to win anything, I was just going to stay in my circuit. I don’t need to hit many circuit rodeos to get into the finals, so I’m going to venture out – I’ll stay around home for a week, and then I’ll go to Billings and Baker, Montana, and some in the Northwest. My kids will be in school, but my friend Kailee Webb, is going with me.”
Summer is following the gift that God blessed her with – her horse and her ability to ride. “I think He blesses everyone with something, and it’s our job to find that out and use that to bless God. My dad (Tom Anderberg) raised racehorses and he threw me on horses – usually three year old’s straight off the race track. My dad was a firm believer in figure it out and never say you can’t. From a very young age, I had to figure out how to make a horse work, even if it bucked.” Summer was the only girl in a family of four older brothers. “I like going fast – these horses would come to us and the mares went to the brood mare pasture, and the geldings we’d use as ranch horses.”
She is a little nervous to venture into the Northwest but believes “If something scares you a little bit, then you should do it. It will be tough not being around my family, they are my greatest blessing, and I will never let rodeo become an idol that I am chasing after. I like being a mom. I’m a nobody trying to tell everybody about Jesus, that’s it.”