Walking into the arena, a million thoughts cross her mind. Is this arena big or small? What kind of setup is this? She watches the calves to see what they’re like, knowing she must outsmart the calf she draws in order to succeed. Depending on her draw and the weather, she could end up riding in inches of water. Despite all of these thoughts, she must clear her mind and stay focused. Rodeo is 90 percent mental for Rileigh Elder.

She spends days, weeks, months preparing with her horses, hoping to earn a spot on the WT Rodeo team to ride in the College National Finals Rodeo. Elder never stops preparing. She constantly practices, competes in rodeos and keeps her horses in shape.

“You never stop striving for that next goal,” Elder, senior Advertising/Public Relations major, said. “It’s not like basketball, football, any of those sports. You are a team of two, which is you and your horse, so you are constantly working out and working your horse out. It’s a lot of work.”

When at a rodeo, the first thing Phillip Wise, senior Ag Education major, is mindful of is that his horse is ready to run. After that, it’s all about the basics for Wise. He makes sure he can get himself in a position to make the same run as he does in the practice pen.

“I feel like if I can just react to the situation instead of forcing it,” Wise said, “I get along much better. It takes a lot of discipline to win.”

Wise, a calf roper, tries to rope every day and work out in the gym to prepare for a rodeo.

“In rodeo, practice is more about quality than quantity, in my opinion,” Wise said. “So practicing with a goal is what I like to do.”

Along with the months of preparing, riding, working out and working their horses out, rodeo men and women must have a strong bond with their horses. Elder and Wise, along with Heather Knerr, senior Accounting major, would not be able to succeed without their horses. They work day in and day out with their horses, training them, caring for them and strengthening their relationship.

“I usually start the day working out, and then go feed horses and clean their pens,” Knerr said.

After going to class and starting homework, Knerr goes back out to the pens to start practicing around 2 p.m. She ropes, ties goats and works her barrel horses until dusk.  She feeds her horses again before going to home to work on school work once again.

“Another thing I do to keep my horses going is make sure they are shod (fit with shoes) when needed,” Knerr said, “and I have an electric acupuncture machine called an Equi-Stim Leg Saver.”

Wise stressed the importance of building a bond with his horses and practicing with them. Much like a person, every horse is unique. Each horse has its own timing, and it takes practice to get that timing down.

“My horses are 80 percent of my run, if not more,” Wise said. “A guy with all the talent in the world and a bad horse won’t win as much as a less talented guy on a great horse. I’ve been fortunate enough to have ridden horses that give me a chance to win.”

Wise sometimes thinks of his horse as his business partner. He said they both have to be working together to be successful, and they both have to pull their weight and do what they need to help each other.

In rodeo, contestants play the roles of coach, trainer, dietician, secretary, bus driver and travel agent. Keeping vehicles up and running is an important factor because each competitor is responsible for getting themselves and their horses to the rodeo.

“This whole sport is on one person,” Wise said. “People will help you out, but when it’s all said and done, it comes back to you. There’s no one else to blame if it goes wrong, and your back is the only one that gets a pat if you win.”

While the practice and preparation for a rodeo is tedious and consistent, rodeo is only 10 percent physical, Elder said. There are several things contestants overthink, so she likes to clear her head and have fun.

“My favorite thing about rodeo is that you can rodeo your whole life,” Elder said. “I’m most passionate about roping and running barrels, and that feeling of winning in either event is phenomenal because not only is it you who won, but your horse as well. My horses are what make me able to rodeo, and not everyone realizes that.”