¶ Living the Childhood Dream
Do you remember your childhood , where every dream and desire are possible ? Today I had the chance to visit with someone who is living her childhood dream . I am talking to Sarah Roberts , who is a professional barrel racer in the women's professional rodeo association .
The road to barrel racing professionally is not an easy one , but for Sarah , her grit and determination is making it possible . Get ready to hit the road and run barrels and maybe even do a little goat roping with Sarah Roberts . Welcome to Journey with Jake .
This is a podcast about adventure and how , through our adventures , we can overcome the challenges of life that come our way . Well , I expect you will learn some things about different adventures . This show will entertain you . Each episode will feature a different guest or guests , as they share experiences and stories from the different adventures they have been on .
Not only will you be entertained , but you will also hear the failures and trials each guest faces and what they have done or are doing to overcome the hardships that come their way . My goal is to take each of us on a journey through the experiences of my guests , with the hope that you'll be entertained and inspired to overcome your day to day challenges .
After all , it's not a lot about the destination as it is about the journey . Welcome back to Journey with Jake , episode number 90 today . My name is Jake Bushman and I'm your host for another fantastic episode .
Journey with Jake is the podcast that inspires you to overcome challenges through adventure , and my guest today is someone who rides on the back of 1200 pound animals at high speeds . I'm speaking to Sarah Roberts , and I'm so grateful for the chance I had to speak with her today .
Before we get to my conversation with Sarah , just a reminder to follow me on Instagram at Journey with Jake podcast . This is a great place to see some photos and clips of my guests and get to know them a little bit better and also put a face with the voice .
It's also a great place to get to know me , as I like to post a little bit about myself as well . So far , for all of my interviews on Journey with Jake , they have been virtual . Typically , most of my guests are in a room in their house to conduct the interview . Today , sarah Roberts conducted her interview from her horse trailer . You heard me right .
Sarah is currently on the road as a professional barrel racer and conducted the interview from her horse trailer . I love it . I love it . It just goes to show how authentic each and every one of my guests are . Let's go ahead and get to my conversation with Sarah . All right , sarah Roberts , welcome to Journey with Jake .
Thank you for having me . I'm excited to be here .
Awesome , I'm excited to have you here . I told you before we got going this is my first time having a barrel racer , so I'm excited about that and all the adventures that go along with that . But , like I always do on the show , I like to know a little bit about your background , where you're from , who you are .
So if you don't mind , kind of give us a little background on who Sarah is .
I grew up in a little town in Idaho called Bellevue , idaho , and I really I have a younger brother and a mom and a dad and my parents are not horse people , so I did not grow up with horses or anything like that .
I actually got into horses like middle school , like end of middle school , beginning of high school , because one of my best friends in high school I went to watch her at a barrel race and I was like , oh my gosh , that's really fun , like I want to try that . Her mom actually helped me get going with it all .
She gave me a horse to ride and hauled me all over the place and her and her and my dad kind of tag teamed it and helped me get involved . And it was my very first barrel race . It was game over . This was what I wanted to do and I have been doing
¶ Early Barrel Racing and Parental Support
it ever since then .
Wow , so how old were you on that first barrel race , do you remember ?
I was probably a freshman in high school , yeah .
So was that about 15 , 14 , 15 ? Yeah .
Yeah , yeah , probably like that yeah .
Kudos to your friend , then that's awesome she allowed you to kind of get involved in your friend's mom and and doing all that .
Yeah .
Cause I , you know , when I I look at your Instagram account and I see all these pictures and you're dealing with horses and things , and I'm like in my mind I'm thinking , oh , she just had to grow up on this ranch , or you know something like that . No , that's cool . So that makes it . That makes it unique for you and who you are .
So you said you've got a brother . Yes , okay , are you older or younger ?
I am older he's I'm 25 and he's 22 .
And you just got married a few months ago . Very good To Cole .
Cole . Yeah , his name is Cole and he's a calf roper and a teen roper , so we both get to rodeo together . Very cool , all right .
So you're on the road together doing rodeos together .
Awesome , fantastic .
So let's go back to that first time you did , you said game over when you did that first race . How long before you know , when you first started practicing or whatever , how long before that first competition , that first race .
Honestly , I think , like I had my parents and Lacey is my friend's mom's name had found me this horse to lease and I think I had .
I was doing four , eight , so I was doing the barrel racing and the and the showing and all of that stuff through four H and then I think it probably wasn't that long after maybe like a couple months until I like entered my first official jackpot . Then I like , looking back on it , I was like gosh , I was going so fast .
That was the coolest thing I've ever done . And then I watched a video like a year ago about that , that run , and I think I was like 30 seconds on the pattern , when like a normal fast time is like on a standard of like a 17 . And I was like 30 seconds , thought I had won the whole jackpot and I had loped the pattern .
But it was just like that adrenaline rush of thinking that I was going so fast and working in rhythm with this horse . I was like this is what I want to do and I knew at that moment that this that's where I was . I was going to go with it . I was like I'm going to go all in and never look back .
I love it , though , that our minds , especially at that young age , think it was better than because that kept you going in it . Otherwise you might have been like oh , you know , this isn't for me , I'm not , you know where I need to be , but no , in your mind you're like I was fast , yeah , yeah You're . You know , real fast at 17 seconds .
You're at 30 seconds , yeah , which I think is great . So you talked , you mentioned a couple of things , and I like to get a little educated because I don't know , I'm not a barrel racer , I don't know what that's all about . You mentioned the pattern , so kind of set up what barrel racing is , if you don't mind .
So barrel racing is where they have three barrels in the arena and the competitor runs in a clover leaf pattern around the barrels and the fastest time wins . There's a standard pattern , which is a certain measurement and like , when you're standard , when you go to an arena with a standard pattern , it's going to be the same standard everywhere you go .
But then there's arenas with like 13 second patterns or 15 second patterns or 14 second patterns , so like every arena is going to be different . But there is what's called a WPRA standard pattern , which is Women's Professional Rodeo Association standard pattern . That's the same size wherever you go .
I've been to a few rodeos and I know whenever the barrel racing portion comes up you can see them like with laser measures and stuff , kind of getting so there is that just to place the barrels and everything in the exact correct spot for the pattern , I guess .
Yeah .
Also , I'm guessing your time is also . I mean they have to because you guys are within hundreds of seconds , sometimes between each other . Yeah , so they have to have laser time as well to keep track of your time .
Yeah , they have two eyes that next to each other and they're set before the barrels and once you pass that eye , your time starts and then , once you run back through it , your time finishes and then it's all laser , because it is , it's crazy , it's getting so tough and the girls are so good and the horses are so incredible that it is like a hundredth of a
second difference between first and last place .
Yeah , that is wild . That is just because you watch . Sometimes you even runners , like in the Olympics , and they're just hundreds of seconds between a world record and coming in . Last Same thing on horses . I guess you know the same thing . There's how close they are . So that's awesome that your friend got you involved in that .
Yeah , you said your dad kind of helped tag team and things because , yeah , was it just like hey , mom and dad , this is who I am , this is what I want to do , and how much time did that take up for you , you think ?
I think when I first got started doing it , I think they thought that I was just in the phase where , like , every little girl wants a horse , you know , because I feel like most girls will go through a phase when they're younger and they're like I want a horse and like this is what I want to be and do and eat and sleep and breathe .
I think that that's what they thought when I first started . So they actually made me get a job cleaning horse
¶ Working & Barrel Racing Horse Lessons
pins , doing all the grunt work , before they would help find a horse for me to lease and help me lease a horse . So I did all of that and then once they , once I , got through that , they're like oh man , maybe this is not a phase . And then I got the horse to lease and then I actually saved up .
I was working I've been working for forever and saved up all of my babysitting money and bake sale money and bought my first horse when I was a I want to say like a junior , or maybe I was a sophomore . They were really helpful , but they also had a more like if this is what you want to do , then you are the one that needs to make it happen .
Attitude .
What did you learn from that ? Having to work and everything . What are some of the lessons you learned ?
I really . I learned how to work extremely hard and how if I want something , I'm I'm the one that's going to have to figure it out to make it happen for myself , which I , looking back , cleaning stalls . I was pretty pissed off about it .
Now , looking back , I'm like , wow , that made me who I am today and I'm so grateful for my parents kind of tough love attitude towards the whole thing .
But it also made me appreciate my horses and the , the ability and being able to rodeo , I think , a lot more than if they had just been like yeah , here's the horse , here's the trailer , here's the , you know , like yeah , just handing it to you .
I think you had a appreciation for it , for sure . Let's talk about those horses for a minute . Yeah because , I mean , that's an important part of racing obviously is having having a good horse . First of all , it's interesting that you could lease a horse . I didn't know you could lease a horse . You know , let's rent a horse . You know I didn't do that .
Yeah , you know , like at this level you can't , you can't , when I was just like doing the 4-H and stuff , I it was . It was a thing back then . I don't know if you can do that now , but definitely was a . I didn't know you could do that either until I did it .
Tell me about that first horse that you got . That was yours , that you bought . Do you remember the name ? You know about it . You know all that good stuff , yeah we found him .
One of the ladies who was helping me with barrel racing and everything . She found him in Colorado and he was a gowling and he was I want to say he was like eight years old . His name was Dove is what we called him , because we didn't change his name . So the owner has named him and we just kept it and he was really cool .
He was a barrel and pole horse , so pole bending I don't know if you know what that is , but they set up like six poles in the arena and you run down and zigzag through them and then zigzag back and then run back . So he was a barrel and pole horse and I high school rodeoed on him and then he heard himself . So I turned him into a goat tying horse .
So I switched and I didn't have the funds to go buy another barrel horse . So I kind of actually stopped barrel racing in high school so much and just tied goats , because that's that was that's what I was able to do and I loved , loved that . But they don't do that professionally .
So Okay , yeah , you got to stop there for me . Tying goats . I'm trying to okay what is tying goats ?
I'm trying to imagine it in my mind . So goat tying is where , like , they have a goat with a rope and a stake at the end of the arena and you on your horse , you run down , you get off your horse while you're going , run up and blink and tie a goat . It's very interesting and , like explaining that out loud , I'm like , wow , that's just kind of weird .
So the goat is just sitting there on a like , tied up to a post . So it's not . You're not releasing the goat , like in calf roping .
No , no , no , it's , it's tied there for you . You just have to like run up and flank it and tie it . And so I turned my barrel horse into the goat tying horse and he was pretty dang good at that , and so we just did that .
Wow , ok , awesome . So then you kind of , but you had to take a step back from barrel racing because you didn't have a horse .
Yes , yeah , and barrel racing is I mean , it's all the horse Like you have to be able to ride these horses , but it is you have to have the horse that can do it . And so I did .
I have to take a step back and I didn't really start barrel racing again until I moved to Texas and I had a job where I was able to get another horse and yeah , so when you moved to Texas , were you out of high school then at that point ? Well , so I did .
I switched myself into online school when I was a senior because I wanted to be able to work more . Got a job for an oil and gas company that was in Midland , worked for them for a little bit and then so I moved to Midland , Texas , when I was a senior in high school and then flew back to Idaho to graduate .
Then flew back and lived in Midland and kind of just got my knowledge of the oil and gas industry and then started my own company .
Wow , ok , yeah , that's a whole other thing . I mean you get company , which is awesome , all right , we'll jump back to to barrel racing for a minute , because you mentioned . You said it's all horse . I mean the horse has to know what they're doing . You moved to Texas . Let me go back to the all horse part . What kind of horses are good ?
I mean , is there a certain type that's good at barrel racing ? Is there a certain type you look for ?
I don't really think so . I mean getting into the breeding and like , OK , this is the breed that you want , this is like the . That's a whole different ballgame . But I just I don't really think that there's a type of horse that you look for barrel racing . I mean they're all quarter horses , they're all .
OK .
UHJ horses . I don't . I don't really think that there's like a kind of how about geldings versus mayors ?
Does it matter ?
I mean , a fast horse is a fast horse , I think you know that's like . That's my personal opinion . Geldings can be just as fast as mayors , mayors , you just as fast geldings . So I think it's more of a personality trait , like you have to vibe with a mare or vibe with a gelding , because they do . They have totally different personalities .
In the amount of time that we spend with these horses , you , they all have different personalities . So , like some people prefer mayors and people prefer geldings , and it's just a personal , personal preference .
What's your preference ?
So I was a mare person , I that's . The only thing I wanted was mayors , because they are gritty and they , they have a serious attitude sometimes , but you , if you can look past that , they , they give you their whole heart every time , you know . But actually I have two extremely nice geldings right now that are so the fastest things that I've ever been .
I've been lucky enough to ride . I don't know , I love both . I'm I have a . I'm a firm believer in a fast horse is a fast horse . So , mare gelding , I will just take whatever wins .
All right good . So you're pretty adaptable . You can kind of what kind of training goes into these horses with you and you know to get prepared to compete , Like what kind of ? How much time are we looking at ? What kind of things do you have to go through ?
Rodeo and having horses . The way that my husband and I do it is , I mean , it's a full time gig . It's not like you . You're in the gym like two hours a day , like it becomes your lifestyle .
You know , and like we , the first thing we do when we wake up is go outside and take care of the horses , and the last thing that we do during the day is take care
¶ The Adventure of Rodeo
of horses . All day is riding horses , exercising horses , taking horses to the vet , doing it Like it's just it's . It's an all day , every day thing and it becomes not so much a sport or a hobby or it becomes your lifestyle . So , there's no real like this is how much time it takes , because it takes all of your time and but we love it .
I mean we love our horses and when we the , it's very rare when we get to like go anywhere without them , but when we do , it's like it's weird and we miss them and it's just part of your family . Yeah , they're completely part of our family .
How many horses do you have currently ?
We have 10 at the moment .
Wow , yeah , I was thinking , you're gonna say three or four . No , you've got 10 . And I'm guessing between you and your husband . So he's got some . He's got his calf roping . You know horses or whatever Is . He is a calf roping or team roping . What does he do ?
He does both , so he does both Okay . So he has a heel horse because he's a healer when he team ropes , and then he has a calf horse . Yes , sir .
Wow See , and that's incredible too , the I mean so you've got horses that are trained for that . You got your barrel racing horses . This is awesome . This is incredible . Just for me , you know , this kind of blows my mind what you guys have to do and what you , what you go through , that's , that's incredible .
It's interesting because I had a bull rider on a young guy , just 18 year old bull rider , and he was talking about that too , about he sees , like the calf ropers and the team ropers and the barrel racers , he's like they've got a whole different ball . Because he shows up , he gets drawn a bull that he's going to ride .
He doesn't have to bring a bull with him , he doesn't have to take care of a bull .
Yeah .
But you have to do that part and he's just . He was impressed with everybody else at the rodeo who has to take care of all their animals and just the amount of effort . So that's by itself is incredible .
Yeah .
I'm going to read something that you sent to me that I kind of want to get your thoughts and feelings on , because you talked about kind of the adventure of this whole thing and this is an adventure podcast and what you do is an adventure .
But you said you said rodeo is a huge , never ending adventure , filled with so many ups and downs , the highs , the lows , the mental toughness , the competition , the horses , etc . What's the big adventure of barrel racing for you ?
We pro rodeo , so like we get to travel all across the United States all year long and see , we go from , like , the border of Canada to the very bottom of Texas .
We are all over the place and I think I think the adventure part of it is getting to travel and see all these things and it's a huge adrenaline rush to barrel race and so , like I feel like every time I'm walking in the alley it's just , it's like this freedom and this fire and this just incredible , incredible gift to be able to do this with horses and
communicate at such , a , such a level where , like , horses were not designed by God to do what we're asking them to do , but they're doing it because they want to do it for us and having that relationship with them .
That is , that's an adventure in itself , because you're having to communicate with these 1200 pound animals without using any words , but like you have to communicate , and that , to me , that's incredible .
And the fact that you can get this horse that's a , that's a flight creature I mean , it's a prey animal to trust you enough to load it in a trailer and haul it hundreds of thousands of miles and then expect it to perform the way that it is Like that's . That's insane .
That's an adventure aside from like the actual adventure of getting to like travel and go explore , see all these new sites and learn all these new things . It's just all one big experience .
Can you take me through , kind of like you show up to the rodeo grounds and kind of just take me through what it's like . And then you said something about the alley getting in the alley . Is that kind of where you're approaching to do your race ? I don't know . You don't mind kind of go through that and explain all that for me , if you don't mind ?
Barrel razors walk of touch on the alley thing , so they're always walk down the alley To get to the arena to that run barrels when you're in the alley , like your horse knows what it's doing , so it's getting excited and you're getting excited and then like a rocket taking off to the first barrel and you just go .
But the alley is a Is a cool spot to be because it's like where all of your hard work and all the time and all the preparation is like okay , it's time now , like you get to show everything , even working for when you're in the alley , what do you have ?
a certain mantra you do . Are you thinking some of what's going on in your mind ? Are you just Excited ?
I guess it's kind of different every time , but like I am big on mental toughness and like mental skills , because rodeo is so mental , get is a huge mental game , because a lot so much is out of your control , because you're lying on an animal , that is an animal at the end of the day , and so I think for me , just making sure that I am focused and
present , and I do this thing called box breathing I don't know if you've heard of that . No , tell me about it it's just like you breathe in , hold for four seconds , breathe out , and then it's just like it makes me focus a little bit better . So I always try and do that . I was pray .
I was pray over myself and I pray over my horse because at the end of the day , the only reason why I'm doing what I'm doing is for God , and he blesses me with the ability to do this . So I always , always make sure to give him the glory and just think , remind , thank him for everything that he allows me to do . And then I Pick one goal .
Whatever I'm struggling with with that horse , I'm like , okay , I'm gonna go in there and I'm gonna accomplish this one goal , and if I accomplish my one goal , it doesn't matter what else happens . If I was a second off , if I hit all three barrels which hopefully that would be part of my goal to not do that then I win , you know .
So it's not like the only person that I'm competing against is me . If I accomplish my one goal , whatever that is on the horse , then I win . Does if that makes sense .
And then , because it's so easy to get wrapped up in like , especially going down the road and putting all this time and effort and money and hours into it To like I need to be this fast , I need to beat this person . I'm this far behind in the standings . Like it's so easy to get wrapped up in that that it becomes detrimental and you can .
You are unable to perform because you're so worried about what everybody else is doing . So my goal is to compete against myself and just to be better than I was the run before and accomplish my one goal that I picked for myself
¶ Life on the Rodeo Road
, that that one run .
This is why I love doing this podcast , because it helps me , like . It's like when you say that , that that has such parallels to real life , you know like let's focus on one thing get better , not worry about everybody else .
Yeah .
I tend to do that . Sometimes I tend to think , oh , you know who's podcast is better than mine , or things like that , and it's not about that . I need to just set a goal for myself and do that . So I think thank you for that .
That's why I love doing this podcast , like , yeah , everyone teaches me so many awesome lessons , so yeah , so back to showing up , thank you for sure . Not back to showing up Living in your trailer , like , how does this work ?
so it depends , I totally depends on the rodeo . Sometimes my husband and I drove . I was up in Casper , wyoming , at midnight and I was up in Salt Lake City , utah , at 8am the next morning . So we drove all night . I ran in Casper , we drove all night long and showed up in Salt Lake at 7 o'clock the next morning and I had to run barrels at 8 .
It depends . Sometimes we get there and we have a couple days and we're Getting to hang out and check out the town and see the area and that's always super fun . Sometimes we get there a couple hours before it starts and I mean it just depends on the Wow . It's on the rodeo .
Your horses obviously have to be adaptable for any of those kind of things .
Yeah , the horses have to be just as comfortable with being uncomfortable as you do , if that makes sense . So , like there's very little routine and I'm and I'm a very routine oriented person . When I'm home , I have my , my Devotional time , I have my hot yoga time , I have my schedule throughout the day and then getting on the road , things change so fast .
Nothing , there's no routine . So you have to be so comfortable being uncomfortable and your horses have to be the same way , because they may be on the trailer All night long and then have them expect to run barrels , or they may be on the trailer for two hours and then have four days to hang out and then run barrels .
You know , and the different areas and Altitudes and everything . It's just they have to be able to adapt , just like we do .
Wow , incredible . That's yeah . That's an impressive . This is yeah . No , I'm having a good time .
I never get it . I mean , I never really get to talk about this stuff . So it's , it's cool . Yeah , yeah , it's it's really .
It's really interesting . Do your horses Okay , so you do keep them in the trailer all day , like how much exercise do they need to like keep up and be , have the energy and stuff to do what they do ? I mean there's a lot of training that goes involved .
Oh , yeah , yeah . So our horses get rode every single day for probably about 45 minutes a day and it's just keeping their lungs in shape and keeping their bodies in shape .
When we're on the road , like when we're hauling them , we'll stop every six , six to seven hours and we'll let them out of the trailer for like 30 minutes and we'll walk them around and get them water and so like .
Even if we're driving all night long or if we're driving 12 , like 12 hours will stop every six to seven , let them out and make sure they're moving around and everything because it's hard for them to be in the trailer .
I always tell people and like it's not the runs that hurt the horse , it's the trailer time , because it's a stressful Environment being a horse , I think , in in a , in a trailer . So I always try and like make it as happy and as comfortable as possible for them .
And you're currently sitting in your trailer , right now , right , I'm currently ?
sitting in a horse .
Adderodio all right in Denver . Colorado's over here , I think , currently All right , awesome , very good . And these rodeos , they happen all year long .
Yeah , there's no season , there's no off time , it's all year long and most of the girls and guys that are going down the road the season will start over October 1st . So , like in October , november it's a little slower , like there's not as many rodeos to go to , but most of us have babies and horses and stuff that we're bringing up .
So when we're not rodeoing we're probably riding our colts and babies and getting them experience and seasoned or figuring out new horses and stuff .
So it's never you never really Get a break plus you run a company , which again I'll talk on that in a second . So one thing I didn't talk about with the whole barrel racing we kind of talked about you know the distance and lining them up and all
¶ Rodeo Highs and Challenging Moments
that good stuff . If you knock it over , that's a penalty , right , like that's some sort of time penalty or something .
Yep , you get five seconds added to your time , which pretty much throws you out of the hole .
That's it . Yeah , cuz , like we were saying , the time is literally hundreds of seconds in some cases . So , yeah , you're pretty much done if you , if you knock one barrel , it's done . So the idea is to go around those as tight , as close as possible , as fast as possible . All right , very good , okay , I just want to be sure .
I'm squared on that whole , that whole bit . I want you to tell me . Tell me about maybe a time that Was just Great for you . Sometimes these rodeos last over a weekend , so it's like a few days , sometimes not . Did you have like a particular rodeo that you remember ?
Going to that , just you were on top of the world and you just felt great and your horse is performed and you did good . Do you have any , any thoughts on that , any memories ?
So I got my pro card in 2020 . That was COVID year , so that was a horrible year to be a rookie in rodeo because everything was canceled .
I was really struggling and I had , I had a younger horse and she just wasn't Wasn't hitting the mark and I was like , oh my gosh , like I'm , I'm so slow , like I can't , like I can't hang with these girls and I was like man , I'm gonna have to reconsider some things .
I took her to the San Antonio Stockzone rodeo qualifier , so saying and they have limited rodeos all year , so like they only take a certain amount of girls from the year before , so you have to do really well the year before To get into those big rodeos and they pay phenomenal .
Houston will pay 50,000 , I think , to win it and I could be wrong , but I think it's somewhere up there , so like good money to run at . I Did not have very much confidence going into this qualifier , but I was like you know what ? I picked my one goal I'm gonna ride aggressive and I do not ride horses aggressively , like that is what .
I've learned about myself and my horses . I I'm not one to whip and kick and I just can't do it . But that was my goal because I , this mare , that's what this mare needed and I did and I won third in the qualifier and qualified to run barrels at San Antonio , my rookie year , which is In AT&T stadium , like it's a huge , huge rodeo .
It pays phenomenal . And I just remember walking I was with my dad because he helped with me in my rookie year walking down the alley before the rodeo started and seeing the giant Screen and all this stands and just wow , like I get to run barrels here . Getting to show that with my dad was probably the coolest , the coolest thing ever .
I still have a picture of him in the alley before before the show started , just with a giant smile on his face and it was a pretty dang cool experience . And then running barrels and not only like placing fourth in the wild car , it's called the wild card round , like placing fourth in the wild card round .
But again , some of the , some of the girls that have been my idols since I was little , like just getting to run barrels against them . That was . I'll never forget that experience . That was a really really cool , cool experience .
And then how about , on the reverse of that , any moments that were just challenging and , just you know , maybe even wanted to give up . Maybe it puts you to that point , like what's some of those experiences ?
Yeah . So rodeo is very interesting and you kind of have to be an interesting person to do it , I would say , because you lose a lot more than you win . If I go to five rodeos , I'm probably only gonna do good at three or two or three of them kids .
It's not something that it's a really hard thing to do , because there's so many lows and there's lots of highs , but you're gonna lose a lot more than you're gonna win . But this summer was this past summer , after after that , my rookie year , I never really had another horse that was that caliber to to go rodeo on .
I had some younger ones , I did some seasoning but I Never really had that horse that I was like , okay , this horse is gonna take me to the NFR and the NFR is the National Finals rodeo , that's the end goal for most , for most barrel racers or most people that are rodeoing . They want to make the finals .
Until this past summer and I bought the horse and had the team and I've never struggled so much in my entire life to run barrels . It was issue after issue . My horses were just out of the money or last hole or Hit a barrel to win , like it was just everything . Nothing was going right .
Our truck broke down , the axles on our trailer were bad , we blew six brand new tires , we had to buy a new trailer , get a new truck all within three months . It was it just mentally exhausting and they're like mentally draining and feeling like , no matter what I did , no matter how hard I tried , it just wasn't good enough , like I wasn't good enough .
I ran at this rodeo in Salinas , california , and it's incredible rodeo . If you're ever in California , you need to check it out because it's it's such a fun rodeo . You get three chances . So you go there and you get a hang out for three days and have three runs and then possibly make the finals . Well , I was running both .
All the horses that I was running were new to me , which is probably a bad idea to just get branding horses and go rodeo because I feel like you have to Bond with them and have a connection and you guys have to learn each other and work together . I was running a new horse and I made three clean runs in a very hard arena and I was so proud .
I was like , oh heck , yeah , like I'm gonna make the finals , I'm gonna make my first pro rodeo short go ever . I was pumped and I they took 12 and I was 13th and I just remember like , wow , like this is just this sucks . I was like this there's no I .
I had my sucker in the dirt quite a bit this summer , which I'm not proud of , but I learned a lot .
I learned a lot about my horses , a lot about myself and thank God for my husband , because he kept my chin up and he was like nope , we're in it , we're going to the next one , you're gonna figure this out , you're gonna keep going , we're gonna , we're gonna do this .
He put a little note in the truck like , right where you're driving , he said that everyone can do better than give up . Without him , I would have came home and cried myself to sleep every night .
It was probably the lowest point this in that I've ever had in in my rodeo career , because I just felt so defeated and so Just like I wasn't supposed to be doing what I thought I was supposed to be doing . From the time I was a little girl I was like man . Maybe this isn't for me , maybe I heard God wrong , like maybe this it wasn't the case at all .
I was just Learning in a very hard way . I was learning what I needed to know to grow , if that makes sense .
What do you think kind of pulled you out of that ?
I think when you're that low , you really feel like you're not supposed to be out there , like you're not supposed to be doing what you thought you were supposed to be doing forever . You , you can't get much like .
You can't like get much lower and you either have to be like , okay , I'm gonna quit and I'm gonna go home , or I'm gonna figure this out , figure out how to get better . And I'm not a , I don't have the quitter mentality . I just I couldn't do it .
And I even have friends that are like gosh , sarah , like I would have came home after like the third blown tire . And I'm just not a quitter and I and I have the best group of people Around me , like I had my friends calling on me and like giving me Pep talks and lectures and like , hey , this is , you are not , you're not out there for no reason .
Like you , there's , there's something coming out of this and my husband and I just I know God doesn't make a mistake , you know , and it just it wasn't my time over the summer , but that doesn't mean it's not gonna be my time . I like I said , I learned a ton . So I think that that's what that whole summer .
It was horrible and it sucked , but I grew so much from it and I wouldn't change a thing about it now . But I think my , my , my people , my people definitely kept me moving forward because all I wanted to do was go back . I was like , no , we're done .
But I think the people that surround yourself with your tribe I like to call them my tribe is so important , especially doing something that can be so mentally draining , because a lot of the times it wasn't like I didn't do anything to not place , like it was the ground or my horse slipped , or like just it had an off day .
When everything's going wrong and you can't figure out how to fix it , that's mentally exhausting .
Thank you for sharing that . You talked about your tribe , you talked about your support and I kind of wanted to talk about that because you mentioned you're high when you went to . San Antonio and you're in this huge arena and it's just wow .
You know , here I am competing against my idols that I grew up watching as a little girl and you had your dad with you . For that , I love the fact that you had your dad tell me about your parents and just kind of their support because , like you said , they're not horse people , so what's it like having your parents around .
I'm so extremely blessed to have the relationship that I do with my parents and I love them . I talked to them probably three or four times a day , but my dad has been my ride or die since day one . Whatever I wanted to do , he's like all right , I'm gonna learn everything about this and I'm gonna make it like we're gonna make it happen .
When I told him I wanted to rodeo , he was like , okay , cool , the hopped in the truck and we went rodeoing and we , we . There was a time over the 4th of July where we went 72 hours and only eight trail mix . It was
¶ Faith, Love, Rodeo Journey
really hard and I remember the second we got home he slept for like four days . But getting to share all of these experiences with him and getting to have him by my side in the stands videoing me , getting to explore an adventure like we , made memories that I'm going to remember for the rest of my life and I would not trade back for the world .
My dad is my number one fan .
The other person you talked about friends with . The other person I want to talk to is your best friend now , Cole , your husband . Yeah , because you talked about him putting a note there . You know that not to give up things like that . How did you and Cole meet ? Would you meet through rodeo ? And how does this ? How did this come about ?
Actually , yeah , it was funny I went to Colorado . He's from Colorado and I'm from Idaho so I went to Colorado when I was like 15 , met him there and hung out with him a little bit and then we parted ways and then we both ended up in Stephenville , texas .
And I think I was like 21 when I met him again and we just met and connected and he asked me on a date and I wanted nothing to do with him for a very long time and he just never quit . I mean the try and that man is insane . Like he , I would ignore him . I would always say that I'm busy and he never quit .
And so I went on a date with him and now we're married . But yeah , no , he's been my rock and my supporter since the day that we met . He does most of the driving , so he hauled me all over the country all summer , helped me with my horses , helped me with my runs .
I could not have done what I did without him at all because he mentally kept me going , physically kept me going . He was just . I wouldn't be , I wouldn't have accomplished anything if it wasn't for him .
The other support I kind of want to talk about , that you've talked about previously , is your relationship with God . Can you kind of dive into that a little bit ?
Yeah , so God is the most important thing in my life , absolutely Number one most important thing in my life , and I feel like I would not , I would not be anywhere near where I'm at now if it wasn't for him and him opening doors .
And so I feel like God has put rodeo on my heart to use it as a platform to glorify him and just be a light , because there's so many dark time like dark stuff , with rodeo mentally , physically , like there's , so it's .
It's hard to do and when you have somebody that is just like radiating God's love and glory and kindness and grace , that's pretty special and that is what . That's what I want to be for other people , and I'm not quite sure where it's going to go .
I'm not quite sure if I meant to make the finals or not , but I know that whatever I'm supposed to be doing , it's because he's wanting me to do it and I'm going to glorify him in the process and I just God is so good and I watch him work every single day in my life and that is just extremely special and I mean I almost can't even find words to
describe how , how that is for me .
Thank you very much for sharing that . I know that's a personal thing for a lot of people . I love it , I think it's important and you do . You radiate that I can tell I'm talking to you . So , yeah , this is . This is awesome .
This is this is where I wish it was all of it was video , because then you know , everyone could see and see see your face and you know just the excitement you have and the glory that you have . So that's , that's fantastic . Thank you . All right , amidst all of this , you have a company . Tell me about this company .
How do you even manage to have a company while you're doing this ?
So I own a company that buys and sells oil field equipment and equipment . So I basically I work from the phone , I do a lot of emailing and I've been doing it long enough for I have amazing customers and amazing vendors but I still make cold calls and stuff like that , but basically just calling people and trying to sell them equipment and I have .
Yeah , so I just buy and sell oil field equipment .
And you find the time you're able to manage .
Yes , that is . Yeah , it's harder when I'm on the road full time but , like I said , my husband helps a ton . He makes it so that I can make time to work and stuff like that , but it's something that I can do from everywhere and I have a phenomenal relationship with my vendors and a phenomenal relationship with my customers .
So it's pretty , it's more difficult , but it's something that's easily . I can accomplish it on the road .
Wow .
And it's a lot of fun .
That's good , and you like it too . So that's , that's fantastic . Wow , you're . You're impressive . This has been . This has been fun . This is really impressive . What do you think the future holds for you ?
I'm speaking out that I will make the National Finals rodeo and over and over . I want to . I want to make it as many times as I can make it . I want my husband to make it as many times as he can make it .
We have some really nice mares right now that are bred really , really well , and so we want to start getting some babies on the ground and selling them . But I think the only thing that I can see right now , if I'm like thinking about the future , is making the National Finals rodeo . So , whenever that may be , that is that is my , that is my goal .
Well , and I'll be following you for sure , Cause now I gotta , I gotta know what Sarah does , you know . See what Sarah does , see what Cole does on his end as well .
Yeah , yeah , absolutely go follow him too . He's yeah Fantastic .
Let's just say there's a young girl out there , you know about middle school age or so , and she's looking at these horses and she wants to hop on and ride a horse and do some barrel racing . What kind of advice would you ? Would you give this either younger version of yourself or you know another girl kind of in the same situation ?
If it's something that was put on your heart and if it's something that you feel like it lights your soul on fire , if that is what it is , whatever it is horses or whatever give it everything you've got . Like never stop pursuing it and never let anybody tell you that you can't do it or that you're wrong for doing it .
Because when I was little , like my parents don't rodeo . So I had their friends like when I was like I'm going to get a horse , they were like pshh , they're not like . They're like no , your parents don't rodeo , you don't have horses . Like find another dream . And I just it just made me like want it more .
I just want to urge girls especially to never stop pursuing your goals , no matter what people tell you ,
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no matter what . If you feel like you can do it and it is what you , what makes you happy and what makes you wake up in the morning then do it and never , ever let anybody tell you you can't .
Sir Roberts , thank you so much for coming on Journey with Jake .
Yeah , thank you for having me , it was fun .
What a fantastic conversation with Sarah . I learned so much about barrel racing and I learned who she was . More importantly , I learned who she was , her faith in God , her willingness to give it her all . She's going places . I'm excited to see where she ends up .
I have a feeling we're going to see her in the National Final Rodeo someday and I'm excited for that . I'm excited for that to happen . Be sure and give her a follow on Instagram . It's Sarah and Roberts . That's at sarahcom . Check her out there . Follow along , see what she's up to , see what rodeo she's in and how she's doing . Give her a follow .
Check her out . Thanks to each and every one of you for coming on Journey with Jake . I really appreciate it . Be sure and leave me a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen to your podcast . That would mean the world to me and I would really appreciate it . Just remember , it's not always about the destination , as it is about the journey .
Take care , everybody .