Bailey Blackmore of Summit Valley ended her junior rodeo career with a bang – literally – qualifying for the junior rodeo nationals in light rifle at the 2025 California Junior High School Rodeo Association’s Junior Rodeo State Finals. She was also an alternate for nationals in goat tying. Bailey is now in high school and stepping up to high school rodeo with big dreams for her future.
She mentions that starting high school is a bit scary and makes her nervous, but she is already looking forward to taking college courses in her sophomore year. “Probably business is what I’m thinking,” she says when asked what classes. “It might change later on, but right now I am interested in business. And journalism.”
But classes aren’t all she is thinking about. Bailey says she is all in with rodeo, and hopes to continue with rodeo into college and after. “I want to go to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and be on the rodeo team,” she says. “So that’s kind of my like, long term goal since I was little, and then after college, hopefully I’ll be able to pro rodeo.”
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An equestrian since she was little, Bailey started out doing gymkhana. Gymkhana are speed events, the most well-known being barrel racing. She then got into rodeo around the age of 8, thanks in part to her older brother and sister who also did junior rodeo.
Other than her siblings, she said it was her horse Pikachu, who she got in 2022, that really gave her a love for rodeo. “Honestly, I was kind of over it, and didn’t really want to do it anymore,” she says of rodeo. “And then we got [Pikachu] and she kind of gave me, like, the love for the sport again. So that’s kind of where it all started. She gave me get some wins, gave me the will to do it more.”
Since then, Pikachu has been retired but Bailey has gone on to great things, including making it to state in 2025 for light rifle, goat tying, ribbon roping and poles. She was the California Junior High School Rodeo Association District 8 champion in goat tying and light rifle. She says goat tying is her favorite of the events. “it’s definitely an adrenaline rush beforehand, and like, I feel like that’s the one that I’ve improved in the most out of all my events,” she shares. “And you just have to have a lot of trust in your horse. And I feel like it’s really got me a bond with the horse that I ride. His name is Rex, and just mainly the adrenaline rush to do it, like stepping off a horse going 20 to 30 miles an hour, just, I don’t know it’s just something else.”
At state, she placed 5th in goat tying and 4th in light rifle, earning her a trip to nationals for the first time. “I had not been before [to nationals],” she says. “It was definitely nerve-wracking, just because, like, the environment, but once you were there, it was just like stepping in to go shoot, the nerves kind of went away, because it felt normal, like you’re going to state or a local shooting competition.” And while her nerves got the best of her this year, Bailey is determined for that not to be the case next time. Her goal is to make high school rodeo state finals in goat tying and light rifle and then on to nationals once again.
To achieve her goals, Bailey works hard. Her homeschool schedule allows for more flexibility, so she can fit in working each of her horses, as well as practice her shooting. She has different coaches for each event, so she juggles those lessons too. If hard work and dedication prove anything, we are sure to see Bailey with a wall full of buckles soon.
