TORRINGTON – Blake Cushman, 13-year-old daughter of Matthew and Ashley, was riding horses before she learned how to walk. The competitive middle schooler has the opportunity to compete at the YETI Junior World Finals this December with more than 800 contestants inside the Wrangler Rodeo Arena in Las Vegas for ten days. Young athletes will be competing for more than $1 million in combined cash and prize payouts as they battle to claim a coveted Montana Silversmiths championship buckle. 

“My dad has always been into horses and so has my mom’s family and my dad’s family,” Blake explained. “I just grew up around them. I just liked them.”

“You’ve been riding since before you could even walk,” her mom, Ashley added. 

Blake participates in competitive barrel racing which is how she has punched her ticket to the KK Run for Vegas Junior World Finals.

“I’ve only been barrel racing, competitively, about three or four years,” Blake said.

Although Blake is still relatively “new” to the sport, she has been able to grow tremendously in the short time she’s been competing. 

“There’s two different groups of girls at 12 and under and then 13 to 19, they split them up,” Ashley explained. “They had qualifiers from all over the county. The closest one to us, that we went to was in Eaton, Colorado. She ran there. They do barrels and poles. She did poles the first day and this was like the week of [the] fair so she sold her lamb that morning and then we packed up and went to Colorado as fast as we could. She ran poles that afternoon and missed it by not very much. You had to place in the top two. The next day, the next afternoon was barrels and she was one of the top two. There was her and one other little girl that made it. If you qualify then you get to go compete at the YETI Junior World Finals in Las Vegas,” Ashley continued. 

According to the Cushmans, the competition lasts a week and Blake is excited about the opportunity to miss school to chase barrels. 

“I’ll be down there from Sunday night to Friday,” Blake said as she looked toward her mother for assistance. 

“She has to check-in Monday the 9th for a back-number (introduction) ceremony that day and then she’ll race Wednesday and Friday and then Saturday is the final,” Ashley explained. “If she makes the top 20, they get to go to the short-go and that’s the 14th. So, seven days in Vegas should be enough,” Ashley joked.

As with most rodeo events, barrel racing and pole bending are a timed event. The fastest horse and rider to run a cloverleaf pattern around preset barrels wins. There are penalties should a barrel be knocked down or the horse and rider deviate from the pattern. Riders can be disqualified for major course deviations, missing a barrel or other serious infractions. 

“The fastest time I’ve ran here (Torrington) was like a 15.6 in the indoor arena,” Blake said. “There are other patterns that are a lot bigger and during junior high rodeos, I was always in the top. I am really glad about that. I was always running, those patterns are always a lot bigger, so 16 -17-second runs. I think in Rawlins I won it with an 18. Not all of the patterns are the same so your times can vary,” Blake explained.

“The pole patterns are always the same,” her dad, Matthew added.

“Poles are always the same and I think the fastest time I’ve ran pole is a 20.5 and I hope to get that down this summer. I haven’t ran poles since the last junior high rodeo,” Blake said.

Of course, behind every good cowgirl is a great horse and currently, that role is being played by a 15-year-old gelding, Batman. 

“He’s pretty good. I love him,” Blake said with a smile. “All of our horses have to have superhero names. We have Wonder Woman, Iron Man, Superman, Batman. I think that’s it.”

Blake and Batman have spent a few years developing their relationship, learning the sport and learning how to trust. 

“She’s been riding him since she was eight, probably,” Matthew explained.

“When I was younger, I took him around. I’ve been riding him for a while,” Blake explained. “One time I fell off of him and then I didn’t want to ride him anymore, so I got a new horse. But I needed a faster horse and he’s the fastest, so I got back on him and started competing on him.” 

Blake’s desire to compete was stronger than her fears however she explained being tough is a quality she has learned. 

“My dad always just tells me, ‘Oh, you’ll be fine. Just rub some dirt on it.’ So always just have to,” Blake explained. 

Blake plans to continue her rodeo career regardless of how she places at nationals. 

“I have a lot of other horses that I want to start competing on too so I want to go to more barrel races where I can run them, like for charities and stuff. I want to just start going to some of those bigger races,” Blake said. “I feel like that would help me out a lot during these times, especially now that I am going to Vegas. This will be the first really big barrel race and probably the most competitive one I have been at or I’ll go to. If I start going to those bigger barrel races and stuff then me and my horse will both be able to experience that at the same time so it’s not going to be really new to us. We will know exactly what to do and exactly how to deal it.”

With not too much time left in her junior rodeo career, Blake has set future goals. 

“There are nationals (National Junior High Finals Rodeo) in Des Moines (Iowa). I’m sitting first in barrels and poles in the state. If you are in the top four by the end, you get to go to nationals. I want to stay in that top spot because I think it would be pretty cool going in as number one in the state for two events,” Blake explained. “Those are pretty competitive too. There are a lot of really competitive and nice girls there. A lot of them have really big nice fancy horses and they are all really good. It’s normally a really tight competition. Nobody is really ever leading by far but there is always somebody who has to take the top spot.”

After high school, Blake hopes she can continue to compete in one of the sports she loves. 

“I want to keep rodeoing and I want to keep barrel racing. That’s my dream. I want to go pro in barrel racing,” Blake said.

“I don’t think she has given herself enough credit,” Ashley said. “A lot of the other competitors have top dollar, high dollar horses and the horse she’s riding is a horse that my grandpa gave to my husband back in 2010 (2011). He was just his feedlot horse, a little ranch pony. Just your everyday horse. We never thought anything of it.”

Blake has taught Batman the ropes when it comes to learning how to be a great barrel horse. 

“Blake has taken him and taught him everything, all the work to get him to where he is because you know, Matt didn’t do that at the feedlot. She’s worked with him and perfected their stuff. I think that’s pretty impressive, to be 13 and riding a horse that you essentially trained yourself,” Ashely said. 

“Blake’s done all the work,” Matthew agreed. “She’s come a really long way in the last three years.” 

“She’s gone from running a 22-second barrel pattern and we thought, ‘Wow, she’s finally got down there,’ to now she’s running sub 16-15,” Ashley added.