At the start of her junior year, Bayler Faulkner realized she wanted to leave a permanent mark on Escalante High School.
So, last fall, she started the Escalante rodeo team, which now has about seven members. The rodeo community in northern New Mexico is small, focused largely near Chama, but is a close-knit group of competitors.
“It was very much spur of the moment,” she said. She went to principal Ira Harge, and found agricultural mechanics teacher Pete Garcia to sponsor the team. She also spoke to friends of hers who had their own teams through the New Mexico High School Rodeo Association.
And the high school team, as well as other local rodeoers, made their mark on the May 26-30 state finals in Lovington. Three won state championships competing as individuals, and two others finished in second place to qualify for the national championships.
Everyone on the team, it seems, comes from a rodeo lineage.
“I was pretty much born into it,” Faulkner said. Her father and both of her grandfathers had rodeoed. “It’s very much a part of my family lineage.”
“Rodeo’s been our family as long as I can remember,” said Abiquiú parent Tanner Trujillo. “When we had kids … they were born into it. They grew up in it and naturally gravitated to it.”
The tradition in Faulkner’s family is the saddle bronc — perhaps the image that would come to your mind first from hearing rodeo, riding a bucking horse as long as possible. But some associations still do not let women ride ‘roughstock’ animals, so she had to choose a different event. Instead, she participates in barrel racing, riding a horse through a route of barrels in the lowest time.
Despite a more than 6-hour drive to Lovington, the state championships were unforgettable for those participants.
“Rodeo is very much a euphoric feeling,” Bayler Faulkner said. “You get to compete, but you get to compete with your friends. And while you’re pushing yourself to be your best, you’re also getting to watch your friends do their best.”
Bayler’s brother, Monte Faulkner, was the state champion in saddle bronc and qualified for the national championship.
Bayler finished sixth in barrel racing, and Keelin Faulkner competed in the state finals in breakaway — securing a calf with a rope for as long as possible.
At the junior level, for middle-school-aged competitors, Wacey Trujillo won state championships in three events: girls breakaway, goat tying, and ribbon roping — a team event where a boy ropes a calf with a ribbon on its tail, then dismounts to hold the calf, and a girl then grabs the ribbon and runs back to the starting chute.
Abiquiú’s Trujillo is an eighth-grader at Los Alamos Online Learning Academy. Her brother Teagan Trujillo, a sixth grader, won third place in goat tying as another national qualifier.
“We see the work that they put into it every day,” said Tanner Trujillo, Wacey and Teagan’s father. “For them to be rewarded in the arena, that was nice to see. They definitely worked hard for what they earned.”
Stetson Trujillo, a cousin of Wacey who lives down the street, an eighth grader at Los Alamos Middle School, won a state championship in boys goat tying.
Miguel Jesus Martinez of Chama Middle School was a reserve champion for the second straight year, finishing second place across the season, in bull riding, also qualifying from the national championship.
His mother, Tana Martinez, said the family rodeo tradition, especially in bull riding, goes at least as far as her grandfather. Miguel Jesus has competed in competitions in Texas and Colorado, and now gets to travel to Georgia for the national championships.
“He’s not one to boast about his winnings,” Tana Martinez said. “But he is very excited. He’s excited to go and compete in Georgia.”
The junior finals are June 19-25 in Perry, Ga., and the high school finals are the next month in Gillette, Wyo.
“They’re brimming with excitement,” Tanner Trujillo said of the national championship. “They practice every week night. The preparation is in full swing.”
Addison Tixier from Coronado Middle School won third place in light rifle, becoming a national qualifier.
The Faulkner family hosts practices at their house in Rutheron — right outside Tierra Amarilla — as often as weekly for the local competitors, and brings in visitors from as far as Moriarty and Santa Rosa. Bayler said she is not entirely sure why they drive well over three hours for practices, but everyone there is passionate about rodeo.
While rodeo is much more common and popular in southern New Mexico, the North has its own history. Shannon Terrazas, a 2018 Escalante graduate, is currently competing with the Professional Bull Riders organization, as is his younger brother Wyatt. Several others from the Chama area have competed professionally.
After starting the team in the fall, Bayler Faulkner organized the team to focus on the specific High School competition, rather than finding any tournament nearby.
“It was a busy year coming out of the summer,” she said. “We were all pretty amped up for our NMHSRA seasons.”
And Faulkner wants the team to leave a continued legacy by bringing more and new people into rodeo.
“With the Escalante rodeo team, I hope to leave a place for the kids who do actively rodeo to have that support system,” she said. “And for those that maybe have less of a chance to be involved in rodeo, but have an interest, to have a place for them to go … and just have it be a lot more close to home and accessible.”