For the Trujillos of Abiquiú, rodeo is a family affair, so it’s going to be a big celebration soon, as the four teenagers in the family all qualified for the 77th annual National High School Finals Rodeo.
The event runs from July 13-19 in Rock Springs, Wyoming, drawing the top high school athletes not only from across the United States, but Canada and Mexico and as far as away as Australia and New Zealand.
Sisters Wacey and Teagan Trujillo highlight the family’s presence as they’ve qualified every year since sixth grade.
Their cousins, brothers Stetson and Reed Trujillo, are making their first appearance as high schoolers and each also qualified during middle school.
Fellow local resident Addie Tixier, of Lindrith, will also make an appearance in the shooting rifle competition.
But the Trujillos, all of whom attend Los Alamos High School, take their horsemanship seriously.
“I’ve been doing this since I was a baby, maybe two or three years old,” Wacey Trujillo, who will be a senior, said. “My dad did bulls and I mutton-busted and then they bought me a horse and that’s how it started.”
She won the New Mexico championship in Goat Tying and Breakaway Roping this year, and will be competing in both.
But it is in goat tying where she really shines, winning the national championship after her eighth grade year.
Now she’s looking to make up for a mistake she made last year in goat tying when she entered the short round (finals) second, but let her goat rise, dropping from contention.
“After last year, I said I’m not going to let my goat get up again and I plan to win this year,” she said.
Plus this year, she has extra incentive to win.
“That would mean a lot because I lost my good horse back in January,” she said of her 10-year-old mare, River, who broke a leg and had to be put down. “It would mean that I did it for her, pretty much. That one was tough. I kept telling myself that God has a plan and it happened for a reason and it will all work out in the end.”
Teagan Trujillo, a rising sophomore, looks up to her older sister.
“Me and my sister, we put the pressure on each other and we both push each other and we work really hard to have great competition,” she said. “I’m really proud of her. I try to live up to what she’s become. We both push each other to become our best.”
For the boys, they both qualified in an event they started in the spring, in steer wrestling.
“I’ve been competing in rodeo since I was a little kid, but I started steer wrestling in March,” Stetson Trujillo, who also will be a senior, said.
“You go after the steer on your horse, dismount your horse, throw the steer on it’s side,” he said explaining the event. “Really just working hard. I have an awesome coach, cousin Jake Trujillo. He’s helped me. That’s been a key factor in doing so well in learning the event.”
And rising sophomore Reed Trujillo said he enjoys the family atmosphere of the rodeo.
“It’s pretty cool,” he said. “We can all kind of have fun together and help each other out. We’re just trying to help each other and we have friendly competition.”
But the competition can sometimes get pretty spirited.
“Me and my sister practice with our three cousins,” Wacey Trujillo said. “We have group practice and that makes it a little competitive. That’s what it’s all about at the time.”
Of course, there’s more to rodeo than simply being able to ride, Wacey Trujillo said.
“I practice and it’s hard work,” she said. “That’s what my dad always told me. ‘Outwork everyone.’ And you need to be athletic and be able to run fast. We do a lot of physical training and a lot of mental work, so you can be mentally stable for those pressure situations. And a lot of skills and drills.”
Wacey Trujillo has her eyes set on continuing her career in college, then turning pro, which makes this rodeo a particularly important one.
“It would mean a lot,” she said of winning. “I’ve had a great year, but to top it off with a national title would be pretty awesome.”