“I don’t have many other hobbies than this,” said Samples, who graduated in May from Northwestern Oklahoma State in agriculture science with a minor in mass communications. Samples also cares and trains close to 50 horses on the farm of her parents, Mike and Donna Samples, located just northwest of Abilene. I hopefully will have a nice enough group of horses to rodeo on,” she said. “I plan on riding and competing for the next few years. “I am mainly trying to get the young horses seasoned and experienced so hopefully by winter or definitely a year from now they are ready and I am ready to start going a lot more,” she said.īut for now, she’s not hit the circuit full time. Rodeos in Manhattan, Abilene and Hill City are on her schedule. This year Samples is competing in a limited number of rodeos while spending more time training several young horses. Should an amateur rider place, Auburn Pharmacy, Abilene, the event sponsor, covers the prize money. I don’t know of another pro rodeo that lets locals ride and compete like that, and the opportunity to get paid.” “They always got so loud and behind the Bankes’ barrel racers. She is scheduled to ride Saturday.Īmateur Dickinson County barrel racers also will be competing each night as part of the Bankes Team, similar to Sample’s amateur days.Ībilene’s hometown fans have been very supportive of the amateur barrel racers, Samples said. She will compete in the Wild Bill Hickock Rodeo, which runs Wednesday through Saturday at the Grandstand in Eisenhower Park, Abilene. Samples earned her Women’s Professional Rodeo Association card the year she turned 18. Though she was just an amateur at the time, her entries were made possible by the Bankes Barrel Racing team, Abilene, which allows amateur barrel racers in Dickinson County to compete each night in Abilene’s Professional Cowboys Rodeo Association sanctioned event. She cashed her first barrel racing check, $800, after she placed in the Abilene rodeo at the age of 14. She started competing in barrel racing at the age of 5 and competed in her first professional rodeo, the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo, at age 8. Throughout much of her life, the soon-to-be 24-year-old cowgirl has been in a saddle. “I was on a horse with my mom pretty much right after I was born,” Samples admits. ABILENE - Some joke that Micah Samples was born on a horse.

Age of professional barrel racers