My name is Samantha “Sam” Smith, I am from Rimbey, Alberta, Canada, and I am a junior at Eastern New Mexico University (ENMU). People often ask what made me choose to come to Portales, NM of all places for school and to put it quite simply, I am here to college rodeo. When Coach Flinn called in the middle of December my senior year of high school asking if he could convince me to consider coming to Eastern, all I had to do was look at the snow drift outside the front door to make my decision.
My older sister, Taylor, my best friend, Gina, and both of Gina’s brothers had gone to ENMU before me, so it only felt right that I carry on the tradition… Go Greyhounds! Now that I am in my third year of school, I finally feel as though I have figured out this whole being a college athlete idea (as I write this article at 1am on my three-day break between rodeos… still working on time management, whoops!). With that said, below you’ll find a short description of a day in my life as a college rodeo athlete.
For me, my favorite way to start a great day is to hit the snooze button on my alarm as many times as possible before actually waking up. Is this necessarily the best way I could start my day? Probably not, but I don’t plan on changing that part in my life until I’m a real life grown-up. Once I have finally pulled myself out of bed, I walk outside to feed and water my horses before returning to the house to feed my cute little dog, Charles. Then, I go to class in a ball cap, t-shirt and jeans, get educated and return home. Some days, I will wake up early, put makeup on, do my hair and smile in the mornings for the fun of throwing people off. Once I’ve got the in-class portion of the day completed, it is time to go home and start with the online classes! Because I’m a communications major, I spend a lot of time staring at blank pages trying to remember that cool story idea I forgot to write down six months ago… Fun stuff!
Eventually, I complete my online work for the week, or give in for the day hoping a surge of excellence will come my way before the due date. Once the temperature starts to drop, I head outside to condition and work with my horse, Max. Most days I end up spending several hours outside with him, doing my best to ensure he is in the best physical and mental shape possible before competitions.
By the time I go back inside, my younger sister, Kennedy, has dinner cooked and the daylight is gone. If anyone was wondering, Kennedy is a great chef and more than half-way into the semester has yet to miss a Taco Tuesday. We usually start watching Netflix while we eat dinner and then back to my computer I go! For whatever reason, I always seem to do my best work at night when I should be sleeping.
On rodeo weeks, the trailer has to be stocked with feed for my horse and myself, all of my tack must be packed, the water tank and propane bottles must be full, tires have to be checked, and so many other items on the never-ending list of things todo! Of course, my time to do all of this is squeezed into whatever spare time I have between classes, practice and homework. Though my life is busy, I always make time to spend with friends, often playing a competitive game of “Uno” before bed one day of the week.
In all reality, my life is a little bit chaotic but I wouldn’t have it any other way. ENMU has given me the opportunity to travel 30 hours from home, earn an education, and compete in college rodeos all while making new friends and even adopting a few as family. Without the support of my parents, I wouldn’t be able to do any of the things I do and I give them credit for raising three girls who rodeo as that’s not the easiest feat. Would I ever complain about a day in my life? Not at all, in fact I may be a little biased but I think I am the luckiest girl on Earth.
