A Family Affair: Rodeo
Daniel, Anna, and Emma Kate Wilder have been riding since they could sit up. “We mostly did trail riding when they were smaller, but when Emma Kate was in 6th grade, Anna 4th, and Daniel 2nd, we started Junior Rodeo,” Mom, Bebe Wilder, told us. “The bug bit and we’ve been doing this ever since. A lot of times, you get one child that likes something and the others don’t, but with this, we’ve really had fun. You meet a lot of good families, and we’ve really had a lot of fun together.” They do every event they can, except for rough stock. For barrels, roping, poles, and goat tie they have horses to do those events. Horses are like people, they each have individual talents, and are built with different athletic strengths.
“Emma Kate is using my Dad’s [Dale McDaniel] horse, Jack, for team roping. It was his team roping horse, when she wanted to start rooping, he gave him to her, although he stays at my Dad’s. She wanted to do breakaway roping with calves, it’s a little different than team roping, so she and Jack learned that together. She still team ropes on him and does goat tyin’ too.” She continued, “Anna’s horse is young, she’s the one that helped Anna get the Reserve Champion in breakaway this year, she team ropes, and goat ties on her as well.”
Rodeo’n has been in the family, Mom did it in college, their grandfather, Dale McDaniel also did it when he was young and kept a foot in it by raising rodeo stock; horses and cows. “He got us into raising the cattle,” said Dad, Keith Wilder. “The stock that the kids practice on are the ones that we have raised.”
The Tennessee rodeo associations have done really well, last year they had a reserve World Champion out of Tennessee. “When you go to Nationals, normally it’s Texas, Oklahoma, and a lot of those western states, but TN has done really well,” Keith Wilder said. At Nationals this year, Anna was the reserve Breakaway Champion, 2nd place, in the process, she won three buckles and cash prizes, Emma Kate got in the top ten, Daniel was elected the student national vice president. He will be in Las Vegas this year working for the junior high association. “Anna and Daniel have been recognized as athlete of the month, Anna was recognized as athlete of the year and Daniel got the reserve athlete of the year. All of that had scholarships attached, Anna ended up with a total of $2050, Daniel ended up with $1000. We were so excited for them,” Bebe Wilder added.
This year, Anna and Emma Kate will both be in the High School Rodeo Association, with 14 rodeos scheduled, plus the finals. The season kicked off in September. They will be in Lexington in March, Martin is in May and those are the closest rodeos on their schedule. As far as their results this year, in the TN High School Association, Emma Kate was the All-around-Cowgirl, and was the Champion goat-tyer, winning saddles and buckles. She was also second in the poles and placed third in the breakaway. She qualified to go to Nationals in all of those. Anna was All-Around Cowgirl in the Junior division, she was the champion goat tyer, second in poles, and second in breakaway. In team roping, she finished third with her brother. While Daniel finished third in team roping and was sitting first in goats, he hurt his ankle and missed a rodeo, then went in with a bumb ankle on the other rodeo, it knocked him down a bit in points but he still managed to qualify for Nationals in both events
The other part of the team is the horses. Horses are a part of the family, too, they know the sport as well and have worked with all of the kids as they learned. The Wilders work with ten horses in different events. All of the horses have earned a special spot in the family’s heart.
Dad explained breakaway to us: “See that flag on the end of Anna’s rope, they stop the time as soon as that flag breaks off the horn. [For boys in tie-down roping, the time starts as soon as they break the barrier, run down, rope the calf, jump off the horse and tie down the steer and as soon as he throws his hands up the time stops.] Breakaway is getting to be a bigger sport, it was included in the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, for a long time, the girls weren’t included. It is becoming a lot more popular, and lots of kids are going to school on rodeo scholarships now.” Keith Wilder continued, “We’ve just been really impressed with the High School and Junior High Rodeo Association, you know it’s all volunteers, it’s well run, a great family organization, we can’t say enough good things about it, we’re really proud to be a part of it and compete in it.”
“You get so used to ropin’ and pitchin’ it off that you’re not thinking about it,” Dad gently corrected as Daniel got ahead of himself while practicing. “They’ve made friends across the state that otherwise they wouldn’t have met. There are other families, even in this area that are doing it, and lots of others ride and compete in barrels, but don’t necessarily ride in the rodeos.”
After we shot photos of their practice session, Daniel, Anna and Emma Kate sat down with us to talk about their experiences over the last several years. “What do I like best about rodeo?” Daniel Wilder started, “Probably being able to meet new people, competing. And as an officer, I’m going to be going on trips with other officers. We get to go to Las Vegas in Dec, then the Gulf Coast for the mid-winter meeting, and then the annual meeting in June in Des Moines, Iowa during the Nationals.” He smiled, “I’m going to make up school work pretty quick, I don’t think I’ll miss too much. I’ve won 1 saddle and about 6-7 buckles.” All of the Wilders attend Tipton Rosemark Academy. Anna continued, “I like meeting new people, all the animals, and just doing what I love. I really love it, I’m not sure where I’ll go with it, but I do love it.” She’s won around 30 buckles and 4 saddles, so she’s looking at a good start on her career.
Emma Kate has won quite a bit too, in the high school arena, “The buckle that means the most is my goat tying, the all arounds are really special, too, but that one I really had to work for.” Emma Kate puts in at least two hours a day working with her horses. “It depends on the week, sometimes that’s cleaning and feeding, too, but it’s at least two to three hours a day. In a week, more than twenty hours. “I love the atmosphere, it’s different than other sports, I mean, you are all going against each other, but everyone supports you, including your opponents. It’s really a family, you are all rooting for each other. It’s not over after high school, there are places you can go with this sport, and you make life-long friends.” Friends include the horses they ride, “So we have some colts that we just got, and I really like one of them, Chance, but my favorite that we rodeo on is probably Jack.” Anna told us that picking a favorite horse is rough, “That’s tough, Sadie, my ropin horse or Forrest Gump, my barrel and pole horse.” “Dusty is my favorite, the buckskin, I do everything on her but team ropin and chute doggin’.” Daniel smiled as he added, “I just like her the best.”
Looking forward to the next year, Daniel told us, “Hopefully getting better and improving on what I didn’t do as good last year, and putting more effort into it will get me better results.” Anna added, “I look forward to rodeo’n in high school, it’s going to be tougher competition. It's going to be fun going up against my sister—and I have to share the trailer. We will be working together for team ropin’.” She added, “There is a little rivalry, but it doesn’t go too far.” Emma Kate smiled, “There’s a little rivalry, but it makes us better. I want to win a National title, and I look forward to touring good Colleges where I can continue this.” She finished, “It does help to practice together, it’s a lot better, and we all push each other when we work together.”
Emma Kate added, “It’s really a great opportunity and privilege to do it, it teaches responsibility.” Then she laughed, “And I hate pickin’ stalls.” “Yeah, it’s really hot and muggy doing that,” all the Wilder’s joined in.
“We really do respect, love, and take care of our animals, they are part of our team. They are part of us, we have to have them. The horses, goats and calves are all part of the sport.” finished Emma Kate.
The Wilder family encourages ANYONE who wants to participate in the Rodeo to talk to the Rodeo association. Keith Wilder added, “It’s a privilege to be able to compete in the organization that we are in. It’s been around since the 1940s. We really want to encourage any other kids that want to find join the sport or find out information about the sport to go to the website, tnhsra.com or tennesseeyouthrodeo.com for the younger age groups.”