Pro rodeo: Greenwood girl gets taste of roping at SandHills

Brittany Gibson of Greenwood has been riding horses for just three years.

She’s been roping nearly as a long.

“She just loped around at the beginning,” said her mother, Jerilyn Tyree. “But it wasn’t too long after she started riding that she was roping, too.”

The 15-year-old Greenwood High sophomore took a step toward her future on Tuesday night at Ector County Coliseum when she competed in the Pro-Am competition of the 16th SandHills Invitational Roping competition at the 75th SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo.

Gibson’s debut didn’t go as well as planned because the head loop never settled on both of her runs, which didn’t give heeler Michael Jones a chance to catch the heels for a good run.

Still, Gibson was smiling after completing her runs.

“I was a little nervous,” she said. “This was my first pro-am. I was down there with all the people that I watched on TV. It was a lot of fun, but it was a little bit scary, too.”

Gibson has plenty of experience tossing loops through competing in several USTRC competitions. She also likes to get off horses and compete in tie-down roping.

She and her mother came to the arena early on Saturday to watch the way the steers were leaving the chute and how they ran down the arena.

So Gibson felt that she had a good plan heading into the first round — and then she and her horse got skittish in the box.

“I had some trouble backing into the box and when I get nervous, my horse gets nervous,” Gibson said. “And then the steers, which had been slow during the day, were fast tonight and the first one got away from me. I was kicking the horse to go, but we got a late start, and then I missed.”

Gibson doesn’t miss out on many of her chances and she is looking to add high school rodeos to her schedule during the next two years before heading off to college.

Along with roping, she competes in barrel racing and poles and will look to add goat tying and breakaway when she moves to the collegiate level.

“I love all the different events,” Gibson said. “I’m going to do as much as I can.”

ON TAP

>> TONIGHT, TONIGHT, TONIGHT: Monty Lewis, the 2004 Tie Down world champion, headlines the timed events in the third performance of the 2008 SandHills Stock Show and Rodeo at Ector County Coliseum.

Lewis will be matched against Stran Smith, the man he defeated for the crown by less than $2,000.

Hereford’s Steve Purcella, the 1996 world champion header, will team with Gatesville’s Coby Jones when team roping makes its prime-time debut.