ATHABASCA – If, as the saying goes, a sport really can run in someone’s blood, rodeo runs in the Miller family's.
The Athabasca County-based family is a fixture on the local rodeo circuit, whether it’s the family stock company, Walking M Rodeo, or the kids working their way up the rankings each summer.
Kegan Miller, 17, had an up and down season, and not just in the arena. He rode almost 50 bulls this summer on his way to winning the title of Junior Bull riding Champion with the Wildrose Rodeo Association (WRA) in Barrhead Sept. 19-22. Kegan finished the event with 1,212.5 points, riding four of his five bulls for the full eight seconds en route to a strong first-place finish.
“You want the best bull in the pen because then if you ride them good, you’ll win the rodeo, but if you get the best bull in the pen and you fall off, you get nothing,” said Kegan. “The season started off rough, I didn’t stay on too many bulls, but then near the end I started riding really good.”
In the midst of all the rodeos — the most hectic stretch was a three-day tour of Whitecourt, Viking, and Wetaskiwin — injury struck. On the final day of the Stettler County Fair and Rodeo, Kegan got bucked off and the bull stepped on his leg, breaking it. After initially being quoted a six-week recovery, which would have caused him to miss the finals, he opted to take the cast off a week early to make the rodeo in Barrhead.
Kegan said he has been participating in some form of rodeo since he could walk. He started off on sheep, before progressing to calves, then steers, and finally bulls. The win in Barrhead is a feather in his cap, but he’s hoping it won’t be the last. After one more season in the junior division, Kegan is hoping to make a go of things on the pro circuit.
When asked what his favourite part of rodeo is, he didn’t have to think too much on it. While the day can go by in a whirlwind, and there’s nothing predictable about getting on a bull, Kegan said the community is the best part.
“Getting on as many bulls as I can this summer and then hanging out after the rodeo, with all my friends, that’s pretty good,” he said.
Kegan’s younger sister, Sydney, also had a strong year on the circuit. Competing in both barrel racing and breakaway roping, Sydney had recorded some of her best-ever times this summer, on her way to a seventh-place finish in the WRA barrel racing standings, and ninth in breakaway.
Her best finish of the year came in Kinuso — a hamlet west of Slave Lake —, where her time of 15.857 seconds was good enough for a third-place finish, .3 seconds from first place.
“That was the fastest run I’ve ever made and the highest I’ve ever placed,” said Sydney, who rode her horse, Drifter, in each race.
Junior barrel racing is a busier category than bull riding, which only had 15 boys competing this year. Sydney raced against more than 60 other girls throughout the summer, which can cause a small issue for event organizers. According to Jennifer, the matriarch of the Miller family, relying on friends and family makes the summer a lot easier.
“She would hop in with a friend of ours, so they’d take her and her horse over there, while we went here, and then we would meet over somewhere else,” said Jennifer, describing the somewhat frantic schedules. “They have an overflow in the morning for the timed events because there’s so many of them.”
Like her brother, there isn’t much about rodeo Sydney doesn’t like, but seeing her friends compete and succeed is a highlight.
“It’s a lot more fun when you look at the program and you see your friend’s name next to yours and you know it’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Sydney.
