By SAMI MCGUIRE
Sports Editor
It’s a partnership that has pulled Sara Bynum and Loretta through their college rodeo years.
Loretta is Bynum’s 8-year-old barrel horse, but the paint mare was 4 years old when the two started their college rodeo journey together.
The paint mare was even younger when Bynum’s family bought her off Craigslist. A former trainer had listed the horse as dangerous, and she was underweight. Bynum said she wasn’t impressed when they brought her home.
Little did Bynum know that Loretta would pull her through college. She is the horse that has helped her make the College National Finals Rodeo three times, has her sitting first in the region heading into the final rodeo of the year. Most recently, Loretta helped Bynum win the Fort Hays (Kan.) State University Rodeo.
The duo only needs to have one more successful rodeo, and they will secure the Central Plains Region title.
“We’ve grown together,” Bynum said. “It would mean the world to know that that’s how we left it, was to win it.”
During her freshman year, the two struggled to get things right, but the turning point was when they made the short round at the Oklahoma State University Rodeo.
“At that point, and I was like, ‘OK, we can do this,’ ” she said. “I just have to relax and have fun and not be like ‘I have to make the short go.’ (I needed to) just go run my horse.”
Bynum had very little success in barrels through high school, and having a horse like Loretta made her eager to prove something.
“I felt like I had to prove to everybody that she’s good,” Bynum said. “I needed to ride the horse I was on at the time, not the horse she was going to be.”
Shutting out the worries have been a large part of their success.
“Every level of rodeo is such a different mental game,” she said. “High school is totally different from college, and college is totally different from pro rodeos. Even open rodeos are different. I had to get over the mental stuff, I had to realize that she was not seasoned and most college rodeo pens are for seasoned horses.”
She learned throughout freshman and sophomore years how to season a horse and ended up qualifying for the CNFR her first time her second year. Loretta was 6 at the time, and the duo was still learning. During Bynum’s junior year, the two placed eighth in the region, but Bynum advanced to the CNFR as part of the women’s teach, which qualified by finishing second in the region.
“I didn’t feel like I deserved to be there last year,” she said. “That messed with me a little bit, but we did end up making some money in the third round. Just letting her go do her thing has probably been the hardest thing for me, to trust her to go in there and do it.”
After last year, Bynum was down on herself and considered quitting college rodeo. Her mother convinced her to run the first four rodeos in the fall and see how it went. She placed at two and won one, which put her first in the region standings.
“At that point, I can’t really quit,” she said, “So I stuck it out, and looking back, I’m really glad that I decided to stick it out one more year.”
Without Loretta, though, Bynum isn’t sure she could have stuck with college all four years. She said school is hard for her, but when she feels down about it she keeps working on her grades so she can continue to college rodeo.
“I got to do it,” she said. “I felt like I owed it to Loretta because you can’t just quit. She’s carried me through college. She’s the reason I went to college.”
Bynum and Loretta have always been strong members of the team. In Hays, Bynum’s led the Northwestern women to a second-place finish. She was helped by Jennifer Massing, who placed third in the goat tying average. Cassy Woodward made the short round in breakaway roping but didn’t place.
The men’s team also finished second in the team standings. In steer wrestling, four men placed: Talon Roseland was second, Maverick Harper finished third, Cody Devers placed fourth and Grayson Allred was fifth. Bridger Anderson won the long round but came up with a no time in the short round and didn’t place in the average.
Harper won tie-down roping, and Allred placed third. Cole Patterson also made short round but didn’t place. For his efforts, Harper won the all-around title for the second straight week.
In team roping, Logan Wood and Edgar Fierro placed second in the average. Sage Lamunyon, with his partner Layton Little of Southwestern Oklahoma State University, also made short round but didn’t place.
Going into the final college rodeo of the year, everyone is on edge and everyone is hopeful for a chance to go to CNFR.
“College rodeo has its ups and downs,” Bynum said. “And sometimes you want to pull your hair out, but it’s a lot of fun in the end and you’re going to make a lot of friends, probably some enemies. It’s not for everybody for sure. If it wasn’t for college rodeo I would have more than likely moved home and just be working somewhere there, because college is not my thing.
“But I’m going to get my bachelors and I have that paint mare to thank for it.”