It's easy to picture the little girl growing up in Colorado, dreaming of being a professional barrel racer at the biggest rodeos in the state: Denver, Colorado Springs, Greeley. Tana Poppino was that little girl and can now claim not only that she has been there, but that she has won all three.

"Winning these rodeos would certainly have been on a list of things I would love to do," Poppino says. "And to have my horse going strong . . . I just praise God that it's all worked out. It means something to me. Maybe it wouldn't to someone else, but growing up here in Colorado, it really means something to have won them all."

Now living in Big Cabin, Okla., Poppino was busy over Cowboy Christmas, like most of the WPRA barrel racers. She hit rodeos in Cody (Wyo.), Livingston (Mont.), Greeley, Crawford (Neb.), and Oakley (Utah). She collected $8,627 in Greeley and added $1,678 at Cody and $372 at Oakley for a total haul of $10,677 for her 2010 Cowboy Christmas.

"I'm real glad we don't have to be anywhere today," she laughed. Poppino is taking a break in the action, staying in Oakley before traveling to Vernal, Utah later this week.

Poppino rode her tough gelding, Perryman Star, better known as Amigo, to the Greeley Championship along with her other Fourth of July wins. Amigo is 15-years old this year and running as good as ever.

"I'm so proud of him," Poppino says. "It takes a really tough horse to make a rodeo horse, and you'll see horses out here on the road win a bunch and do great for a year or so, and then they are done. I have been hauling Amigo since 2003, with the exception of the one year when he was out after having surgery. But here he is, 15-years old, and he still tries his guts out.

"Honestly, he is winning more at 15 than he did even three or four years ago."

Poppino said she got by Greeley's challenging conditions better than most. Several horses had trouble navigating the wide open first barrel at Island Grove Regional Park during the Fourth of July's short go round, and three ladies turned out due to conflicts with the short go round at Ponoka, Alberta Canada.

"Lindsay (Sears) had a half second lead in the average but decided to stay at Ponoka," Poppino explains. "I kinda won by default."

The cowgirl is characteristically humble but the truth was, she and Amigo laid down three good runs, including the fastest time in her two performances to qualify into the short go round. Her first run was a 17.33-second run which was good enough for third behind Sears' winning time of 17.12. Her 17.60 in the second round was out of the money but solid enough to qualify her to the short go with a good chance to take the championship. Jill Moody took the second go win with her 17.28 second run.

In the short round, Savannah Reeves made the best of a bad situation. When she went to retrieve her horse from the stall, he came out sore and lame. Quickly jumping on a back up horse with little time to spare, Reeves blew through the field to post a 17.39 for the go round win. Thankfully, a vet check after the rodeo found no problems.

Poppino was glad to get through the short round run.

"My first run on Friday was the best run I have ever made at Greeley. He was tight on all three turns and worked good. I was real happy with him," she says. "I was the fastest in the next performance but ran a .6. He tried his guts out and we did the best we could.

"In the short go, we cut our pocket off on the first and tipped it. I had to jump up out of the saddle to keep from knocking it over," Poppino explains. "So it didn't start well and we were playing catch up the rest of the way. Luckily, it didn't hurt us too much because everyone had trouble at the first."

Despite the first barrel troubles, Poppino clocked a 17.55, good enough for second in the round behind Reeves. When the secretary had added all the times up, Poppino's 52.50 on three runs was .18 second better than fellow Oklahoman Jessi Eagleberger for the championship.

Poppino has been in the short go at Greeley before but said she hadn't ever won very much money. That all changed on the Fourth of July.

"My dad was there to watch. He came to Guymon earlier this year, which I won, so I told him he is my good luck charm," Poppino laughs. "I told him he has to make sure and come to Cheyenne!"

Poppino hasn't needed much luck this 2010 season. She qualified to the Wrangler NFR in 2006-07 but has been held back by injuries in recent years: Amigo needed surgery in 2008 and Poppino broke her ankle at Reno last summer. Everyone is healthy and back to their winning ways this year. Poppino has been in the top 5 of the WPRA standings for most of the season and will surely stay there with her Cowboy Christmas haul.

For more information on the Greeley Independence Stampede, visit them on-line at www.greeleystampede.org.