San Angelo Rodeo

Eddy Etches Name in Record Books

By Ted Harbin

Brooke Eddy has attached her name to the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo’s record books.

Eddy, a third-year WPRA member, placed in two of three rounds and won the overall title in the first year breakaway roping was offered at the prestigious west Texas rodeo. She finished ninth in the opening round, was just out of placing in the second, then posted a 2.1-second run to win the championship round and claim the title.

That was worth $9,907 for the cowgirl originally from Rockwall, Texas, who just bought a place near Quinlan, Texas.

“It’s just a super cool opportunity to be able to rope at a rodeo that big,” Eddy said. “It’s still pretty surreal being able to win that rodeo, especially for breakaway roping being there for the first year. I was just really focused at this rodeo. I was up in slack, so I watched every single run, wrote down notes on every set of calves and was really in tune with everything.

“When I found out I was making it back to the finals, I told my boyfriend and my family, ‘This is my rodeo. I’m going to do it.’ I guess that ended up being the case.”

She called her shot and, in the process, earned a championship she’ll never forget. It propelled her into the top 40 in the world standings and top five in the Texas Circuit standings.

“This is definitely my biggest highlight,” she said. “I made it to the finals in Austin last year when they had breakaway for the first time and split one in Mt. Pleasant (Texas) a few years ago, so I’ve had smaller wins in the ProRodeo world.

“I’ve really wanted to have a big win, and my goal for the year was to win something of a larger scale than I had before.”

Considering she has a full-time job for a software company, rodeo isn’t her primary focus. That’s OK. She really has no interest in making it her job at this point. She likes the idea of having something outside work that she can truly enjoy.

It’s a different way to look at the competition than her WPRA counterpart, Wenda Johnson, who won the barrel racing championship. The four-time Wrangler National Finals Rodeo qualifier from Pawhuska, Oklahoma, won the first round, finished in a tie as runner-up in the second round, placed on the April 19 championship night and won the aggregate title by 35-hundredths of a second over Texan Tiany Schuster. Johnson earned $20,983 and jumped to second place in the world standings. Johnson last won San Angelo in 2021.

“I’ve had a lot of people ask me why I won’t go out and rodeo, and I have several reasons,” Eddy said. “First, I’m a homebody. It’s hard for me to leave. I have a full-time job, and I really value my career and making a living so I can do stuff I enjoy. Then there’s financially … it’s just hard. Everything is expensive right now, and it’s just hard for me to give up on projects I want to do at home and go out and rodeo.

“I always told myself I never wanted rodeo or roping to become a job, that I had to make money doing it, so I try to support myself enough to where I can feel like it’s enjoyable. I have fun every time.”

She credited her success in San Angelo to a strong mindset, focus and working on the fundamentals with her horse, Miss Kitty, a 12-year-old sorrel mare.

“She’s very hard to ride, and her small movements are very exaggerated movements,” Eddy said of her mount. “I’ve been working on slowing things down in the practice pen, giving her time to relax and figure things out without them being so exaggerated. I think the key to winning San Angelo is a combination of putting hours in the practice pen and my horse.

“She’s one in a million. She’s the reason I’m able to compete at this level because she will outrun, out-stop and outdo any horse out there no matter what I ask her to do.”

Where will she go from here? She’s not sure, but making the Texas Circuit Finals is well within reach.

“I’ll just keep the momentum going and try to get my rodeo count in and just do the best I can to get to the circuit finals,” Eddy said.

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