While Shelby Mitchell might appear quite and even a little shy at times, the 16-year-old has the heart of a fierce competitor when it comes to the rodeo arena.
Shelby competes in the Missouri High School Rodeo Association, as well as the All Youth Rodeo Association and the Missouri Junior Rodeo Circuit. She also competes in smaller events and jackpots throughout the area, traveling as far away as Oklahoma and Kansas. She has also participated in the Missouri Family Rodeo Association.
Shelby, who lives in Rogersville, Mo., said being involved in rodeo has come naturally to her because her father, Todd Mitchell, competed team roping “his whole life,” and because the family has always been surrounded by horses. While competing is part of her DNA, Shelby admits it wasn’t always what she wanted to do.
“I first started when I was 7, but then I stopped,” the teen said at the Highway 32 Arena in Marshfield, Mo., where she practices and competes. “I guess I just wasn’t mature enough. I just started back about a year and a half ago and have been going ever since. …My adrenaline, starts pumping and I just love it. I just like to compete.
“I feel more relaxed when it’s just me and my horse. I’m not really much of a ‘people person.’ When I am competing, the only thing I think about is going out and making my run; I just go out there and not think about anything. If I think about it, I will hit a barrel and mess up.”
Even though she stopped barrel racing, Shelby said she never stopped working with her horses.
“I just got tired of riding my horses at home,” Shelby said. “I told my dad I wanted to rodeo. I have found what I want to do.”
While Shelby is a contender today, she didn’t start that way.
“I had a good horse to learn on. We’ve come a long way, but the first rodeo we went to, I got a no time because I broke pattern” Shelby said with giggle. “I was running to my second barrel and he turned in front of the barrel. I’ve gotten used to how he runs, but I just kept going. I was 14, so I have learned.”
At this time, Shelby doesn’t train her own horses, but she does work to find a horse that she can “gel” with.
“I’m on a horse every day,” she said. “I work with them every day, but that doesn’t mean I am out running barrels.”
Shelby said she admires the styles of champion barrel racers Martha Josey and Sherry Cervi.
“I just like to watch them,” Shelby said. “They aren’t harsh on their horses like some of these people are out there. When I get a horse, I like to spend a lot of time with them, getting to know them and how they are going to perform.”
In addition to poles and barrels, Shelby is adding calf roping and breakaway to her rodeo resume and hopes, eventually, to follow in Todd’s footsteps and team rope.
“So far things are going pretty good,” Shelby said. “I have a horse that knows how to do the job.”
She is currently running three horses when she competes, but she has her favorite, a Quarter horse gelding named Smoky Joe.
“My horse is getting up there in age,” she said of her 17-year-old Smokey Joe. “I’m running against some barrel horses that are $75,000 horses, so it’s really tough to compete in barrels.”
She did, however, admit that she and Smokey Joe have beaten some of those “high dollar” horses. In 2015, he was the Missouri Family Rodeo Association’s Barrel Horse of the Year.
“I’ve been offered a lot of money for him, but I won’t ever sell him,” she said.
Todd said his daughter is her own worst critic, which pushes her to compete even harder.
“She’s pretty talented,” he said. “I really like to watch her, knowing that she is learning and has come a long way.”
Todd admitted that Shelby’s passion keeps he and his wife Shannon on the road. but he said they will continue to support Shelby for as long as she wants to compete.
“We hauled the boy everywhere, so now it’s her turn,” Todd said, adding that his son, 19-year-old Tad, attends the College of the Ozarks in Point Lookout, Mo., where he is a member of the baseball team. “As long as she wants to go, we will be supportive. I guess if she wants to run until she’s 50, we’ll go.”
When Shelby decided she wanted to get back into rodeos, she had to make some sacrifices, but she said she feels the choices she made to quit playing volleyball and be homeschooled were the right ones for her because it allows her more time to go to rodeos and train.
“I miss volleyball,” she said. “I played for 9 ½ years; this is the first year I haven’t played. Because club volleyball is so expensive, I can’t do that and rodeo. I had the option to choose what I wanted to do and I chose rodeo. I think I made the right choice for me.
“I want to get done with all of my (school) work by December so it will give me more time to concentrate on what I really want to do. One of the reasons why I picked rodeo was just to get away from people and do my own thing. Also, girls are always worried about dating boys and I’m too busy for all of that. I’d really like to get my roping going this winter and be ready by next spring for high school season.”
Shelby’s goal is to make it to the High School National Finals Rodeo before the end of her high school career.
“I’d really like to make it there,” she said. “I have to make it in the top four at state to move on to nationals. That’s a big goal for me. I don’t know if I could make it in barrels or poles, but I really think I can in calf roping or team roping. What I would really like to do is make it to the NFR (National Finals Rodeo). That would be really cool.”
The Mitchells are hopeful that Shelby’s dedication to rodeo will help her secure a college education.
“I want to go to school at NEO (Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College) in Miami, Okla., and rodeo there,” Shelby said. “My dad went into college rodeo and I kind of want to follow in his footsteps. I either want to be an x-ray technician or a radiologist.”
