Reese Chaffin is headed to the national rodeo competition in DesMoines, Iowa, at the end of the month to represent Louisiana as its pole bender state champion of the Louisiana High School Rodeo Association Jr. High Division.
Chaffin is 12 years of age. She has participated in the Little Britches Rodeo circuit for three years and this was her first year in the junior high rodeo association. Last year and this year, she was the pole bender champion in the Little Britches league, and this year, she won the pole bender state title for the first time in the junior high division.
Chaffin’s mother, Laura, says the whole family keeps busy with this sport.
“This is a family affair. We all pitch in. We all help. We are in all of the time.”
She said her daughter has taught herself the skills necessary to compete in this sport.
“It’s a challenge,” she said.
Laura said at the end of 2020, they purchased her daughter’s horse. “She trained it herself. She just stuck with it. They make a good team. They are definitely partners,” she said.
Chaffin rides a quarter horse she named Baylee.
In the pole bender competition, Laura said the four top participants in the state in her daughter’s division are going to compete at the national competition. In this competition, she guides her horse through six poles, 21 feet apart. She runs down one side, weaves through the maze, going both ways, and then heads straight across the finish. The best time, without knocking down poles, wins the competition. Besides pole bender, she also competes in barrel racing.
Chaffin is the daughter of Laura and Chad Chaffin. She has a younger sister. She is the granddaughter of Billy and Sherry Chaffin, Anna and Ralph NcRae and Danny Smith, all of Kinder.
The family will head out at the end of the month. The competition is held the last week in June.