Hadley Schoneberg was 9 when his mom entered him and his brothers in a Kansas Junior Rodeo Association competition.
“I grew up showing horses, and Dustin [their dad] also grew up around horses, so I knew they wanted to follow a path of something with horses. Hadley, being the oldest, showed a passion for rodeo, and Dustin and I love the sport ourselves,” Rochelle, the boys’ mom, said.
“So I sat at the desk and looked up junior rodeos in our area and found that there really wasn’t anything in Nebraska. At the time there was, I think, two rodeos we narrowed down in Kansas and we ended up going to KJRA. We had to start somewhere.”
That first rodeo, according to Hadley, did not go well.
“We did not do very good at all, but we got our eyes open and knew what we needed to do from there,” he said.
From that first rodeo, the rural Edgar boys knew they needed to practice and also possibly have better horses.
For practice they tried to simulate the real deal as much as possible, and figure out what they were going to be doing, such as roping steers and tying goats, among other similar events.
They try to rope the dummy every day, if possible, as well as get on a horse two times a week and rope the sled.
“As much as possible without causing burnout,” Dustin said as to how much practice they get in.
As Hadley and Macoy are close in age, they work together in practice quite a bit.
“We’re basically built-in roping partners, so we can both get practice in together. Macoy and I are gonna rope together next month in junior high, because he’ll be old enough,” Hadley said.
Hadley is now 13 and recently competed at the National Junior High Finals Rodeo in Des Moines, IA, where he placed 42nd in goat tying, and competed in team roping and light rifle.
Between Hadley and his brothers, Macoy, 11, Reagan, 8, and Hayes, 6, they’ve competed in hundreds of rodeos since their start in the sport.
The three oldest have competed since the first rodeo, and Hayes started two years ago when he was old enough.
They compete in ropes and goat tail and tie, which is when there’s a ribbon on the goat’s tail and the competitor has to ride down the arena on their horse and get it off the tail.
As Hadley and Macoy are in the same age division and Reagan and Hayes are in the same age division, there’s a lot of competition between them.
“In every practice, there is some sort of competition, but it’s always fun,” Hadley said.
The junior high season will start in August and go through October, picking back up again in March and go through May. Nationals slated for each June. There are also some smaller rodeos hosted in the winter.
Some of the bigger rodeos Hadley has competed in include two years at the national finals in Perry, GA and Des Moines, IA, and the Junior Patriot in Fort Worth, TX.
This year’s nationals in Iowa included kids from across the U.S., Mexico, Australia, and Canada.
When they’re riding, it’s not just them competing, but also their horses, which they work with consistently.
Hadley’s favorite is Jessie, who he says is “a phenomenal athlete, and without her none of this would be possible.”
Macoy rides on Ruby, a broodmare who had a colt that they cared for over the summer and was recently weaned.
Hadley calls Ruby a left-handed horse, and the left-handed Macoy and her mesh really good.
“Nobody else, I would say, can ride her as good as he can, they just click,” he added about Macoy and Ruby.
Rodeo, as Dustin said, is very much a right-handed world as far as roping goes, and while Macoy is a lefty, he ropes right-handed.
“He [Macoy] looks at stuff differently, but he just gets it like that,” Hadley said with a snap of his fingers.
When they’re in the middle of a competition, Hadley said during the run there’s really nothing going through his head, but leading up to it, he tries to get a good mindset going.
The competition and pressure are some of Hadley’s favorite parts of rodeo. He also loves how everyone who’s a part of rodeo stands for the National Anthem and in every rodeo, you pray before the competition begins. For Macoy, his favorite part is just having fun.
The most challenging part has been the dedication to being gone each weekend.
“Thanks to the teachers for being very flexible out at Sandy Creek, and understanding us being gone basically every Friday,” Hadley said. “They’re always good about getting me the work and everything that I need to catch up on and stuff like that.”
He also added it’s challenging to not always having time to fix everything after a rodeo.
“Sometimes it’s one rodeo then the next, and you just kind of fix it on the fly,” Hadley said.
In terms of the most challenging event, Hadley said team roping, hands down, but it’s also one of his favorites; Macoy agreed.
“In the team roping there’s five brains involved, and there’s a lot of things that can go wrong, but when everything goes right, it’s very rewarding.”
In their age group—junior high—there’s a lot of competition. In the junior high division, the boys compete in a national association that’s broken down by state, which is how competitors qualify for nationals.
There’s also the junior association in Kansas that hosts five rodeos in a season, but doesn’t take you to a national level.
At state finals this year, there were about 150 kids, including 60 barrel racers alone.
Growing up and competing in the rodeo world, it isn’t a surprise that the Schoneberg boys have a lot of people they look up to.
“I look up to my dad for helping me through the practice pen and all that, and there are several other pro rodeo athletes that I look up to, watch, and try to do what they do, because they’re the best,” Hadley said.
For both Hadley and Macoy, some of these include Trevor Brazil—who was a 26-time world champion, Shad Mayfield, Clay O’Brien Cooper, and Paul David Tierney, to name a few.
Locally, other than their parents, the boys have a lot of support in everything from practice to competing.
Hadley gave a special shout-out to George Overturf, their neighbor to the north, who is basically like a grandpa to them now.
“He’s up here every day when we’re home, and when we’re gone he’s always looking after our stuff twice a day, all the time. He’s really reliable and we thank him a lot,” he said.
“He checks on the place and livestock for us,” Dustin added.
Their final, but certainly not least, shout-out was to their family for all of their support, including their aunts, uncle, cousins, and grandparents.
The love and support that comes from those near and far keeps them going, as does the boys’ love and commitment to the sport that is rodeo.
