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Maddy Deerman Braves the Wind, Wins 2022 Windy Ryon Memorial Breakaway Roping

Fighting high winds in the short round, breakaway roper Maddy Deerman pushed through to win the 2022 Windy Ryon Memorial Roping with a time of 14.10 seconds on three head.

By
Casey Allen
June 2, 2022
Reading Time: 3 minutes

Maddy Deerman made a big move at the 2022 Windy Ryon Memorial Roping on May 28 to earn the breakaway roping victory.

Coming into the short round in the eighth callback position, she stayed with a hard-running calf to clinch her aggregate victory with 14.10 seconds on three head, pocketing a total of $5,400 at the iconic roping.

“In the short round, I was just thinking I wanted to go in there, be solid, and catch,” Deerman said. “I backed in there, saw a safe start—I knew my calf would run on, so I didn’t have to see too much—and actually took a swing over his back. The wind was a lot worse this afternoon than it was in the rounds this morning, so I took a swing over him and it worked out for me.”

Deerman was the picture of consistency throughout the roping. She took a conservative start in the first round and chased her calf down to turn in a solid 5.14-second run. In the second round, she gained confidence and was 4.76 to bring her back to the short round in the eighth callback position. As the wind picked up in the arena, ropers found it increasingly difficult to throw successful loops in the short round. Deerman’s 4.78-second run—the fastest of the short round—earned her the victory.

Maddy Deerman wins Windy Ryon roping — Maddy Deerman receiving her prize package for winning the Windy Ryon Memorial. | RC Photography

Horsepower

Staying consistent underneath Deerman was “Yeller,” her 14-year-old gelding.

“I’ve been riding him for about 12 years,” Deerman said. “My dad gave him to me after Yeller almost bucked him off on a rattlesnake. My dad and I made him ourselves. He’s my old faithful and I knew he’d be good in this setup.”

Academic Success

Deerman and Yeller’s win at the Windy Ryon is just what she needed before she heads out to her second College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming, for Tarleton State University. Deerman is graduating with a geoscience degree in 2022 and hopes to dispel some rumors about rodeoing while earning a degree in fields similar to hers.

“A lot of high school kids think that they can’t pursue a ‘difficult’ degree and college rodeo, but you can,” Deerman said. “Your coaches will 100% support you in whatever you want to study. There will be time where you don’t have much time for either, but it’s going to pay off in the long run.”

She is also an advocate of the college rodeo experience.

“I would advise kids to college rodeo. I think it would be hard to make the leap from high school right into the pro rankings, and I think college rodeo is a good stepping stone. Even the preparation since I moved to the Southwest region has made me a tougher roper and made me take better shots, and smarter shots.”

Next Up

For Deerman, the future is bright in both her rodeo and academic careers. She will be competing in college rodeo for another year while pursuing her master’s degree at Texas Tech University in the fall. She purchased her WPRA card in 2022 and plans on hitting the ProRodeo trail as her schedule allows with Yeller and her two promising young horses.

The Breakaway Roping Journal’s summer coverage of all things ProRodeo kicks off on June 15. Stay tuned for coverage, and make sure to tune into “The Breakaway Breakdown” podcast on Tuesday, June 7, to hear Deerman’s full interview and get a detailed breakdown on how she practices for and competes in high-pressure situations.