Jade Mitchell hails from the cutting horse industry, but that hasn’t kept the the 19-year-old from picking up a breakaway rope and competing against the best as a Resistol Rookie of the Year contender.

Mitchell is the daughter of Australian cutting horse trainer John Mitchell, who’s earned more than $5 million in the National Cutting Horse Association (NCHA). And though Mitchell’s spent her formative years in the cutting pen, she’s thrown her hat into the ProRodeo ring. Currently, Mitchell is No. 11 in the Resistol Rookie of the Year breakaway standings with $12,917 won.

The Breakaway Roping Journal got to chat with Mitchell for an episode of The Breakdown podcast. Get the nitty gritty on her life experiences below thanks to Rookie partner Resistol.

BRJ: What’s your background in cutting?

JM: “Growing up I was in the cutting pen ever since I could talk. I was always with my dad at the barn and I’d get up and go help him lope horses, whatever he needed. Dad taught me a lot of training, because that’s his profession. I’ve learned how to understand a horse, get to the bottom of ’em and train them to where they want to do their job, not make them do their job. Dad’s my hero. He works so hard and every day he still gets up and [stays consistent]. And when I have problems [at rodeos] I can call home, and even though dad doesn’t rope, he understands a horse and he understands what could help me.”

How did you get into breakaway?

When I was younger I had messed with ropes and roped the dummy and stuff, but no one in my family really ropes. I watched Jackie’s Elevate DVD religiously, and then try and go master on the dummy. I had two great geldings, Oscar and Jasper. My dad was like, ‘Hey, if you want to rope, your geldings will be good enough. We’re not going to buy anything, so we just mess with them.’

I had a donkey, and I would track it around and my little grass pasture. And then I upgraded to some calves at Robin Packard’s place. She was always been really good to me and let me rope with their house. And so I’d go over there and rope some calves, and I started to love it.

I was region three the one year that I high school rodeoed, and I was able to go up to Trevor Brazile at a rodeo and ask him for help. I told him I’d do anything. I’d clean stalls, anything if he’d just help me. I went over to his house and he helped me tremendously. And he set me up with Lari Dee, and that was really the beginning of me realizing this is what I want to do.

You’ve competed in cow horse too, how does that fit in?

A few years ago I wanted to show in the World’s Greatest Horseman the youth class. We called some family friends Brandon and Sophie Buttars, and they had a horse that they were going to let me ride. And that horse taught me a lot about the cow horse. He was a good horse but definitely not just easy to show, you had to make him work and he made you pay attention to what you were doing.

And that summer I’d been working for Kelby and Abbie Phillips to learn more of the cow horse side of it, and it was good for me to work for someone other than my dad. I was able to sneak through and qualify for The Run For A Million Cow Horse Youth Challenge riding a horse of Abbie and Kelby’s. And this was going to be the last event I could ride someone horse that wasn’t mine [because I was a youth]. So I called Boyd Rice and asked if there was anything I could show in Vegas.

Boyd totally surprised me last minute with My Boots Are Royal, which is a really nice stud. It was his back-up horse for the open. And so going to Vegas, I got on and got a feel for him for the first time probably 14 hours before I showed. And this horse was so fun, and I can’t thank Boyd and that whole family enough for letting me on that horse and giving me an opportunity to go out of my youth career with the bang.

What are there similarities and differences between horse showing and roping?

What it comes down to is a mind game. I’ve had to work under pressure my whole life coming from cutting and all of that. If you can be strong-minded and not beat yourself up too bad, honestly, that matters more than anything.

Tempo-wise, rodeo is a lot faster. You’ll be at a big cutting show for three weeks, getting up in the middle of the night to work horses. I like how fast the turnover is in rodeo—you’re always on to the next one.

What’s been the hardest part of breakaway roping?

In cutting we sit down in our saddles—there’s no getting up to the front of your saddle. I also feel like I get in too much of a training mode at times. I want to work on my horses, but it’s game on from the time you nod your head. You try and make the most of [every run]. I had to learn how to compete and not worry about what my horse does. And that’s the biggest thing for me coming out this summer.

Tell us about your horses:

I have two main ones; Snoopy and Star. Snoopy is the little sorrel that I ride, and he went to his first rodeo about this time last year. Snoopy gives his heart every time. Out here, you can’t really go practice or fix much. But he’s stayed so true and honest.

Snoopy actually given to me as a 2-year-old by family friend Armando Costa. He was a cutting reject, so he was kind of turned out and a kid’s horse, honestly. If people wanted to come over and ride, we’d put him on Snoopy. And then my brother wanted to heel a little bit, so even though Snoopy had no rope training, he’d heel on him. Eventually he was turned out again, and then that’s when I got him up and started to use him and put him to use. And here he is.

Star is my mare, and I’d say she’s my second string. We went to our first jackpot in February. So both of them are like nowhere near really seasoned, but we’re trying to make the most of it.

Star was a fully trained cutter. She was finished, shown, and we actually turned her out and bred her. She has a yearling on the ground now, and I pulled her out of the pasture and started roping on her. She wasn’t doing anything and she’s 9-year-old. But she was fully trained, so she took to is fairly well.