Kirby Rawlinson has found herself into the top 15 after winning $7,700 the last full week in May, bringing her Resistol Rookie earnings to $31,757.20 and her WPRA world standings earnings to $29,400.59.
The Waller, Texas, rookie contender said being in that position has less to do with changing her plan for the summer and more to do with trusting the one she already had.
“I’m very blessed,” Rawlinson said. “I’ve had a good winter, but I let a lot of good runs and good rodeos slide through my fingertips.”
That is the part of rookie year Rawlinson is trying to figure out: how to learn from every calf she ropes. After a stretch where she felt like she was fighting her confidence, she went home, regrouped and got back to the basics.
“I was down on my confidence,” she said. “I was just struggling a little bit. I went home, regrouped and talked to myself. I know how to rope. I’m just overthinking it.”
The reset came at a good time.
Rawlinson put together the kind of week that can help define a season, winning $7,700 and helping push herself inside the top 15. But even in talking about the wins, Rawlinson kept coming back to the same idea: score first, see the start, let the calf do what he is going to do and rope her game.
“I finally just decided I’m going to let my calf take whatever the score is, see my start and let my calf do his thing,” Rawlinson said. “When I think it’ll fit and it’s in my game, I’m going to go rope my game no matter what and see what that brings.”
That mindset showed up across several different setups. At Fort Worth (1.8, first, $1,513), Rawlinson knew it would be fast and trusted Spud—her “old faithful”—to let her take a shot. At Durant, Oklahoma, (2.2, second, $2,537), she handled the conditions and used the softer calf she drew. At Mount Pleasant, Texas, (2.0, tied for first, $3,292), she roped through rain, slick ground and a stronger calf. At Fort Smith, Arkansas, (2.4, tied for 11th, $390), she was up earlier in the week and had stepped off a plane to rope without any idea of the setup.
“When they draw a good one in there, you got to use him for what he is,” she said.
Now, the job is keeping that same mindset through the summer.
Rawlinson has leaned on people around her, including Lari Dee Guy and her stepdad, Chase, to help her through the mental side of being gone from home and rodeoing professionally for the first time. She said she has always been the kind of roper who picks at her runs, trying to fix every detail, but the summer run is forcing her to balance getting better with not beating herself up.
“The mental game’s everything,” Rawlinson said. “I’m one that I’m going to nitpick my run to pieces to try to get better.”
With the top 15 now within reach, Rawlinson knows there is no room to get ahead of herself. She also knows this is exactly the position she has dreamed of being in.
“I’ve always dreamed about getting to go,” she said of heading out on the ProRodeo trail. “I’ve dreamed this as a little kid and now I’ve got the opportunity to go do it, and I’m going to do the best I can do, try to keep the momentum going.”
Rawlinson’s summer schedule is not slowing down, with rodeos stacked across Texas before she heads west to Vernal, Utah. But she is heading into that stretch with more confidence than she had a few weeks ago.
“I know if I draw bad, I just have to keep my mental game and keep myself hyped up. When they draw that good one in there, they’re going to pay me.”
