Hereford, Texas, cowgirl Lucy Richards is sitting No. 6 in the 2026 Resistol Rookie race with $8,024 won while balancing college classes, college rodeo and her first year on the ProRodeo road.

Richards is an all-around cowgirl—just recently winning the 2025-26 Southern Region Women’s All-Around and Reserve Goat Tying titles as a Texas A&M University athlete.

Her success, especially in the goat tying, is what has helped shape her into who she is coming into her ProRodeo rookie season.

“Knowing how to win in the goats has helped me in the breakaway,” Richards said. “I’m familiar with what I need to do to win.”

But Richards isn’t just focused on winning in the arena—she has a system for also winning in the classroom. She juggles a full course load over in College Station where school comes first—Monday through Thursday, her focus is on getting her schoolwork done and by Thursday evening, she’s under the arena lights.

She is also on a rodeo scholarship, so when it comes to schedule conflicts between college rodeo and ProRodeo, college rodeo wins—no debate.

“I kind of treat (college rodeo) as my job,” Richards said.

Old Trusty Tweeter

Her main mount in the breakaway pen is 17-year-old bay gelding Banjonic—known as “Tweeter.” Tweeter is by Banjo Whiz out of Bueno Chexinic mare Mrs Chexinic and was trained in a team effort by Richards herself, her dad and older sister, Madalyn. He has been her go-to guy since she was a freshman in high school.

Tweeter is, in her words, mischievous—the kind of horse that will untie himself and let other horses out of the barn just for fun. But when she backs him into the box, he shows up.

“He’s really good in any setup,” said Richards. “My sister rode him at Houston, so he’s good for the longer starts, and I rode him in the short starts at the college rodeo—he’ll try as hard as he can every single time.”

That consistency matters when you’re hauling to ProRodeos between classes and college rodeo weekends.

The Journey

Richards started dipping her toes into the ProRodeo world the last two summers, traveling with Madalyn. When this year came around, she figured the time was right to make it official and try it while she’s in college and see what happens.

The decision paid off early.

In January, Richards won the Rookie Rally in Fort Worth—a moment she said did something important for her heading into the long season ahead.

“It helped my confidence,” she said.

That confidence shows up in the smallest ways. Before every run, right before she nods, Richards takes one deep breath. That’s it.

She has no elaborate ritual, no lucky gear—she just takes a moment—and doesn’t wear yellow.

“I just take a deep breath, give myself confidence and know what I’m about to do I will be successful at,” said Richards. “I think it’s really helped.”