When Elijah Faske caught his calf at the January Texas Junior High Rodeo Association Region 7 rodeo in Edna, Texas, it was more than just a clean run for him and his family.
The crowd and contestants went crazy when his rope popped off his saddle horn, for they all knew just how special this moment was for the Faske family of Burton, Texas.
“It was amazing to be there and to hear it,” Elijah’s mom, Suzanne Faske, said. “I had hoped it would happen at some point … but it did that day.”
The video of Elijah’s first catch later made rounds on social media, but the story behind it starts earlier. Elijah came to the Faske family when he was nearly 6 years old, after a disrupted adoption. He was born in China with a birth defect that left one eye completely missing, and in the other eye he has coloboma, which causes gaps in his vision.
Suzanne said Elijah’s brain fills in the missing pieces as best it can, but there is no getting around the challenges it brings to his everyday life, challenges that intensify on the back of a horse with a rope in hand.
Elijah is also on the autism spectrum and, Suzanne said, struggled early on with change, boredom and feeling left out — especially when he couldn’t clearly see what was happening in the arena as his siblings competed at junior rodeos across South Texas.
“He would sit in the stands with me, and he would get into a lot of trouble while he was in the stands because he was just bored and had nothing to do,” Suzanne said. “He couldn’t really see what was going on in the arena.”
His family started him out on a horse, which eventually led to him entering local play days in barrels and poles. But last summer, Elijah had had enough with the “girl events” and was ready to rope.
At home, he’d been roping the dummy with his brother, Caleb, who Suzanne called the driving force behind Elijah’s progress. Big brother Caleb didn’t just teach him to swing — he helped him learn to ride, to get to the front of his saddle and where to aim.
That process takes time for any kid, along with learning to track calves, throwing and pulling your slack. After a stretch of struggle, the family started asking Elijah questions to figure out exactly what he sees when he is chasing a calf.
He told them contrast helped — black-and-white calves like Holsteins were easier than a dark calf on dark dirt. But with any rodeo, the good old-fashioned luck of the draw is nonnegotiable. So a family friend floated an idea: if Elijah could see contrast, what if they created it?
They decided to try a lighted collar — starting with a working-dog collar that had a light on it and a bell attached, then eventually upgrading to a lighted collar with lights all the way around — which was actually a Christmas dog collar Suzanne found online — so it stayed visible no matter how it turned.
“For him, it’s easier,” Suzanne said.
The collar made the difference, but Suzanne was proud to say it’s not just the equipment that is to attribute for Elijah’s success in the arena. He puts the work in, roping the dummy and working through all the same slumps ropers deal with every day.
And just like every other breakaway roper, there was a time when the obstacles just felt too heavy.
“He said, ‘Mom, I just suck. I’m never going to be able to do this,’” Suzanne recalled. “Big old tears.”
But on that January day in Edna, Suzanne said, Elijah tracked his calf farther than usual — typically a scenario where he’d lose sight and lose the opportunity. People were yelling directions. Elijah stayed after it anyway. When he finally delivered his rope and caught, everything changed.
Elijah, Suzanne said, doesn’t really understand how widely the video has traveled. He’s just a kid who wants to rope, wants to belong, and now has proof that he can do it.
“I don’t think he realizes what’s happening,” Suzanne said. “He’s just a little boy just chasing his dreams.”
And he’s doing it from the back of Catolena, the Faske family’s 18-year-old paint pony. Catalina was born on their place, and Suzanne said she’s the kind of horse that makes a difference — dead broke, unbothered by the lighted collar, and steady in the box.
“With Eli, it’s like she knows she has to take care of him,” Suzanne said. “She’s just perfect.”
For Elijah, that mix — Catolena, a little extra visibility, and a lot of practice — has already done more than put a few catches on his list of successes.
“This little taste of success has really, truly changed him,” Suzanne said. “He’s been so well behaved lately, and he’s offering to help with things … it really has transformed his life just feeling successful at something.”
