Southside High School senior wins Rodeo Queen at the Lazy E Arena finals in Oklahoma

Mary Ivey, a senior at Southside High School, took home the title of National Little Britches Rodeo Queen at the final competition on Tuesday, July 11 at the Lazy E Arena in Guthrie, Oklahoma.

Just before the announcer was about to call her name, he turned to look at Ivey and asked "Are you ready?"

Ivey said the audience started laughing and she nodded and laughed with them.

"It was very exciting and shocking, I don't even know what emotion to call it," she said.

Ivey has competed in rodeos since she was 9 years old. Her first official rodeo was at Hero's Arena in Natural Dam in Crawford County.

Ivey started barrel racing in the jackpot division, competing in junior rodeos and advancing to the National Little Britches Rodeo.

To become queen, Ivey had to qualify in the horsemanship competition, give a speech, model, take a written test over the rodeo rulebook, answer interview questions, and pass a secret judge's evaluation. This judge shadowed Ivey for a week leading up to the final competition.

Ivey competes with the Central Arkansas National Little Britches Rodeo Association in Searcy.

The year-round rodeos amount to over 20 competitions where men and women ages 5-19 gain points for their world standings.

To qualify for the final events at the Lazy E Arena, cowboys and cowgirls have to place six times in the top seven in any event.

Ivey said in the association's rodeo, their horsemanship competition has a cattle work portion where riders follow the cattle out of the arena properly, this is not always included in other rodeos.

In the main horsemanship event, Ivey, her junior princess and wrangler princess had to draw a horse from the picket men, who usually ride alongside bucking horses or bulls to get the competing cowboys to safety.

With these horses, the girls had to perform a pattern judged on their ability to rein the horse, body positioning and more.

"They're very calm, but they don't move very well because they have a purpose and that's to keep people safe, not to look pretty and fancy," Ivey said. "The horse I drew was massive, so that was it made it harder."

Ivey said she nicknamed her horse "Big Scary" for the competition, but she was able to rein the large animal in to perform and advance in the rodeo.

Ivey attended Martha Josey's Clinics and Schools for barrel racing, riding and calf roping.

Martha Josey is a World Champion of the Women's Professional Rodeo Association, the American Quarter Horse Association and the National Barrel Horse Association.

Josey started competing in 1964 on her great gelding, Cebe Reed. The fiery pair won seven horse trailers and 52 barrel races in a row.

"Martha Josey is pretty much known as the best barrel racer there ever was," Ivey said. "She's been to the National Finals Rodeo in Vegas four decades in a row. She had amazing horses. She's basically the idol that everybody wants to be."

Thanks to many riding clinics in Karnack, Texas at the Josey Ranch Ivey was able to perfect her rodeo skills.

The responsibilities and duties  after being crowned queen. Ivey recently attended the Miss Teen Rodeo USA Pageant in Shawnee, Oklahoma as "visiting royalty" on Thursday, July 14.

On Thursday, July 21, Ivey will be at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, known in Cheyenne, Wyoming.

As soon as the school year at Southside High School starts, Ivey will have to miss a few days of classes.

On August 25-28, she will visit the International Western/English Apparel and Equipment Market in Dallas, Texas.

In December, Ivey will again be visiting royalty at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, Nevada.

About 20 to 30 days of her senior year will be spent around the nation at rodeos, visiting other schools to educate young students about the rodeo and more appearances.

Ivey plans to have her internship through the association's marketing team approved by Southside High School so she can graduate on time.

Her "queen reign" will end next summer after she graduates. At that point, Ivey can compete for Miss Teen Rodeo USA or Miss Teen Rodeo Arkansas if she chooses.

Ivey said her strong love for association and what they do keeps her motivated to continue competing.

A crisis fund called Hope Counts partnered with the association to help cowboys and cowgirls who have a life-threatening illness or need medical assistance after a rodeo injury.

"There's so many things that Little Britches does like that," Ivey said. "It's fun to represent something when you love what you're representing."

This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: National Little Britches Rodeo Queen calls Fort Smith home