American Hats: Mackenzie Mayes

Mackenzie Mayes said her family has always been friends with Stan Redding, American Hat Company’s national sales manager. She said her professional relationship with the hat brand started while she was in high school.

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“I was at a rodeo in the stockyards in Fort Worth, and I talked with Stan while I was there,” she said. “I’ve been sponsored by them ever since, and I am so thankful for the people there and the opportunities they have given me.”

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As a third-generation cowgirl from Winnsboro, Texas, Mayes said she is never short of people around her who have helped her grow into the horsewoman she is now.

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“My whole family rodeos and trains horses, really,” she said. “My grandma has been to the NFR in the barrel racing, and my dad has made the NFR as a calf roper, so I really have the best of both worlds being a barrel racer and a breakaway roper.”

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Mayes was not exaggerating when she said rodeo is a family affair. Her grandmother, Nancy Mayes, qualified for the National Finals Rodeo in 1983 and was later inducted into the Texas Rodeo Cowboy Hall of Fame. Her father, Jim Bob, was a two-time NFR qualifier in the tie-down roping.

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Mayes said she runs barrels on Chicado Moon, a 2018 AQHA mare by Guys Canyon Moon, and out of Chicados Bully, owned by her great-aunt, Naoma LeBarron. Mayes added her horse is more affectionately known as “Rousey” after the cage fighter Ronda Rousey.

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“My aunt bought Rousey from Jolene Montgomery when she was two, but she had an injury that put her out of use until the start of her four-year-old year,” Mayes said. “Once we got her back up, she took to barrels so fast, but she bucked a lot of people off.

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“My aunt had sent her to a family friend, and she bucked the lady off and broke a few of her ribs,” Mayes added. “After that incident, my aunt sent her to me, and I started hauling her. The rest is history, really.”

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Mayes, currently a business administration student at Northeast Texas Community College, said she decided to take a step back from college rodeo to focus on her rookie year in the WPRA.

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“I decided not to college rodeo this semester, so I can go to some pro rodeos for now,” she said. “I am planning on transferring to Texas A&​M Commerce next fall, and I’m going to pick up college rodeo there.”

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With a brother-in-law who was a top salesman for the medical company Johnson & Johnson, Mayes said she plans to pursue a similar career.

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“He is going to help me get a foot in the door after I graduate, so hopefully it will all work out,” she said. “A sales work schedule would allow me to still have days to rodeo and work.

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“My whole life revolves around rodeo,” she added. “I don’t see life going any other way.”

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