Roping Her Way Across the South: Grace Bryant

Grace Bryant’s devotion to being a true horsewoman is apparent when she speaks about her approach to roping: “You win with your left hand, you rope with your right.” She knows the nuances of how your reins and contact with your horse’s mouth through the bit can affect your horse and why that can make and break a run. Grace believes this understanding of what’s happening with your horse from their health to their reaction to the bit and body position and what cues the rider sends to the horse matters,  as does being able to read cattle and anticipate what their next move might be. She credits her Blue horse, Smoke, and her sorrel horse, Riggs, in her success in the arena. She also emphasizes the importance of riding horses with “try” that “love their job.”

  The Pendleton, South Carolina cowgirl grew up in a horse family right down the road from the Double J Arena. Her dad was a team roper and her mom showed pleasure horses, offering her exposure from a very young age to this special lifestyle. While she was never drawn to the pleasure horses, she was enamored with rodeo. She was the little kid pulling a pony around barrels having the time of her life.

    Grace was just having fun, but then around her 8th grade year she came to the realization that the amount of work she put in directly correlated with the results of her performance–and she was ready to go to work. She’d tie goats and rope all winter long, with nothing stopping her drive to succeed.

  While she got to breakaway rope some when she was younger, it was her freshman year of high school when she dove into the team roping. Her dad taught her many of the basics, but she also learned from Shannon Winstead and Bronc Fanning.

   She’s a header at heart, and thanks to her special horse Willie had the right horsepower for the job. She and Willie roped their way through high school in the team roping and then she began tying goats on him as well during her freshman year. Her high school rodeo adventures culminated with mainstage competitions in Shawnee, Oklahoma, and Wyoming. She found herself in the top ten in Shawnee and in the short round for Nationals in Wyoming.

   When it was time for college Grace was recruited on a full scholarship by coach John Luthi to continue her rodeo career at the University of Tennessee at Martin.  She retired her bay horse Willie and started this next chapter with some newer horses she was just learning at the time. Riggs, her sorrel, and Smoke, her blue horse, and Matador, her black horse. As she learned her new horses, the world was having to relearn itself as COVID struck. 

   Grace kept at it and began to understand the dynamics of being a valuable part of a college rodeo team. As an only child, she was the sole focus of practice growing up, but learned in college rodeo that everyone took a turn, practiced, and built each other up. There was more competition, and tougher stock. But she also discovered there were many benefits to this, such as the gift of having teammates to push and support you and  leaders to emulate.

  After her first three years she was recruited by Coach Daniel Poole of the University of West Alabama to compete on their team. With this new full ride offer on the table, she transferred there and continued with her breakaway, team roping, and goat tying, as well as her Health Sciences degree. She’s set to graduate this fall and plans to continue to pursue both her roping (with dreams of a WPRA card) and her career goals of being a sonographer.

  This summer she’s been rodeoing in SRA (Southern Rodeo Association) rodeos and going to local jackpots while filling out the applications for ultrasound school and trying to get the hours of observation she needs for a strong application.

   She finds time to maintain a practice routine with consistent dummy roping and horsemanship drills depending on what her horse is struggling with or leaning into. Grace knows you get the same results when you do the same thing, and she tries to change it up, innovate, and even learn from the cutting-edge of the industry such as the professional ropers and futurity ropers preparing young horses. This attention to detail and strategy also leads to her watching calves and steers work ahead of her and determining based on their size and the conditions whether she will be using her 3 strand King poly, her Dub Grant gold, her Lonestar Helix, her Rattler Triton, or her Classic Powerline rope for the Team Roping.  While this attention to detail adds extra time and effort, she doesn’t want to have regrets. 

  Grace is grateful for the journey, and credits her horsepower above all else, paired with the one who keeps her horsepower going: Dr. Jamie Carter at Southern Equine. She also says she couldn’t do any of it without her parents endless support day in and out. Plus, with coaches like Lynn Smith helping with her goat tying and Nathan and Amanda Hawkins always letting her come rope calves at their house, Grace has been surrounded by a supportive crowd. Above all else, crediting the Lord with blessing her to live this life that others may not get the opportunity to do.

All photo credit to respective photographers.