Hana Weston is a 15-year-old member of the High School Rodeo Association. She has been a part of the UYRA, LJRA, and Junior High Rodeo Association since she started competing at 9 years old. Hana has learned to appreciate her involvement in rodeo and feels like it has made her the strong, hardworking young woman she is today. She has learned many lessons, at her ranch at home, in the arena competing, and as a consistent 4.0 student.

In the beginning, Hana started out with barrel racing, then moved on to breakaway and team roping, which she enjoys and works hard to improve in today. She says that she enjoys team roping because she gets to compete with close friends and build lasting friendships, all while realizing the harder she works, the better she will eventually become. Hana likes to travel to various rodeos and competitions around Utah and neighboring states and has participated in the Evanston Rodeo Series since 7th grade, junior rodeos in Wyoming, Idaho, and Utah, and even made it to Nationals last year in South Dakota.

Living in Lake Town, Utah, Hana has had the opportunity to grow up on her family’s ranch and be around the animals and lifestyle she has grown to love. She currently works with 6 horses, one of which has been her competition horse since she was in 6th grade. Fred, as this horse is so lovingly named, has led Hana to achieve much success. She’s also training 2 horses into rope horses, raising and training a colt, and she just recently took on two more horses to train for her use in future rodeos. To say she’s a busy young

lady is an understatement. With all that is required at home on the ranch, maintaining a consistent 4.0 in school, training her horses, and improving her skills in rodeo, she remains a good example to those around her of hard work and persistence.

Hana has interests outside of rodeo that add to her personality and achievements also. One of those interests is her participation in 4H since she was 8 years old. She has loved raising and showing pigs and also showing horses that she has trained. Sports have also been a part of Hana’s life. In school, she used to participate in basketball and volleyball, until a knee injury forced her to take a break.

When asked what goals she’d like to achieve in the next 5 years, Hana stated that she’d like to maintain and excel in her education at school, continue to compete in and attend as many rodeos as she can, finish training and acquire new horses to train, and go to Veterinarian school with a possibility of an equine focus.

While making goals for the future is important, Hana has already achieved so much so far in her career. Just last year she was the Junior High State Breakaway Champion and was able to qualify for and attend Nationals in South Dakota in breakaway and roping. She’s also won UYRA year end in breakaway 4 times, and poles and barrels once. She won the state competition in breakaway and was awarded a saddle for that accomplishment, been awarded over 45 buckles, and made it to Short-Go in all her events in State.

When asked what she enjoyed most about competing at Nationals, Hana said, “It’s great to see so many people there, see how they run their routines, and see what differences everybody has.” She added that seeing the diversity there has inspired her to add to and make changes to her routines and training development.

Hana has had many memorable experiences that have shaped her to become the accomplished competitor she is today, but one of those experiences nearly stopped her from competing altogether. In 6th grade at the start of the competition year, Hana was at a Jackie Crawford Lin Smith clinic and stepped off goat tying. When she did this she was injured and while injured she was kicked by her horse, which caused a grade 5 laceration to her liver. She spent two weeks at Primary Children’s Hospital and took about three and a half months to fully recover. She relates that because of this scary and uncertain situation, she has a better appreciation of what she has been given and the talents and skills that allow her to keep doing what she loves to do.

Hana has been lucky to have many mentors along the way that have influenced her in one way or another. She is incredibly grateful for her families help and support of her competing and passions, as well as her many friends and their families for the support they give. She has had many that she’s been able to learn from and count as mentors along her journey. To start this list, she’s grateful for both of her parents, Kelly and Wes, a distant mentor Jackie Crawford, and Justine Wilson and Jake Hannum. Her sponsor, Keylix, has also been a supporter in providing great supplements that help her horses perform to the best of their ability.

Witnessing many young and aspiring rodeo participants and competitors makes Hana proud to see. She hopes that as these young kids participate and experience the many successes and setbacks that rodeo has to offer, they will remember to always maintain good sportsmanship and constantly try to lift others up. Pushing others to be better in a positive way in turn makes you better. It’s ok to not to be the best at everything because that should motivate you to find what you can improve on and work hard to make the changes necessary to do so. She is very appreciative of the experiences she has been able to have and hopes that those young kids keep the same outlook.