Dusky Hall won over a million dollars on the rodeo circuit before she was 10 years old.
This weekend she rode in The American, the biggest one-day rodeo where contestants have a shot at winning a million dollars. Whether you’re 9 or 90 years old, if you qualify, you’re in it for the money.
A little girl and her yellow horse jockeyed around the barrels with ease. Adorned in a turquoise rose blouse, the now-11-year-old phenom flew down the arena on Saturday in the qualifying round. She set an arena record in the barrel racing. The stadium’s cheers took the house down as she hugged her horse through flowing tears.
She was in it for the million.
Her mom describes telling her daughter at 6 years old to slow down. Hold on. After she was at a youth rodeo and her old little pony came out limping, family friends offered a bigger horse for her use to compete that day.
Her mom at first said no. She’d never been on anything that fast.
Finally the mom gave in, but told Dusky not to show off. “Whatever you do hold onto the saddle horn. Don’t try to ride two hands. Don’t try to be a hero.”
Dusky went in and ran the fastest time of the day, “she was fearless,” her mom recalls.
“The sport drives me. The rodeo, the confidence, the stands,” Dusky says.
This week in Wyoming, the legislature’s Management Council met. Senate and House leadership worked all day to set the framework for the interim. The power struggles between the House and Senate were visible. The two camps differed in their approaches and goals.
The Senate and the House had spent much of the recent lawmaking session battling each other in many respects. This is wild to me because I remember a time when all the conservative folks were good friends. They were once on the downside of the number game. They were marginalized by establishment leadership.
Now, they have the numbers to reform the state, but the temperature feels icy.
Some hold a grudge over a gun bill from years past, others are upset that new alliances were made to advance some people into leadership. It is sad to see that, despite the rise of all the conservatives to the top, they now can’t fully enjoy the strata’s benefits and have unity between both sides of the Legislature.
What was said was not as important as what went unsaid during the meeting. The divide is deep and possibly irreparable. Egos have been bruised; people question one another’s motives.
If conservatives can’t get it together and act in unison, putting the past in the past, I’m worried we will squander an opportunity to bring Wyoming into its golden age.
We need all the numbers, all the unity and all the influence we can muster to turn the state around after two terms of RINO leadership, a global pandemic and the establishment state having sought to turn our state woke. From education to personal rights, to the way we fund Wyoming, we need a top-to-bottom course correction and some real, innovative ideas with follow through. It takes all the conservatives to do that.
If we can unite, the momentum from that will prompt the voters at the next round of elections to speak in unison like in the last ones. We can’t fight with each other. We certainly can’t all disagree on who the next Governor should be either, or we will end up splitting the race and having someone win with only 33% of the vote like Gov. Mark Gordon did.
I think Dusky Hall has something to teach us here. “Don’t be a hero,” her mom told her. When it looked uncertain and scary her mom suggested the safest path. Who wouldn’t, to protect their daughter? But Dusky did the opposite. She held on tight and ran right through.
She trusted the horse she had, knowing that the ride wasn’t promised but her divine purpose was.
At times, this journey to mend the conservative friendships that once held true will feel uncomfortable, uncertain, and perhaps even a bad choice. The unknowns - the outsiders now inside and the hidden agendas at play - will not just disappear. We must acknowledge them and trust God’s plan in this process and his ability to work on the hearts of our colleagues. After all, Jesus let Judas eat at the Last Supper knowing full well what was about to happen. Why did he do that?
Divine purpose and all our roles in it, is inescapable. Leaning into it is the difference between riding for the million and not.
We must stay watchful and hold on tight. If we grab the horn and play it safe, we’ll never rise to our fullest potential. When some say, “Don’t try to be a hero,” we must look at them and tell them that’s exactly what we were sent here to do.
Cowboy State Daily columnist Cassie Craven is a University of Wyoming College of Law graduate who practices law in Wyoming. She can be reached at: longhornwritingllc@gmail.com
