Kendrie Owens Crowned Hereford Heaven Round-Up Club Rodeo Queen

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By Chickasaw Nation Media

August 05, 2025

SULPHUR, Okla. – Kendrie Owens, 5, made her rodeo pageant debut and brought home the crown June 21, at the 78th annual Hereford Heaven Stampede Open Rodeo. She was the youngest contestant in the pageant.

Kendrie, a Chickasaw citizen, has been fascinated with pageants and horses since she was old enough to walk. She has found a way to combine her love for both through rodeo pageantry.

“She has competed in beauty pageants,” Dakota Owens, Kendrie’s mother, said. “But this was her first rodeo pageant.”

Kendrie’s interest in rodeo pageantry began after watching her older brother’s friend, Reighna-Dawn Newberry, compete at past rodeos.

“(Kendrie) told me, ‘I have a horse. I love pageants. I want to do it,’” Dakota said.

Kendrie’s family got to work making her dream come true.

“She had to become an active member in Round-Up Club,” Dakota said. “What that means is, you have to attend a certain number of meetings, and you have to be active in the sense of — when you go to these meetings or you go to their play dates — you have to be present.”

The Hereford Heaven Round-Up Club is a Murray County community-based group promoting western heritage, rodeo culture and horse-related events.

Kendrie was also tasked with finding sponsors and selling rodeo tickets. In order to qualify for the pageant, a queen candidate must raise a minimum of $2,000 for the club.

“The queen at this competition was determined based on your ticket sales and sponsorships, and then you have to be able to complete the pattern fully as well,” Dakota said.

With the help of her family, Kendrie actively sought out sponsors in the area. She visited businesses and campaigned throughout the community.

“I’m that mom where I’m like, ‘If this is what you want to do, you are going to do it. It’s not going to be me or your dad,’” Dakota said. “She went out and actively talked to people and met people in the community. She received a lot of compliments for that.”

She raised more than $4,000 in sponsorship donations and ticket sales — the highest amount the club had ever seen a queen raise.

The next step was learning her rodeo patterns with the help of her horse and rodeo partner, Soba.

“She had to run a specific pattern in the arena, which took quite a few hours and nights,” Dakota said. “Being 5 years old and trying to memorize that and still control a 1,700-pound animal — it took her a bit. But once she had it, she was able to knock it down.”

With her sponsorship money raised and her rodeo patterns learned, Kendrie only had one last step: compete.

“Friday night went off without a hitch,” Dakota said. “She hit all of her turns. Soba was enjoying it just as much as she was — getting all the attention and praise. They were unstoppable.”

However, the second night of the rodeo proved to be a bit more difficult.

“On Saturday, we went out during the day to load her horse,” Dakota said. “(Soba) went to step into the trailer, misstepped and tore up her back left leg.”

Dakota said the family worked together to doctor the leg in time for the rodeo, but Soba was injured too badly to compete that evening.

“That’s hard for any rodeo person to go to a rodeo without their partner,” Dakota said.

Thankfully, Kendrie was still able to compete with a friend’s horse. However, being so young, the traumatic change was jarring for her.

“The president (of the Hereford Heaven Round-Up Club) told Kendrie, ‘If you want, you can just walk into the arena,’” Dakota said, referring to Kendrie being unable to ride her own horse during the show. “Kendrie said, ‘No, that’s not what a queen does.’”

Through her nerves, Kendrie was able to perform her second night of rodeo activities with a breeze.

“It was all smiles and waves,” Dakota said. “In the stands, you would not have noticed that she was even having issues. She kept her composure. She kept her cool. It was a big moment for her.”

Kendrie was crowned rodeo queen of the 78th annual Hereford Heaven Stampede Open Rodeo that night. She received a beautiful crown, a glittering sash and a shiny belt buckle.

As excited as she was for her win, Kendrie had more pressing matters to attend to.

“She turned and looked at me with tears in her eyes, and she said, ‘Mama, I just want to go see my horse,’” Dakota said.

With that, the Owens family loaded back into their vehicle to head home and check on Kendrie’s wounded equine pal.

“As soon as we got home, she went running up to the pasture and took her crown, sash and buckle to show to Soba,” Dakota said. “She snuggled up to her and went to crying. She had won, but it wasn’t with her partner.”

The following day, a vet visited the Owens residence to get Soba the medication she needed.

“She’s going to make a full recovery, which made my daughter finally breathe a sigh of relief,” Dakota said.

The pageant win was exciting for Kendrie, but it was most special to her parents. There was a time when they did not believe Kendrie would be able to participate in events such as this.

When Kendrie was only 1 year old, she suffered with a brain infection after contracting the rhinovirus.

“She went from running and playing and laughing and talking to almost being a newborn again,” Dakota said. “She couldn’t eat, she couldn’t drink, she couldn’t sit up. She couldn’t walk or talk.”

Dakota and her husband Josh spent more than a week at Oklahoma Children’s Hospital OU Health with Kendrie as she slowly recovered.

“The doctors told me I could have lost her that week,” Dakota said. “For her to be walking and talking, and just being a kid is a godsend. It’s a miracle every time I see her get on that horse.”

With yearly check-ins with her neurologists, Kendrie continues to defy the odds. At only 5 years old, she is a basketball player, a cheerleader, a pageant princess and a rodeo queen. Kendrie loves to read and is excited to attend Sulphur elementary as a kindergartener in the fall. When she grows up, she would like to be Miss Rodeo USA.

Kendrie’s journey to becoming a rodeo queen is a testament to her determination, her family’s love and the strength it takes to get back in the saddle even when challenges arise.

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