Born to rodeo, barrel racing star Melayna Lockie has loved every minute in the rodeo world, and with her trusty horse Fabby by her side, she's looking to keep building toward becoming a super star in the sport.
"My dad was a bull rider," the 20-year-old explains. "My grandparents raised Quarterbred horses out of Waskada. They're on the track, their race horses, so I've been around horses my whole life. I decided when I was younger, my dad was my coach, and he got me into it, I started running barrels when I was five, and I made my first Manitoba finals at the age of nine. So, I've been doing it for a while."
Growing up in the rodeo world is something Lockie has cherished. "It's super fun," the star says with a smile. "The mental part of it, that's just a huge part of it, you get so strong mentally about overcoming things like bad runs, the good runs, staying humble, and everything like that."
Throughout the years, Lockie admits that her competitive side has been a driving force to continue to get better in the sport. "The competitive side of it, you really need it. You also can't let it get to you, you cant let it affect how your run is going to go. You have to have the competitive side, but you also have to have that other side where you can calm yourself down, tell yourself it's just a barrel run and it's not the end of the world."
Barrel racing is not an individual sport, Lockie insists, she says it's a partnership between her and her horse, Fabby. "Whenever I go into a run, I always think that I love the sport second, and I love my horse first. It's all about my horse. I do absolutely everything I can to make sure she's feeling her best. I spend lots of time with her, just riding her and not focusing on the barrel racing side of it. I kind of focus on building a bond with her. Every horse I ride, I just try and make sure that I know what kind of horse they are, what personality they have, what they like, what they dislike, and it's just all about getting to know your horse."
Leading up to a run, Lockie says there's a few key things she thinks about. "Before my run, I try and ground myself. Just calm down because I know that if I get excited and nervous, my horse will feel it. I just try and calm myself down, calm her down and just keep everything cool. If you get too excited, your horse can feel it, they feel everything. That's something I've worked to over come, just staying nice and calm, let the horse do her job and I'll do mine. I want to try my best every time."
Over her life, Lockie has gained another family through rodeo, people she says have always been there and will always be there, because that's who rodeo people are. "It's been awesome," she says with a warm grin. "I have my rodeo family, like it's like, if you're going down the road, you might be going far, but you always know someone is on the road that could stop and help if you run into anything. They'll give you a pep talk before your run, and I truly believe that some of my closest friends have been brought to me from my horses. It's just super cool to have good friends that you share the same interests in."
Lockie has a bright, bright future in the barrel racing scene, and she has her sights set on winning some upcoming events. "Coming up, we have Virden Indoor Rodeo, I'm so excited for that that one. Last year, I made it to the short round, so I'm excited to get back to the short round this year. Hopefully, I can go back to Arizona in the winter to continue training my horses, and get out of the Manitoba cold weather."
Not even Manitoba winters can cool down Melayna Lockie as she continues to build her name and cement her place in the barrel racing scene.