Out West Events 2025 | The Competitive Edge

Wyoming’s Thompson sisters remember what matters amidst arena success.

Haiden and Hadley Thompson, the middle sisters in a family of eight kids, call Yoder, Wyoming, home. In 2021, Hadley was a National Junior High Finals Champion in breakaway roping as a seventh grader. As a sophomore in 2024, she won reserve champion at the National High School Finals Rodeo in breakaway, goat tying, and the all-around.  Now at just 17-years-old, she is looking forward to adding The American Rodeo to the list.

Her 21-year-old sister, Haiden, is a National High School Finals champion in goat tying and College National Finals All-Around Champion. By far her favorite title was winning the all-around and the Women’s Professional Rodeo Finals in October of 2024.

The Thompson sisters have had a year full of big wins, interviews, and trips to the pay window.

“Since day one our family has been competitive,” said Haiden. Aside from being competitive, their family had strong core values that the girls took to heart at a young age. “I remember my father always told us what mattered the most was being a good person,” she said. “If you were a good person, respected, and willing to do the right things, anyone is going to be willing to help you.”

Their two older sisters, Jamie, 29, and Jacey, 27, helped both the girls start in breakaway and goat tying. “We all grew up on a ranch, so we were always around horses and everything, but they started going to some local rodeos and they got more into it,” said Haiden. “We were always with them hauling to rodeos and I think that’s where I got my itch to compete.”

Time spent in the saddle ranching and their hard-working nature set them up for success when they wanted to start competing. “We picked it up very naturally. We were always riding horses, but coming from a ranch our horsemanship wasn’t great, there were a lot of things we had to work on,” she said. “It all came very naturally, but don’t get me wrong, there was a lot of hard work that went into it as well.”

Haiden’s first memory of competing was aboard a big buckskin horse they called Frosty. “He started it for me and took care of me, but he also took me to the winner’s circle which fueled my fire to win,” she added.

Hadley’s first memory of competing was on the same big buckskin horse. Her brothers Tiegen and Turek (19 and 15 at the time), in true brotherly fashion, had told her to roll down a hill. “They told me to start running, stop, drop, tuck, and roll, and I broke my arm in the process,” Hadley said. She learned a hard lesson in not being a follower that day, but she was eight years old and still had barrels to run.

“I remember it so vividly, even with a broken arm this horse just took care of me.” Frosty was 13 years old when they bought him and he lived out the rest of his life on their ranch. “He was a very special horse,” Haiden said.

Growing up entering youth rodeos and jackpots, the family traveled together with six kids competing at once. “‘Chaotic’ is a great word to describe it. We learned how to unsaddle and swap saddles really fast,” said Haiden. “We all shared horses, and we had to be fast because one horse would be up in both arenas at the same time, but being there with all our siblings fueled our competitiveness for sure.” “We had six kids in a trailer plus a parent or two, everyone is up in the morning feeding and then would come back into the trailer all trying to get ready with one tiny bathroom,” Hadley added, “but I wouldn’t trade it for the world.”

The practice pen is a competitive place for the girls and their family, but in good spirits, “we both wanted the best for each other, and I wanted to see her win as much as I do, and I know she feels the same way,” said Hadley. The girls regularly bounce ideas and advice back and forth without any little sister/big sister drama, knowing and respecting they are each other’s biggest competitors. “When we get to the rodeo, we are each other’s biggest competitors and so we try to put ourselves in those scenarios in the practice pen,” said Haiden. “I think being competitive in practice made it a bit easier when we got to the rodeo.”

Adversity is inevitable in any sport, but in rodeo the stakes are even higher, when dealing with animal athletes and their unpredictable nature. The girls had a unique ace up their sleeve when it came to dealing with horse trouble that made them the horsewomen they are today.

“I remember having horses hurt, but the nice thing about having seven siblings is there’s always horses around,” said Haiden. “It was difficult getting on one of your sisters’ horses you’ve never rode before but having them and still having the ability to win was a definite advantage.” She attributes a lot of their riding abilities to the fact that they were lucky enough to have the opportunity to swing a leg over so many different horses.

Hadley had her own bout of personal adversity that in hindsight she is very thankful for. Last winter after getting home from Las Vegas she was working with a colt when it kicked her and broke her hand. While she wasn’t out for very long, she said: “I’ll be honest, I thought it was the worst time of my life. I couldn’t rope or ride for three weeks, but in the end, I think God’s purpose behind that was to open my eyes to make me realize and appreciate everything I have, how lucky we all are to get to do what we do every day.”

To outsiders looking in, the sisters have unshakable confidence and are looked up to by many; however, they struggle with doubt just like any other competitor.

“I would like to say it happens more often than not, it’s frustrating to know you’ve put in hours and days of hard work and it doesn’t always pay off,” said Hadley. “No one wins them all and you have to keep that in the back of your mind, just knowing that if you work hard, it’ll play out like it’s supposed to.”

The sisters are thankful to have each other as hauling partners and competitors, and for inspiration as well. “It’s fun to see the different types of opportunities that have arisen just from when I was Hadley’s age to where she is at now. I think I’m most proud that she has taken advantage of those opportunities by making the most of it and being successful while doing it,” said Haiden. “You can accomplish a lot in the rodeo arena but at the end of the day who you are as a person is most important. Haiden is a really good person, and I know a lot of people look up to her because of the person she is, always willing to help others and willing to do anything for anyone,” said Hadley.