Mill Valley teen serving as California’s high school rodeo queen

Growing up in Marin, Rio Brown didn’t hear much about the sport of rodeo. In fact, she spent most of her free time on stage performing and doing musical theater, something she still does to this day. But, when her mom, a therapist, suggested she try horseback riding as a fun way to connect to animals, to her surprise, she fell in love with it.

In just her second year competing in high school rodeo, Brown, a 15-year-old student at Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa who moved back to Mill Valley a few months ago, was named California’s high school rodeo queen earlier this year, after winning and representing her District 3. In July, she competed at nationals in Wyoming, where she finished in the top 10 and was voted Miss Congeniality by her peers.

Through her work, Brown hopes to inspire others to try out rodeo and to shine a spotlight on the world she’s grown to love that not many know about, especially locally.

Q What made you want to pursue horseback riding more?

A It was probably up in Truckee, when I had bought my first horse and started competing on her because horseback riding is one of those sports where you have to devote a lot of time to it, especially if you’re gonna compete. I think the other thing that really helped was the connection I had with my horse. People in the horse industry say there’s one horse in your lifetime that’s called your “heart horse” that you really fall in love with. I think for me, it was my first horse. Her name is Athena, and I still own her and compete on her now. She is the horse that took me to nationals last year in pole bending. I also have a horse named Cannoli who is a new addition to the family.

Q What got you into rodeo?

A I was riding English, doing jumping down here for a while. And then when we moved, I went to a summer camp up there, and I started riding Western and going to lessons every week. We were at a store buying feed for my horse, and someone there said, “Why aren’t you high school rodeoing?” We did some research into it. And the following season, we enrolled in the California High School Rodeo Association, and I started to compete. This is only my second year doing high school rodeo. When I started high school rodeoing, I just fell in love with the people. It’s an incredible, unique community that supports each other like no other place I’ve been to.

Q How does it feel doing something that not many people, at least locally, know about?

A I got a lot of support going into the state pageant and a lot of excitement when I had won it. But outside of rodeo, it’s kind of difficult to explain what being a rodeo queen is. I get the question, “You wear a dress when you ride your horse?” We’re leadership figures and knowledgeable about the sport of rodeo and our horses. It’s awesome for me as someone who wants to be a leadership figure when I’m older. It allows me to have a positive impact on this thing that means so much to me, especially being a mentor to some of the younger kids and helping them grow and chase their passions. I think there’s a lot of misconceptions around rodeo, and I just want people to know that rodeo is open to everyone no matter your background, no matter where you are right now. Rodeo is a sport for everyone.

Q What stands out from your time thus far as California’s high school rodeo queen?

A Going to compete for the national title. Obviously, I didn’t win, but it was such an incredible experience. I learned so much about the industry, and I got to go meet queens from all across the world. And I got to learn so much about the Western industry in other parts of the country because I’ve grown up in a pretty suburban part of California where rodeo isn’t really a big deal and where farming and cattle isn’t usually the primary source of income. It was really interesting just to meet other people and learn about how they live. I also made some incredible friends while I was at nationals.

Q Is pole bending your favorite event?

A Yes, it’s fast, but it’s also really technical. You can’t just let your horse do all the work for you. You have to be on your game the whole time and work really, really hard to get everything to go well.