Cowboy up with the Cooke family
December 09, 2009
By Hope Strong

Eldest son honored with a spot on Wrangler team.

LEFT: Cade Cooke, 13, rides high in the saddle during the local rodeo circuit this past summer. Cooke was recently honored by an invitation to join the Wrangler team. PHOTO COURTESY JACKIE COOKE

One of the most unique and wholesome experiences available to the youth of Teton Valley is access to animal husbandry through local rodeo and 4-H groups. Many kids go from showing goats and calves in 4-H programs to roping them further down the road at rodeo competitions. And while rodeo is a popular spectator sport in the summer, the horses aren’t put out to pasture during the winter. Roping and riding is a year-round sport for kids like Cade, Libby, and Cooper Cooke. The Cookes are one of a few families in the valley who keep their tack straight for every season, a tradition that has endured for generations.

An eighth grader at Teton Middle School this year, Cade Cooke, 13, was recently honored with induction into the 2009-2010 Wrangler All-Star Rodeo Team, a new division of the National High School Rodeo Association.

“We are excited to expand Wrangler’s rodeo sponsorship program at the middle school level,” said Jeff Chadwick, Special Events Manager for Wrangler Rodeo. “As always, it gives us a tremendous sense of pride to associate the Wrangler brand with promising young men and women. We’re confi dent each member of the team will be an outstanding goodwill ambassador for the sport of rodeo.”

Cade earned his spot on the Wrangler team not by just honing his skills on horseback. He was one of the highest placing underclassmen and among the top eight fi nishers in Idaho, but he was also selected with regard to his academic achievement, as well as leadership qualities.

Cade represented this past weekend at the Little Buckaroo Rodeo Association in Burley with first place finishes in Bareback, Steer Riding, Goat Tying, and Breakaway roping, taking third in Team Roping.

Cade’s younger sister, Libby, 11, also took first place at the Burley rodeo in Barrels and Goat Tying, with a second place finish in Poles. Even younger was seven-year-old Cooper with third place finishes in Dummy Roping, Goat Pull, and Poles.

The Cookes stay busy all year with this winter rodeo series that is followed in the spring by the High Desert Rodeo Association. June and July send the family all over the Rocky Mountain West chasing honors at the Idaho Junior Rodeo Association, followed in the late summer by all of their 4-H obligations.

It may be a long year, but Casey and Jackie Cooke of Victor, would not have it any other way for their children, for the values instilled in young adults through the responsibility of caring for animals is indeed priceless.

“The kids were riding before they could walk,” Jackie Cooke said. “They love to ride hard and fast now. Competition is hard work for them and hard work for us, but it’s something they love and time for our family to spend together.”

Cade and Libby will both compete in the Wrangler Junior Final in May next year in Filer, Id, but there is a lot of feeding, watering, riding, and roping until then.