Barrel Racer Michelle Darling Puts Family First en Route to Women’s Rodeo World Championship

By: Darci Miller

PUEBLO, Colo. – Michelle Darling wants to make one thing very clear.

Her horses come second.

“I’m more of a dedicated mom,” Darling said over the phone as she drove to pick up her 16-year-old son Talon from school to take him to his driver’s license test. “My horses really do come second. They don’t come first. It is my job, and I love what I do, but my family always comes first.”

It’s the premise around which she’s built both her life and her career.

Barrel racing began as a family affair, as Darling’s father trained and sold horses when she was growing up, and she began barrel racing at 5 or 6 years old.

“We grew up on the backs of horses when we were little bitty,” she said. “We were born into it. There was no way around it.”

 
When Darling got pregnant with Talon at 18 years old, she decided to make the responsible choice and go to college. She attended nursing school, getting an associate’s degree in science and working her way up to a job in a hospital while riding horses on the side.

“I say on the side – it was always full time,” Darling said. “It’s just trying to get home and get the arena lights turned on and ride a couple. But when I was 25 I really decided. I had my other two kids, and I knew that this is what I wanted to do, to stay home and do this full time.”

Darling’s second son Case is now 7 years old, and daughter Demi is 5. And, while she does indeed barrel race for a living, she’s made certain sacrifices in her career so she can stay home and have more time with her kids.

“Being out there rodeoing full-time, I haven’t quite done that yet,” Darling said. “I go out for the summer and come home, or I’ll go on the weekends and come home. But I haven’t yet 100% committed to staying on the road the whole year, what it takes to get to the NFR, yet. I will do that one day, I hope.”

Darling’s desire to stay home is what’s made the WCRA a godsend, as she has the opportunity to win more money in fewer events.

“Right now I love WCRA,” Darling said. “I can nominate a couple, sneak in there and run for big money, and win just as much at one rodeo with WCRA as I would at 20 rodeos with the PRCA. So I like that, and it lets me stay home with my kids. They’ve been good to me. I’ve won over $100,000 with them.”

When she does hit the road, her husband will often stay home with the kids, but she has one tagalong in particular that loves to watch mom ride.

“Demi is my little girl, and she loves to go every time I leave the driveway,” Darling said with a laugh. “I’m pretty sure she’s going to follow in my footsteps.”

Most recently, Darling won the barrel racing at the Stampede at the E in Guthrie, Oklahoma. Through the “nominate, win and you’re in” (NWYI) system, the victory qualified her a berth at the inaugural Women’s Rodeo World Championship, held in conjunction with the PBR World Finals.

Up to 16 athletes per discipline – breakaway roping, barrel racing and team roping (heading and heeling) – can earn an NWYI through select events. Athletes qualifying for the WRWC via an NWYI compete in their own separate pool in Las Vegas, from which the Top 4 advance directly to the finals. The remaining 12 then enter the leaderboard pool, where they have the chance to compete against the athletes that qualified through points on the WCRA Leaderboard.

“That victory meant a lot to me,” Darling said. “It was my second big win there. I barely made it back, and finally I knew that that last run I had to throw down and at least almost win my round. And Martini pulled through and had a hell of a ride. So that win, it was big for me.”

Making the victory even sweeter was that it was in Darling’s home state.

“I live an hour and a half away, so it’s even better,” she said. “My family got to go. My dad, my mom and everybody were there, and they had a blast. They really don’t get to (see me compete very often), because most of the time it’s far away and they have their jobs they have to take care of, and the kids are in school and stuff like that. So usually it’s just me, and usually one of the kids will go with me, and sometimes my dad gets to go. But it’s always special to have my family there because it’s only about once or twice a year that they really get to go.”

The win in Guthrie was a high point of what Darling admits has been a tough season, with countless rodeos cancelled due to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and ensuing lockdowns. She and her husband used the time at home to work on some construction projects around the house, but the lost income has made an impact, as have the limited opportunities to compete.

“They cancelled so many, so when they do have one, there’s 300 entries when there used to only be about 100 entries,” Darling said. “So it’s definitely a tough year, a very competitive year for everyone.”

Women’s rodeo as a whole has been getting more competitive as the sport has grown in prominence in recent years. Darling points to the inclusion of breakaway roping in rodeo as what really helped open doors for women getting more opportunities.

“You know, I think women’s rodeo has grown a lot, especially bringing the breakaway back in,” she said. “Two or three hundred girls immediately jumped on top of that. And just to bring women into this sport, and equal pay, that means a lot. I work hard, this is my job, this is what I do. And I want to make as much money or be paid just as much as a guy would be. We’re equal.”

Now, with her spot at the Women’s Rodeo World Championship secured, Darling is looking ahead to November, and relishes the opportunity to compete on one of the biggest stages in Western sports.

“I think it opens a whole new door, especially for women to compete at that level, and get recognized and win that kind of money,” she said. “I think it opens a lot of doors, and a lot of women really appreciate it.”

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