‘This isn’t just a sport, it’s a lifestyle’: Landry Haugen carries rodeo legacy to the next level

Folks often describe rodeo as the ranching legacy, and this is certainly the case for the Haugens.

Tyler and Dee Haugen competed on the professional rodeo circuit back in the day and now they serve as coaches and chauffeurs for their two oldest daughters as they try to make names for themselves on the dirt.

Landry Haugen, who graduated from Sturgis Brown High School this spring, has established herself as a force on the state high school scene and hopes to win a national title between July 16-22 in Gillette, Wyoming.

“This isn’t just a sport, it’s a lifestyle,” Landry said, sitting in her trophy room in the barn loft. “It’s what I do all day, every day, and it’s what everybody you compete around does all day, every day.”

In June, Landry won a pair of state titles at the South Dakota High School Rodeo Finals in goat tying and girls cutting. 

Landry’s performances in Fort Pierre earned a spot at the National High School Finals Rodeo in four events, including goat tying, girls cutting, reined cow horse and breakaway roping. In turn, the SDHSRA rewarded her outstanding performance with All-Around Cowgirl honors.

“She’s a hand and she’s talented beyond a doubt,” Dee Haugen said of Landry. “She’s mentally and physically strong, so I applaud her. She even graduated first in her class. She’s got big goals, big ambitions, and I love that she’s kind, humble and caring.”

When Dee Haugen competed as a barrel racer on the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association circuit, opportunities were limited. 

The sport has grown exponentially in recent years, and breakaway roping in particular has surged in popularity. 

Dee has enjoyed seeing the sport expand since her daughters took up the family mantle.

“When I was young, you didn’t have as much opportunity like you do now,” she said. “It’s just way cool. These girls are doing big things and they’re knocking it out of the park. I love that.”

Dee hopes to see 10 rounds of breakaway roping on the docket for the National Finals Rodeo in the near future, and believes if Landry and her sisters stick with it, the sky’s the limit.

Landry loves all of her rodeo events equally but narrowed down her top two choices.

“I always tell my mom that it’s like picking a favorite kid,” Landry said with a laugh. “You work equally as hard at all of them, but I absolutely love to rope cows and tie goats. If I could do nothing else all day, then I’d be O.K.”

Arina Dee, Landry’s younger sister, competed at the National Junior High Finals Rodeo this past June in Perry, Georgia. 

The eighth-grader also carried on the family legacy with pride and completed in five events (ribbon roping, barrel racing, team roping, pole bending and girls breakaway) at the NJHFR. 

Arina Dee brought home a $784 purse for her second-place finish in Go-2 of pole bending.

Landry said that her middle sister helps push her to practice on days when she’s tired and she’ll miss having Arina Dee around when she moves on to compete at the University of Wyoming in the fall.

“We push each other a lot and we want it a lot for each other too,” Landry said. “I always tell my mom that I get more nervous for Arina than I do for myself. It’s also been fun to teach my younger sister Blaisely.”

The girls’ father, Tyler Haugen, competed in the PRCA as a steer wrestler on the Badlands Circuit. Most of his time in the summers these days is spent driving horse trailers around the country to support his daughters at different rodeos. 

He enjoys the competitive atmosphere that often fills their indoor training space when Arina and Landry ride together.

“They kind of go back and forth,” Tyler said. “They hold themselves to the same standard. Sometimes their practices don’t seem like fun, but at the end of the day they push each other. There are some days when the little sister beats the older sister.”

Landry said she tries to exemplify the right way to compete when she hits the dirt and that she learned a lot about handling adversity playing basketball for the Scoopers this winter.

Sturgis finished the 2022-23 season 2-15 overall and missed out on the Class AA playoffs. Losing took a toll on a cowgirl used to setting the pace.

“I work really hard at rodeo and I’m used to succeeding,” Landry said. “When you don’t you ask yourself why, and during basketball I learned that maybe it’s not necessarily about the wins but how you hold yourself.”

That’s the impression Landry wants to leave on Arina and Blaisely before moving off the family ranch to pursue an education in mechanical engineering.

Dee said when she watches Landry practice that she sometimes gets frustrated because of how different her daughter’s process is than her own.

Landry is a technician. She breaks down every piece of a movement and performs with precise detail, a skill that will certainly pay off in the engineering world. 

“She breaks everything down and is very specific,” Dee said. “But her mental game is incredible. She just has to go find her own corner and do her own thing, and that’s where she gains her mental strength.”

Landry, Tyler and Dee each made sure to give credit to all of their rodeo friends and family in the Black Hills for providing support, encouragement and even horses as the NHSFR approaches.

The event kicks off at 7 p.m. Sunday at the RCH College Barn in Gillette.

Landry hopes to hang around until the event’s conclusion on July 22 and give folks in Sturgis the opportunity to make the 90-minute drive to watch her shoot for her first national title.

“The goal is to make it to the short-go on Sunday and have my whole family in the stands,” Landry said. “That’d be pretty special to have that happen.”