IFYR Profile - Missouri Group

Representing a portion of the Missouri group at this year’s International Finals Youth Rodeo are Blake Ash, Nathan Enyart, Larae Porterfield and Cory Dummit and team-work is the theme of this group.
Living in different parts of Missouri makes it difficult for the group to get together and practice as much as they would like but weekend rodeos keep them close.
“We live far enough apart that we can’t spend all week together, but we go to enough rodeos that it feels like we are always together,” Enyart, 17, said.
Enyart is familiar with teamwork since he will be competing in team roping with partner Dummit, 18.
The two seemed confident about their partnership and ability to rely on the other during the event. As veterans in this event, Enyart will be competing for the third year and Dummit for his fourth at IFYR.
The confidence is necessary for a team event because you have to learn to rely on your partner, Enyart said.
“We are still progressing,” Dummit said.
Understanding and patience are also an important part of this event because, “I know one day I’m gonna mess up, so it has to be OK if he does, too,” Enyart said.
Ash, 17, is also competing in team roping with partner Logan Whitley. 
“Trust in your partner is just something you gotta have,” Ash said.
Though Porterfield, 15, is participating in barrels and poles, partnership is not void in her events.
“Your horse is your partner,” the boys joked, but Porterfield agreed. You have to know your horse and trust it too, she said.
Pride in partners and teamwork is not the only significance of IFYR to this group of students.
“IFYR is a bunch of young student athletes getting together and it really builds character and responsibility in our title as cowboys,” Ash said.
Porterfield seemed to be taking on the majority of the responsibility as she and the others described her role as “the baby-sitter of the group.”
“It’s fun hanging out with them and we hang out with a lot of the other Missouri kids, too, but this is just our little powwow,” porterfield said.
As only part of the Missouri group, these four seem to be making a big impact on the rodeo world.
Enyart recently won a Dodge truck in a competition where he placed 12th and third to gain the most points. He plans on attending Crowder College in Missouri in the fall and hopes to continue competing.
Porterfield may be the youngest of the bunch and the only girl, but she seems to be holding her own. She is a five-time IPRA qualifier in Oklahoma City, and a high money winner and average winner in barrel racing.
“We like to give her a hard time,” Dummit said. 
“I wish I had someone on my side sometimes,” Porterfield said, but with stats like those she has no problems keeping up.
Dummit will attend college at Ft. Scott in Kansas in the fall continuing to compete in college rodeo.
Ash will be a high school senior next year and has high hopes for his future and the results of IFYR, adding that  he is hoping for three saddles and a trailer. 
With a nickname like “Blake Ash Crash they don’t call me crash for nothin’,” he said.
The group attends at least one rodeo every weekend and endures “rigorous training” during the week. 
“We try to represent Missouri to the fullest of our potential,” Ash said.