Native Youth 

This is a brand new page added to Indian Rodeo News.  Our goal here is to recognize all Indian children and teenagers who ride horses, rodeo, ranch, and kids who participate in taking pictures at events.

Each month starting with December 2002 we will try to feature a Indian Youth who is active in riding horses, rodeo, ranching, and photography.   

December 2002: Nicole Tsosie
January 2003:  Kayonnie Badonie
February 2003: Whitney O'Rourke
March 2003: Charles Gottfriedson
April 2003:  Jenna Johnson, Liana Tom 
May 2003: Devyn Dennison, Jarrett Monroe 
June 2003: Tess Ducheneaux, 
Wade Marchand,
 Ethan Gopher

Featured Youth for the month of July 

Chantel Williams

An Inspiration

As young toddler Chantel would curl up in her dad’s arms and fall asleep to the rocking of the horse.  As early as she can remember Chantel Williams had a love for horseback riding and began riding before she was able to walk. 







 Chantel is now 16 andfrom the Lil’wat Nation, a daughter to Rosa Andrew and Larry Williams.  She is a hardworking, dedicated and committed girl that lives horses.  She often wakes up at 6 am to walk her horse before she leaves for school. With both passion and drive are the way she plays basketball, volleyball and soccer. She is easy going girl with compassion for others. Teasing or playing little jokes demonstrates her friendly and playful attitude. Coming back full of mud shows that she has no fear of getting dirty.  She has a love for animals and is willing to wake up at 5 am to bottle feed her orphan calves before leaving for school. Her horses are very close friends and it is through understanding each other that they are able to work so well together.  For each of her horse she can explain their personalities D loves candy, Dexter is a chicken and George is laid back Eeyore.  From her earliest years she has simply wanted to do it on her own and has been able to achieve goals that she sets out for herself.

With two older sisters that also rode horses and a family that had a history in rodeo she was encouraged to ride. Her grandfather had built the rodeo grounds in Mount Currie when his own children were interested in rodeo and this became a central home location for practice and competition.  Chantel’s father had been involved in horse racing as a young man and wanted to pass on his love for horses to his daughters and thus he continued to breed horses.  Chantel’s mother, Rosa and Chantel have an excellent mother daughter relationship that has a foundation of support and open communication that goes both ways. Both of her parents consider themselves the ‘workers’ and are there to help feed, saddle, drive and to positively support Chantel.  Rosa and Larry have used animals to teach their children responsibility, confidence, goal setting, compassion, planning and flexibility.  Chantel has been able to learn from her horses how to be a manager, a critical thinker and a caretaker.  She has been able to gain self -confidence and to react with a positive attitude.  All of these characteristics have been established and grown through her daily work with horses.

For Chantel one of the most rewarding aspects of Rodeo is that her family has expanded to include those that she meets on the road.  When riding her horses she is able to forget the daily stresses of life and to enjoy the companionship of the animals.   When she is at rodeos she is forever meeting new people that are willing to pass on knowledge to her.  She enjoys to travel because she loves to learn more and to continue to have new experiences.

Chantel has been a very successful barrel racing competitor with many buckles, trophy saddles and financial winnings under her belt.  She started out as a very tiny girl competing in gymkhana's and then moved on to Little Britches Rodeo’s where she participated in barrel racing, pole bending and goat tail tying.  In this friendly, family atmosphere she was able to learn the importance of support, encouragement, having fun and competing to the best of her ability.  At 9 years of age her family moved on to compete in All Native Rodeos within the Western Indian Rodeo Association, Indian Rodeo Cowboys Association and United Rodeo Association.




  At a young age Chantel would save all of her winnings and was later able to buy her horse George; it was an immediate match where it was obvious that the large George and the tiny Chantel would be able to work well together.  As scary as it was to see their little girl on this huge animal they knew that they could not hold her back and that it was her decision to buy George. Chantel understands that in competition it is critical that she and George work together as a team.  Chantel and her family spent the entire summer of 2000 on the road.  Where Chantel successfully won each barrel race that she entered and came home that year with 16 buckles, 4 saddles and many All Around awards.  Through all these winnings Chantel was able to maintain her childhood and would often be found playing in puddles with her friends.  Chantel has been able to achieve so much and has competed in the National Indian Rodeo Finals three years running. She has been able to compete with the best and has gained so much experience at such a young age. 

Chantel has many role models that have passed knowledge on to her and gave her support and these include her older sisters Kristen and Lara; her older cousins Ticwtkwa and Katrina; and supporting friends such as Wright and Carrie. Chantel has a desire to pass on her knowledge on to other children and is currently giving riding lessons to younger students.  Martha Josey has been an inspiration to Chantel and she has memorized the poem Running to Win.


 Her goals are to go to college and become a Veterinarian or a Horse Massage Therapist.  Chantel’s response to what her future dreams are was “I just want to ride and train horses.”  “A Winner never quits and a quitter never wins.” Martha Josey