*October 2009
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At 17, Paul Grice is a veteran working cowboy, having earned pay for “day work” on horseback since he was eight-years-old – checking and moving cows, feeding, roping, branding, shipping. Riding Bueno, the Quarter Horse he bought with his own wages five years ago, Grice is hungry to win this year’s SGHA “All-Around” belt buckle. “Two years ago I was third,” he says. “Last year I was first runner-up – I won $406, but no buckle. I’m shooting for the buckle this year.” He has a good shot at it, though local cowgirl Riata Rivale is giving him a good run for it.
Until his family’s move to Roy, NM, this year, Grice grew up in Kenton, Oklahoma, a short ride from the Colorado and New Mexico state lines. Paul and Laekyn have grown up together competing in 4-H and open rodeos. Both are planning lives built around horses. Paul will continue working cattle on ranches, though if he can swing it he’d like to take time out to attend ranch management school at a north Texas college. He knows that even in ranching, “A lot of people nowadays want someone with some education. It’s a step to a bigger job.”