Maelee and Eskie Heart learned to ride their horses long before they ever learned to ride their bikes.

“I grew up on a ranch and my dad had cattle so the girls never really had a choice,” explained their mom, Corrine Heart. Their dad, Royce, came from a family of roughstock riders but a ter a few years on the amateur circuits he conceded that wasn't for him. By then, he was taking his two young daughters to rodeos of their own—Maelee entering her first rodeo at just 3 years old.

“We were hauling the girls to junior rodeos so eventually I just started picking up a rope,” explained Royce, who continues to enjoy the sport alongside his daughters today. “Since I was learning with them we became students of the sport together. We've gone to clinics, worked with some of the pros and we read up on it all the time.”

Maelee, now 16, and Eskie, 13, practice hard daily and are beyond passionate about horses and team roping. Both, are wise beyond their years when it comes to their mental game.

“I want to be the best I can be,” Maelee explained. “There's always going to be one person better than you, but you always have to strive to be better than you were yesterday.”

ELEVATED EXPECTATIONS

From their home in rural Parshall, N.D., the Hearts are miles from the nearest big city and make practice a part of their daily routine.

For them, practice is all about friendly competition and it's not uncommon for them to be found roping the sled a ter dark or to hear a little light-hearted bantering about who's better than who.

“We do get aggressive with each other,” Maelee said. “We have high expectations of each other. I want her to beat me, but I'm not going to let her either.”

As sisters, the two share an inseparable bond and their constant stream of communication has helped them overcome obstacles and stick to their goals in and out of the arena.

“We talk during runs all the time,” Eskie explained. “Maelee was heading for me at a roping in Mobridge (South Dakota) and my horse started to go down. She had the steer roped and she looked back and told me to pull up, once she knew we were okay, she kept talking to me and turned off and we still got a time.”

GIVING BACK

At home, the Hearts enjoy spending time at the local Boys & Girls Club of the Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation, teaching local kids how to swing a rope and rope the dummy.

“They will occasionally contact us and we'll go to their events to teach the kids,” Corrine said. “It's really an emotional and spiritual experience for us as a family. It really makes us sit back and be thankful and grateful for everything we have and the opportunity we have to do what we do. Our roping family consists of extended family members and they also come volunteer with us. We truly enjoy helping anyone, of any age, who is interested in roping and riding and who might not have the resources."

ESCAPE TO ARIZONA

For the last two years Royce and Corrine have home schooled their daughters and this year it allowed them the opportunity to escape the frigid winter weather and head south for an extended stay. From their winter base at Rancho Rio in Wickenburg, the team roping trio has picked up five buckles (and counting) and two saddles between them in less than one month and are already starting to think about how they can spend even more time in Arizona in the future.

“I would love to live down here,” Eskie exclaimed. “We laugh, because it's eat, sleep and rope for us. This is the best place we could be.”

Two years ago, Eskie won her first-ever trophy saddle heeling at Rancho Rio. She was only 11.

“That morning they lined up all of the saddles and there was one with a pink seat,” she recalled. “I told my mom I was going to win that. In one of the first rounds my header called for the steer right as my horse turned around in the box. I caught up and we got a time.”

Eskie was heeling for Zach Milne and the duo came back to the short round 23rd high call leaving a very slim chance that they could finish in the top three and take home saddles. Despite the odds, Eskie didn't get discouraged.

“I knew it was a low-numbered roping so I kept telling myself anything could happen. I doubled and then I just watched. I was hoping people would try to be fast and drop out and they did. We finished second and I won the saddle.”

That same year the Hearts had the opportunity to rope in the Mike Cervi Memorial Pro-Am roping in Casa Grande.

“Eskie roped with Erich Rogers, Maelee with Dustin Bird and I roped with Aaron Tsinigine,” Royce recalled. “We all came up empty handed but that was such a cool experience.”

This year, no one will be leaving The Team Roping Capital of the World empty handed.

As of press time, Maelee's 2017 Arizona highlight was a toss-up between topping the #11 roping heeling at Downtown Arena in January and being the only girl to enter the chute dogging at the Tohono O'Odahm Nation Junior Rodeo.

Royce, while he has won saddles and prizes in other associations, picked up his first NTR buckle at Rancho Rio in January and followed it up in a big way, winning two trophy saddles at the Big NTR Rancho Rio Qualifier in early February.

“A ter a roping, it generally gets pretty heated on the way home,” Corrine laughed. “Most of the time it's everyone saying how they could have done better and analyzing what went wrong. I can usually tell what they did, and sometimes they didn't do anything wrong, it just

didn't work out. It can get tough trying to keep their spirits up because everyone is just so competitive.”

BIG DREAMS & SETTING GOALS

The Hearts have taught their girls not only to dream big but to always follow those dreams, and both teens have set the bar high for themselves.

“We want to rope at the INFR (Indian National Finals Rodeo) and be the first all-girl team at the WNFR,” Eskie said. Her game plan?

“I like to make goals, short-term and long-term, and that's what you keep pushing towards,” she explained. “My long-term goal is to be roping with the pros. You have to go until your idols become your rivals.”

In the meantime, her short-term goal—to win another saddle—has an added incentive.

“My grandma promised me a golf cart,” she laughed.

With their consistent, aggressive roping style and remarkable determination, both girls will be topping the leader boards in route to their next big win in no time.