Miss Rodeo USA 2024 Kaelanne Quinonez didn’t grow up on a ranch – rather in a suburban area along the central coast of California – but she started riding horses at the age of 4 and later made central Texas her home. This week she’s in Georgia to promote the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo and to help open all three shows.

Gates at the Bulloch County Agricultural Complex open 5 p.m. Thursday, Friday and Saturday, April 25-27, for shows starting at 7:30 p.m.

As in all of her scheduled appearances in about 20 states and Canada this year as Miss Rodeo USA, Quinonez with also be representing the International Professional Rodeo Association, the sport of rodeo, what she describes as “the Western way life” and careers in agriculture. Her distance traveled is expected to approach 100,000 miles in 30 weeks as she crisscrosses the continent. While more rodeos take place in the Western states, including many events with their own rodeo queens, Miss Rodeo USA’s schedule takes her to Georgia and neighboring southeastern states more often than anywhere.

“Texas has probably the most rodeos, but where I’m booked this year, I’m booked actually probably the most in Georgia,” Quinonez said.

Multiple IPRA-sanctioned rodeos may be scheduled on a weekend, so she obviously can’t be at all of them. But for an idea of how many consecutive years a Miss Rodeo USA has opened the Statesboro Kiwanis Rodeo, go to Statesboroherald.com, type “Miss Rodeo” into the search box and see the stories and pictures of the previous national rodeo queens.

Quinonez won the IPRA’s Miss Rodeo USA 2024 title at the association’s International Finals Rodeo 54 in Guthrie, Oklahoma, in January. The pageant continues throughout the week, including modeling, planned and impromptu speeches and on-stage questions for contestants, who face six daily interviews by a panel of judges. For the “talent” portion, contestants ride horses – that they have never met before and which are randomly assigned – in two assigned patterns.

After winning, she attended some events she was invited to in Texas. But her first official IPRA rodeo as reigning Miss Rodeo USA was actually in Georgia, Brunswick’s 12th Annual Rodeo at the Beach in March. Last week she was at the Blythewood Rodeo in Blythewood, South Carolina. Next week she’s headed to the Wetumpka FFA Alumni Champions Rodeo in Wetumpka, Alabama.  But two weeks ago she was part of a rodeo in Wapakoneta, Ohio, so her schedule has her going literally from Wapakoneta to Wetumpka, plus select points between.

This week she’s all about Statesboro, Bulloch County and the surrounding area. She arrived Sunday, then started visiting schools and Kiwanis Rodeo sponsors Monday. By Wednesday, she had talked to children at schools in Brooklet, Portal and Statesboro. Her message and Miss Rodeo campaign  theme is “Nose to the Grindstone; Eyes to the Rhinestones,” and is “all about working hard to achieve your dreams.”

“My background is not from agriculture, I didn’t grow up in a rodeo family, so everything I learned about horses and about ag, my parents were learning at the same time I was, and I never thought I  would be a national spokesmodel for rodeo and the Western  way of life,” Quinonez said,  “and  it took many years and  lots of hard work and dedication, trial  and error, but  I kept my nose to the metaphorical grindstone so I  could  have my dream, which is what the rhinestones are, to become  part of this industry.”

Riding skills and 2 degrees

“Background” aside, she attained a Bachelor of Science in animal science from Cal Poly (California Polytechnic University), San Luis Obispo, then went to Texas A&M, deciding to remain in Texas and graduating with her Master of Science in business last summer.

Ask Quinonez about her experience, since age 4, riding and caring for horses, and her answer may have you looking for a specialized dictionary, or at least Googling for what you can spell.

“My background is in vaquero bridle horses and Western dressage, but I’ve done a little of everything,” she said. “I have ridden reining horses, I’ve ridden jumpers, I’ve done some roping, and I started a lot of horses. I’m a colt starter.”

Reporter didn’t even know what a gymkhana was – it’s a riders’ get-together for timed races and various games – when Miss Rodeo gave a modest assessment of her past participation in rodeo-like competitions.

“I’ve done gymkhanas and play days – so that’s barrel racing, pole bending, keyhole, things like that – and I’ve competed in ranch riding,” Quinonez said.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings here, she’ll be riding out with the American flag around the time of the opening prayer. Later, she may help out with the calf scramble.

And she will interact at times with people in the crowd.

“A big part of my job is educating the public about rodeo and the Western way of life, and so I will go into the audience and take pictures, sign autographs, but really more so than that is, if people have questions, I will answer their questions.  I’ll explain some of the events and take away some of the misunderstandings about rodeo,” Quinonez said.

Her career choice would be to continue doing this kind of thing.

“I hope to do this for the rest of my life,” Quinonez said. “I hope to promote the sport of rodeo, ag and Western, be a role model and a spokesmodel for young children who maybe don’t know where the door is for agriculture, and I’d like to see the sport of rodeo excel to the next level. I’d like to see it reach new heights, and I’d love to be a part of that.”