ELGIN — Rodeos and horses are a way of life in small communities like Elgin, home of the Elgin Stampede.

This is true for Elgin High School senior Chelsie McKay, but you also need to add in basketball practice, volleyball matches and softball games along with FFA duties and the occasional weekend of branding.

McKay makes jokes regarding actually being home and sitting down to a “real” dinner with family working around her schedule.

“I eat a lot of macaroni and cheese around 9 p.m.,” she said.

McKay is a member of the Husky basketball, volleyball and returning to the school’s softball team this year after taking a year off to compete in high school rodeo.

“I competed in the Idaho High School Rodeo season last year but I am going to play softball again this upcoming season,” she said.

Another reason McKay is taking a season off from rodeo is her duties as a member of the Elgin Stampede court this year will take up time. McKay and her horse, Firecracker, competed and won a coveted spot on the court after a series of riding skills and speech were judged.

“The riding part was easy,” she said. “The speech part was the hardest thing I have ever taken on. It did take some work to train the horse — we were riding a pattern and not pole bending.”

McKay has been working with Firecracker since the horse was purchased at age 2. Trained in barrels, goat tying and poles for the first year of competition. After running barrels in the mid-26 second mark the first year, McKay and Firecracker dropped that time into the 17-second arena the second year, adding to her buckle collection.

Back in school, McKay is the current vice president of FFA, while helping on the weekends at the family’s ranch with branding duties.

As this busy year will be the last of her high school career, McKay has plans in the architecture field, a profession she can work from home while living on, no surprise, a ranch.

“Plans now are to attend my first year at Eastern Oregon University and then transfer to Washington State University in Pullman to complete my degree,” she said.

The roots of the McKay family run deep in Elgin with her brother Jayden wrestling for the Huskies and brother Gage also well known to Elgin athletics.

“It just seems I am always on my horse if I have a free minute,” McKay said. “My grandfather was a huge influence on what my life is today. His work ethic and the way he treated people is what I want to be.”

McKay’s plans for the future sound very similar to life today.

“I want to live on a ranch and break and train horses,” she said. “I love Montana, but really don’t want to spend winters there. Maybe summers on a ranch there and winters in Arizona is the answer.”