In 1944, the city of Bonifay was looking for a way to raise money. Kiwanis Club Secretary and Treasurer Paul Bowyer came up with an idea: host a rodeo. Fast forward to 2026, and that fundraiser has grown into the 82nd annual Northwest Florida Championship Rodeo in Bonifay, featuring eight events, including barrel racing.
For Marianna cowgirl Wendy Taylor-Monroe, barrel racing is about navigating three barrels in a cloverleaf pattern as quickly as possible without knocking any over.
"It's a timed event, you know, between you and your horse. So, you have to complete the pattern without hitting barrels, and you need to be the fastest," Taylor-Monroe says. "It sounds pretty simple, but it's not."
Taylor-Monroe proved her skills in Bonifay, taking home the barrel racing win with a time of 17.45 seconds.
Her love for horses started when she was a little girl, and a few falls along the way never discouraged her from getting back in the saddle.
"I've pretty much always had the bug. Whenever I was a little girl, my babysitter had a pony, and I would beg to ride the thing, even though every time I would ride it, of course, you know how ponies are, I would hit the ground," Taylor-Monroe says. "But it didn't stop me. So from that moment on, I just begged and begged and begged for a horse."
She got her start competing in smaller rodeo events known as jackpots. But after meeting Gayle Jones, she began working toward a bigger dream: winning her local circuit.
Known to Taylor-Monroe as Miss Gayle, Jones was considered one of the founders of barrel racing and became an important inspiration in her riding career.
"Miss Gayle was just the, I would call her one of the matriarchs of barrel racing. Before she passed away, she was able to watch some of my runs on Mercedes. Kim would always kind of keep her in touch with what was going on, and I just feel like it was special for all of us because of that association," Taylor-Monroe says.
Jones died of cancer in September at 82 years old. Even during the summer before her passing, she was still competing.
Her daughter, Kimberly Zaben, says her mother's connection to Taylor-Monroe went beyond the sport. The two were already close, but Jones' passing brought them even closer. At the Bonifay rodeo, Taylor-Monroe competed aboard Zaben's horse, Mercedes.
"My mom was 82 years old and passed away September 12th this year," Zaben says, but her mom made a timely prediction. "She goes, 'Mercedes is going to win. Going to win big. You wait.' And that was the first run Mercedes had after my mom passed, and she won a big rodeo."
Zaben provided the horse that Taylor-Monroe competed on. She says that while the rodeo first introduced the two of them, the past year has brought them closer.
"I've known her and respected her as a competitor for probably 20 years," Zaben says. "What brought us together was me asking her to train my colt and we were acquaintances before that, and then in the last year, have really become good friends."
Zaben says it's a nod to Taylor-Monroe's skill to be able to win a rodeo with the amount of riding she's done with Mercedes. Before the rodeo, Taylor-Monroe only rode Mercedes a handful of times, a term in rodeo known as 'jump riding'.
"You really have to become one with the horse and really listen to how their movement and how their body reacts to your movement and move with them," Zaben says. "Wendy does very well with that. She reads a horse very well. She's a very talented rider."
For Taylor-Monroe, the 17.45-second barrel racing run carried an emotional meaning. She says she could almost hear Miss Gayle encouraging her as she raced around the barrels.
"I don't know, somehow I feel like Miss Gayle was there, you know, and there was just a voice inside my head that says, you know, you gotta let her go. You gotta go. So I kind of pitched the reins there a little bit," Taylor-Monroe says.
Honoring Jones' legacy was one reason Taylor-Monroe entered the Bonifay rodeo. Another was to help introduce the next generation of riders to the sport.
Away from competition, Taylor-Monroe works with young horses and helps new trainers prepare for the rodeo arena. She also sees potential in Brooklyn Kyser, a young rider she's taken under her wing.
"I entered this rodeo actually to help a friend that has mentored her daughter quite a bit. And she said, 'you know, I would really love for you to go with Brooklyn some this year and, you know, let her learn the ropes. She needs a mentor,'" Taylor-Monroe says.
Kyser says Taylor-Monroe has already made a difference in her early rodeo career, sharing advice on everything from colt training to preparing a horse for the barrels.
"Wendy also told me a lot about colt training and how to put him on the barrels and the things to do and things not to do," Kyser says. "I really do feel like she helped me a lot in my career as a trainer, just teaching me what she knows."
Kyser says she turns to Taylor-Monroe not only with rodeo matters, but also for guidance on her own personal life. She says Taylor-Monroe has her own way of dealing with problems, both in life and in training.
"Wendy really taught me what to do and what not to do in a way, because she's so weird about it," Kyser says. "Like, yeah, we're going to pick on them (horses) till they get it right, but we're only going to pick so much. Before, I was young and just — you're going to do it my way and we're going to do it like this. And Wendy was like, no, no, we're not going to do that. We're going to make it the horse's idea."
Kyser says Taylor-Monroe has been a familiar face in her life for as long as she can remember.
"My mom had known Wendy since I was little, like, little bitty. And I always remember, I could never, like, put a name or a face with a name. Like, I was little. I just didn't really care. I was a wild little kid, and I always remembered Wendy was the place with the big, pretty black fence," Kyser says.
Kyser says she has continued to see improvement, looking to qualify for the finals — which take the top 15. She is currently 25th and is competing at a rodeo in Georgia this weekend. Kyser says her colt, Ten, is running the best he's ever been and gives credit to Taylor-Monroe for providing the guidance.
"One of the biggest things she has taught me is how to put a barrel horse on the pattern and how to do it the right way and slowly and all the correct ways," Kyser says.
For Taylor-Monroe, the rodeo community is more than a group of competitors. It's a family that supports one another, even when everyone is chasing the same prize.
"We all take care of each other. We're out there, you know, trying to support each other," Taylor-Monroe says. "We're competitors, but there's not one barrel racer back there that doesn't hope that their friend has their best ride, but they also hope that they have their best run."
Taylor-Monroe says she could not believe she had just won the rodeo, and it took the congratulations from her fellow cowgirls for the reality to sink in.
"It just was very surreal, I will say that," Taylor-Monroe says. "As soon as I hit the alleyway, the pickup men were congratulating me and, of course, several people on the way out. But Miss Dallas DeWeese and Miss Patty Roberts, two of my great mentors that I looked up to for years, met me back behind the alleyway."
Taylor-Monroe isn't sure what comes next competitively, though a spot at circuit finals could be on the horizon. What she does know is that she'll continue supporting Zaben and Kyser, carrying forward the friendships and traditions that make the rodeo community feel like family.
