Haley Proctor to trick ride at rodeo

A woman standing on two horses and jumping through a hoop of fire is something you have to see, and can see, at this year's Colorama Rodeo. 

Haley Proctor, wife of Grand Coulee's own national rodeo star Shane Proctor, is a trick rider in rodeos herself.

Having seen her uncle do trick riding when she was little, Haley Proctor got in trouble trying to do things she wasn't supposed to do like standing up on her horse or hanging off the side. 

So her parents told her if she was going to do trick riding she'd have to do it the correct way, and she began learning how at the age of 4 years old, performing in her first rodeo at the age of 6. 

Haley and Shane met many years ago and were friends for years, seeing each other at rodeos around the country, before starting to date three and a half years ago. They were married in 2019.

"He's still my best friend," she said about her husband in a phone interview with The Star on Tuesday.

The couple currently lives in Nowata, Oklahoma, about an hour north of Tulsa. 

Proctor first came to the Coulee area a few years ago for Shane's annual bull riding school held in Nespelem. She found the area beautiful and told Shane that if they ever had a little girl she'd like to name her Coulee.

And have a little girl they did, just last year. 

Proctor laughed and said that they're going to tell Coulee that the towns were named after her.

Hired to perform at the Colorama Rodeo in May, Proctor said she'll be performing two acts with horses she trained herself, one called the Liberty Act, with her horse Clyde, in which he dances and marches and gets on a pedestal and does lots of tricks.

The other act includes Roman riding, standing on two horses named Jiminy and Cricket, jumping through a hoop of fire, and weaving in and out of fire torches in a "fast paced act."

It will be the first time Proctor has performed in Grand Coulee.

She said she is very excited to spend about a month here, and that it is special to get to perform for Shane's friends and family and meet more people from his life.