UPPER MARLBORO, Md. — When you meet the Jackson family, you’ll notice right away that they’re your typical Black American family from Upper Marlboro, Maryland. However, as you walk around their home, you’ll notice that many of the decorations in the house will read “champion.”
That’s because every day they are collecting hardware that bares that title in the world of rodeo.
As mom, Robyn, trains up the kids through homeschooling, while dad, Corey, trains them in the rodeo arena.
“For one, we're just a family that loves one another and loves the western lifestyle and way of life; particularly rodeo,” dad and rodeo trainer, Corey Jackson said.
Before they were husband and wife and then mom and dad, Corey and Robyn both fell in love with the Western lifestyle.
“It started generations ago,” Corey said. “Robyn is a fourth generation cow girl which makes the kids our fifth generation. Robyn's forefathers were sharecroppers right here in the southern Maryland area and they were really skilled at training horses and mules to plow. “
“I can't remember a time where we did not have horses,” Robyn said.
With Robyn, the story starts with her father, Robert Harper. As a child, he was motivated to have his own farm, after the owner of a farm his family worked on, told him he couldn't ride trained ponies. Only the mules and work horses.
“I think that really stuck with my dad and I think it really just kind of gave him the fire he needed to just realize his dream of owning his own horses and actually enjoying them,” Robyn said.
That love helped him pass down a legacy to his daughter, her future family and the foundation their home sits on today.
Corey, on the other hand, was almost hooked from the start.
"So I've always loved horses just from being a little kid,” Corey said. “My grandfather and I we would watch westerns on Saturday morning. That's where that passion developed."
Then, some years later cowgirl met cowboy at a fitting destination; the rodeo. For Corey and Robyn dating involved things like working cattle and horse training clinics, turned out to be the perfect formula for falling in love.
"Now it's funny the kids don't see me ride nearly like we used to so when we talk about it they kind of give us a look like 'mom was doing all that?' and I'm like yea there was life before you all,
she laughed.
They got married, had five kids and settled into life on the farm.
These days everybody's on a pretty normal schedule. The kids handle chores and a school day with mom and after that they train in the arena with dad.
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"Different days of the week we'll practice different rodeo events. Nicholas and Dylan they ride bulls so we'll buck bulls once a week...And then everybody ropes. The girls they breakaway rope. They goat tie, bell race, pole bend, so we get it in during the week. My background is in football, so you practice, practice, practice every day."
“Sometimes your friends will just text you and be like hey I saw you on TV,” Ryan said.
All the competing kids are state champions, while older brother Nicholas, has established himself as a world champion bull rider.
“The thrill part of it is the feeling of success with it knowing the work you put in behind the scenes to get there and when you get there it all pays off,” Nicholas said. “It's a great feeling because when I first started it was something I liked to do for fun and looking back now eight years later, I would've never expected it to go this far."
However, they don't want anybody thinking this is easy work.
"You can learn it,” Ryan said. “Anybody can learn it but it's hard."
“To be successful you have to put in the work,” Corey said. To remain successful you have to put in even more work. If you're down in the dumps or in a slump you have to fight and dig your way out of it. So whether you're on the top or whether you're on the bottom it's all work."
Even mom admits, watching your oldest competing son ride bulls can be a little stressful.
"I don't like watching him on tv so that is more I'm very nervous watching him when I’m not at the event,” Robyn said. I always want to see that he got off safely and we'll worry about the score later."
What this family represents, though, is bigger than any points they can score. Corey knows that to say you're proud to be black. And to be a cowboy or cowgirl is an accomplishment in itself.
"I have grown to know that representation matters,” Robyn said.
"There was an aspect of growing up wanting to be a cowboy and just not seeing many black cowboys if any at all.. It also goes to what was in the history books or what was not in the history books when it pertains to black cowboys. So as I got older my family told me 'yes black cowboys are real, they do exist. Blacks had a very significant role in the settling of the American west. So as I got older I researched and sought out the stories, the truths in American history."
In their family, making history is where they feel comfortable Because it's their way of life. When the kids compete though, they want them to do just that. Aware but not thinking too much.
"They go to compete and the color of their skin is not on their mind and there's a confidence that's required when you walk into a space when you're obviously different."
" I would hope from this point forward there's not any kid that would think they couldn't do anything because of the color of their skin,” Corey said. “It doesn't make a difference if you're white, black, green or purple."
And as the Jackson kids continue to grow up, Corey and Robyn believe what they learn in this arena will give them everything they need to grab life by the reigns.
“I like that rodeo teaches them ownership over their own behavior and accountability,” Robyn said.
“I tell the kids if you can rodeo you can do anything else,” Corey said. “There will be bumps in the road but just like in rodeo if you hit a bump in the road we work through it. We persevere, so we have that same tenacity outside of the arena as we do inside the arena."
