Growing Up Rodeo
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Anna Moneymaker
Team Chapnick
The Spires, a multi-generation cowboy family from Maryville, Mo., are a busy household. Nicole and Derk's eight acres of land is home to three children, four dogs, three cats, two goats, seven horses and a raccoon named Rocket, who the family rescued six months ago. When not helping their kids with home schooling, Nicole and Derk spend their time encouraging their childrens’ passion for rodeo sports, a passion that takes the family to Arizona for two to three months each year.
The youngest member of the family is 11-year-old Shayde. “I don’t know how to explain Shayde,” says her father. “She’s in her own world.” With long painted nails, Shayde spends her days completing her home-school lessons, helping her mom fetch the groceries and feeding the animals with her brothers Drycen and Krede. The rodeo is in the Spire family's bones and Shayde is following in the footsteps of previous generations by barrel racing and adding a belt buckle to the family trove.
Shayde Spire, 11, reads in her room, which she says is her favorite space in her family’s home in Maryville, Mo. The cactus mural in the background was painted by Shayde’s mother, Nicole.
Shayde shows off the belt buckle she was awarded for being a rising star champion in a barrel racing tournament during the 2026 Mayday Payday in Maryville, Mo. Her belt buckle joins the troves of trophies her father and brothers have by participating in rodeo sports.
Shayde works on her homeschooling lessons alongside her mother, Nicole, at the family dining room table. Nicole explained her goal for homeschooling her three kids was to spend more time with them.
Shayde works on a list of spelling words during her homeschooling lessons in the family dining room table.
Rocket, the family's pet raccoon, chases Shayde’s feet. The family found Rocket abandoned and injured six months ago and rescued him.
Shayde smiles as her dad, Derk, snuggles with the family Maine coon named Stormy in their kitchen.
Nicole drives Shayde to a weekly STEM class for home-school students at the Rolling Hills Library in Savannah, Mo. on Sept. 23, 2026.
Shayde carries a package on her shoulders as her father rolls a tire to his truck.
Shayde hugs one of the family’s horses, Cooper, who is blind in one eye. Shayde decorated herself with red paint before attending a color war with her siblings at The Bridge, a nondenominational church in Maryville, Mo.
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