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That Western Life Podcast

The That Western Life podcast is hosted by Katie Schrock, Rachel Owens-Sarno, Katie Surritt, and Joe Harper! Join us weekly for great conversations about rodeo and the western lifestyle.

Ep. 84 - Western Sports Round-Up Producer Karlee Peterson

The producer of the daily television show Western Sports Roundup, Karlee Peterson has been the backbone of The Cowboy Channel working hard everyday to bring forward all of the news of the western world.

“It’s been fun to listen to my fellow gals on here,” says Karlee, referencing past TWL guests Janie Johnson, Kadee Coffman Blair, Jeff Medders, and Katy Lucas.

Backstory

Raised in South Dakota, from a young age Karlee and her sister would “train the heck” out of mini ponies that they’d purchase for a measly $75 from the local newspaper advertisements. Selling these gentled ponies for a bunch of money that they’d use to go jackpot and compete. Starting that process all over again as they got older with training full-sized horses - tips and training they were taught from their parents.

“Incredible hardworkers that we come from,” says Karlee in regards to South Dakotans. “Grew up training a lot of horses right there in the beautiful hills of South Dakota.”

“What was really special about the horses that we got to rodeo on is that either my parents started them or we, as a family, trained them,” says Karlee. Growing up, they’d be on the road for five weeks at a time and after that time being together, in close quarters, in a living quarter horse trailer taught her a lot of respect for her family, the western lifestyle, her competitors, and more. “It’s really special for me to have that bond with so many of my friends for such a long time and getting to grow up together.”

Throughout high school, Karlee knew she loved rodeo for what it did for her family, the opportunities it gave them, and she knew that she was going to go to college for rodeo and that her skillsets, personality traits, and everything about her were because of rodeo. With that being said, Karlee never thought past that - something that she says may allude to just being young. Going into college, she had her sights set on being an international lawyer, despite everything she knew about rodeo and cataloging what rodeo may need.

“Without my mentors, there is absolutely no chance that I would be here today,” says Karlee, who was able to surround herself with two extremely incredible people that took her under their wing despite her being green. They taught her more than just television, they taught her life lessons, and how to be informed with the news. They taught her how to have fun and to have no bad days - they all add up to more than you could ever imagine and completely turned Karlee into the person that she is today.

“Nowadays I work for Jeff Medders, Matt Schultz and Partick Gottsch - those three guys … are the hardest working people on earth,” says Karlee, almost in disbelief. “Patrick has put me through producer bootcamp, Jeff’s been our leader and Patrick has helped us connect with the people in ways we never would have thought.”

“I just hope that every single day with what I am doing, that I am making [my mentors are proud],” adds Karlee.