New Mexico State Fair Queen Taylor Rolan

A Belen woman who has been rodeoing since she was a small child and who purposely followed in her mother’s footsteps is this year’s New Mexico State Fair queen.

Taylor Rolan, 20, of Belen, was overjoyed and proud as she was crowned over the weekend, bringing home the title that Kaitlyn Maria, of Jarales, won last year, and Rolan’s mother, Teri, won in 2001.

Taylor, who graduated from School of Dreams Academy charter school in Los Lunas in 2023 — the same month she earned an associate degree at UNM-Valencia — is currently studying animal science at New Mexico State University, with minors in biology and chemistry.

While she’s still not sure what her future holds, she is planning on attending graduate school with science as her focus.

As her academic life is a priority, Taylor, the daughter of Wes and Teri Rolan, said her rodeo life has been challenging while fulfilling at the same time.

“I had my first pony at 3 or 4 (years old) and I’ve been riding my whole life,” Rolan said. “I’ve grown up around it and have done different disciplines. I grew up showing Western horses, and I also rode some English and some hunter-jumpers for a few years, which was a lot of fun.”

Rolan began rodeoing and barrel racing when she was about 10 years old. In the past four to five years, she has been working with Castillo Performance Horses in Casa Colorada.

In those years she’s been able to ride some versatility horses and some reiners, which are primarily American Quarter horses, are highly athletic and competes by using the skills of a working ranch horse in a show arena.

“The event is about how willfully guided your horse can be, basically how well your horse is listening to you, and they are asked to do small and big circles, fast and free flow and spins on their hindquarters and rollbacks,” she explained.

Rolan said she looked to her own mother, Teri (Wright) Rolan, for inspiration on her journey to become the New Mexico State Fair queen. Teri, like her daughter, first won the title of Valencia County Fair queen, and then the state title the next year in 2001.

“She knew I was already hard on myself, so she knew she didn’t have to be hard on me,” Rolan said. “She was a great supporter, practicing with me the week before and helped me with my horsemanship, speech, makeup and outfit choices — all the things.”

Rolan started competing at 7 years old with the Valencia County Sweetheart contest.

“I did it for quite a few years, and took a few gap years before I ran for queen,” she said. “I wanted to do it like (mom) did.”

While her mom inspired her to compete, it was a process that Rolan enjoys, learning and working hard to achieve her goals.

“I really love interacting with children, and seeing their faces light up,” she said. “I also love to watch people who have never seen a horse before. That just makes me so happy and my heart so full.”

Rolan said competing for the state fair queen title was fun and difficult at times, but rewarding at the end. She said last year’s queen, Kaitlyn Maria, gave her advice about what to do, such as bring your best and work hard at it.

“It was really cool that she had won it. She passed her Valencia County crown to me, and then she was able to pass on the state fair title. It was really neat,” she said. “(Kaitlyn) just told me to be myself. I really get into my head and am very critical of myself. A lot of the advice I was given was just to go out and have fun and make it a good experience.”

Along with the horsemanship competitions, Rolan and the other competitors had to take a written test on general New Mexico, rodeo and state fair knowledge. They also underwent several interviews, asked a variety of questions.

During the Gathering of Counties event, she was able to meet a lot of people and share her love of rodeoing, and served lunch at the livestock auction. One of the speeches she had to write, memorize and then deliver was titled, “Scuffed boots tell a better story than shiny boots.”

After the speeches, the young women were given impromptu questions from a hat, which she said was fun. “When was the last time you got lost?” which Rolan says jokingly is very common for her. The second question, “What was the most stupid question you’ve ever asked or heard?” She said someone had asked her where the ribeye was on a pig — which she replied that pigs don’t have ribeyes.

While she’s a junior at NMSU, Rolan plans to have a very busy year, especially now that she has a lot of extra duties outside her college experience.

“Now I get to go to all the events they hold at the state fair, like the gun shows and art shows and all the events they hold there. It’ll be exciting to see all the culture from all over the state,” she said. “I’ll go to galas, dinners and public events. I’m going to try and go to schools and talk about what rodeo is.”

She’s also looking forward to attending more rodeos next spring and summer, as well as county fairs across the state and the region.

Next week, Rolan will be making an appearance at the Southern New Mexico State Fair, which is convenient because it’s in Las Cruces, she said.

“I have three exams and a project due next week, so yes, time management is crucial,” she said. “I think it’ll be OK.”

As Rolan eases into her new role, she is grateful for all the support and well wishes she’s received.

“Coming into it, I saw people had more faith in me than I had for myself,” she said. “It’s so surreal that so many people know me and I’m so so thankful for everyone who helped me before and who congratulated me after. I could not have done it without any of them.”