Slaying Goliath: Clarksville’s Howard Is AHSRA All-Around Champion, Looks Toward National Title

by Janice Penix

At 5-5 and 135 pounds, Carson Howard may not look like a champion athlete. But when the sport requires hanging on to a 1,500-pound bull with one hand, Howard is the perfect fit.

The Clarksville High School senior recently earned the title of Boys All-Around Champion in the Arkansas High School Rodeo Association and is the 2023 AHSRA Bull Riding Champion and the 2023 AHSRA Bareback Champion. At the 2023 AHSRA state finals, he also won the title of Arkansas Average Champion in bareback riding.

He spends his summer days helping his dad work the family ranch and, during the school year, is a member of the swimming and track teams. But now he is preparing for the National High School Finals Rodeo and a chance to compete for more titles in the sport he loves.

“The main reason I love this sport is, it’s the closest thing to a true show of courage,” Howard said. “When you get bucked off, your first reaction is to get mad. But to win in rodeo, you can’t get mad. You lose a lot before you win. It’s very humbling.

“But the feeling I got after I rode a bull the first time, it’s like I slayed Goliath. There are not very many things that feel that good.”

Howard can’t remember when his family didn’t live on a farm or ranch and attributes that lifestyle to his love for rodeo. His father and stepmother, Jeff and Mandy Howard, own and operate Circle H Bar Ranch near Woodland and have a commercial meat market in Clarksville…

Read the full story in the June 28 edition of The Graphic. 

Photos: Carson Howard rides a bull at a recent high school rodeo event. Howard is the 2023 Boys All-Around Champion in the Arkansas High School Rodeo Association and is the 2023 AHSRA Bull Riding Champion and the 2023 AHSRA Bareback Champion.

–Photo courtesy Chyanne Fogg Photography