Karolie Green and her husband operate the Crossbar Cattle Company, a cattle and horse ranch north of Quemado. It’s a full time job. At least.

But it doesn’t fulfill the competitive drive for either of them.

Her husband and sons participate in rodeo. She used to, also, but she says that whenever she had a roping horse trained well, someone would buy it out from under her. "I guess they figured ‘if that grandmother can handle that horse like that’ it had to be good for themselves or their kids," she says with a smile.

So she turned to Senior Olympics, because she felt it would give her something to compete in. And that was worth making time for.

She entered all four events in air gun (benchrest and standing in both rifle and pistol), winning gold and silver in all and setting a total of four state records. But air gun is not a national event; and Karolie wanted national competition.

So she took a workshop on horseshoes…one of many such workshops on various sports offered throughout the state by New Mexico State Olympics. She started competing, and doing well in this national event.

But several years ago, she knew she was going to miss the Catron County horseshoe competition because she would be at an out-of-state rodeo with her family. So she took another workshop offered by NMSO; this one on archery.

To say she has done well in her new sport would be a bit of an understatement. In the past three years, she has set two state Archery records in Recurve. And this year, she took fourth place in the National Games.

Karolie Green enjoys competition. She enjoys the opportunities Senior Olympics has given her to expand her competitive energies into new arenas. She intends to stay with Senior Olympics for a long time to come.

How does her family feel about it? She says that every time she goes to compete, her husband tells her, "Have fun…and don’t embarrass the ranch."

There doesn’t seem to be much chance that she ever will.

The 25^th Annual New Mexico State Senior Olympics will take place August 6 through August 10 in Las Cruces, mainly on the campus of New Mexico State University. Approximately 1300 senior athletes from all parts of the state will compete.

The Opening Ceremony will be held Wednesday, August 6 at 7 pm in the Delamater Activity Center. The public is invited to view the Ceremony and all athletic, musical and talent competitions at no charge. For more information, call 646-3897; or visit www.nmseniorolympics.org.