by Tisha Marie Reichle-Aguilera

Adriana

High school junior Adriana Herrera Bowen lives for rodeo competitions. She participates in pole bending, barrel racing, calf breakaway, and goat tying. While she’d like to do more, “in senior division, only boys are allowed to ride bulls and broncs. So sexist.”(10) Plus, her family is struggling to get by. Horses are notoriously expensive and each area of competition has its own entry fees. Despite all the obstacles, Adriana is a serious contender in her events.

Rodeo at the heart of the novel

The rodeo sections are the heart of Breaking Pattern, with great visual detail, fast-paced action, intense emotionality, and fabulous horses. The competitions highlight Adriana’s circle including her handsome crush, some gossiping acquaintances, and several classmates, all vying for rodeo wins. Whenever he can, Adriana’s dad watches her compete. Her mom is far less enthusiastic and doesn’t attend for reasons that become clear midway through the novel.

The title of the novel refers to mistakes in pole bending and barrel racing where the horse and rider break forward motion to retrace their tracks to finish the pattern and/or pass the plane of the barrel on the off side. But it’s also symbolically indicative of Adriana’s life. Because her family is in transition, Adriana fights continually with her mother. More and more, she finds her parents’ goals in opposition to her own. While weighing her choices, she realizes she has her own set of values.

Though the family is in turmoil, they manage to keep Adriana’s rodeo ambitions alive through self-reliance. Adriana’s horse, Pearl, was trained by her uncle. Because he is a skilled mechanic, her dad keeps an old truck and a rusting horse trailer in shape to transport Pearl to events. Adriana is able to board Pearl in exchange for barn chores at the stable of an old family friend, Fiona.

Goals, dreams, and obstacles

Adriana’s dream is to continue the life she loves riding horses and competing in rodeos. She sets a goal of attending college on a rodeo team scholarship and then going to veterinary school. If she can win the championship saddle and the title of best all-around cowgirl, she’ll qualify for the scholarship. But there are so many obstacles in the way of that saddle that self-reliance alone can’t overcome.

Pearl is aging and not as fast as she once was. While feeling guilt about wanting to replace her, Adriana doesn’t have the money for a new horse, so she feels it’s a moot point. In addition, because of her rodeo training, side jobs, and preparation for her cousin’s quinceañera, Adriana has a hard time keeping up with school. It often ranks last in her priorities because, other than biology class, she doesn’t like it. That choice—that pattern—can separate her from her dream. 

Compounding her problems are wealthy teen competitors. There’s Clay Campbell and his spoiled brat roping partner. Clay “stands there with his tight Wranglers and snakeskin boots while someone else unloads his horses for him.” (14) He has a brand-new four horse trailer with a dressing room that matches his late model truck. Cute, but an arrogant flirt and user who flashes his wealth and preens, Clay gives Adriana the opportunity to win on his horse if she will be his roping partner. While this would be a big step toward earning the saddle and scholarship, Adriana knows it would also be a betrayal of her friends as well as a near guarantee that Clay would win all-around cowboy.

Life lessons

It slowly dawns on Adriana that Barb, the farrier who lives with Fiona, is actually Fiona’s life partner. She remembers her mother and others saying cruel things about the two women. But like Fiona, Barb takes Adriana under her wing, acting as her conscience about school work, helping her with the care of her horse, and reminding her of the requirements of living in the real world. When Adriana complains, “‘What if I don’t want the real world, Barb? I want this one. Mine. … But my parents have other plans,” (229) Barb refuses to take the bait. 

One of the young competitors tells Adriana, “‘You take the good, you take the bad. … That’s good advice for life.’” (227) But it’s hard because her dilemmas are becoming more and more complicated. When her parents choose their own dream at the expense of hers, Adriana is rapidly pressed into adulthood. She takes a lesson from Fiona: “‘You’re going to learn quickly that everyone makes bad choices. It’s how you handle the consequences that determine your true character.’” (92) 

High School Housekeeping

Breaking Pattern is a lovely coming-of-age novel with a protagonist whose circumstances force her to understand that not all dreams can be realized, an important lesson for all teens. With its rodeo settings and scenes illuminating the bond between riders and their horses, it’s a good book to update YA library ‘horse novel’ collections.