Mix a rain-soaked rodeo ring with countless pairs of hooves and you have yourself a pretty good time.
By mid-afternoon on July 9, the ring resembled something meant for 4x4 quading and not the 2011 HighRidge 10th Annual Amateur Rodeo. Despite all the mud, the cowboys and cowgirls still came out to put on a show.
“All in all, it’s going pretty good considering the weather we’ve had lately. Surprisingly, we’ve had more contestants show up than we thought would. A majority of the contestants that registered are here,” said Dwane Gravel who was working at the registrations desk.
About 264 contestants registered for more than 400 entries as contestants could enter multiple events in the Highridge Agricultural Society organized event. Amateur competitors have started attending more and more rodeos besides Highridge, like the Long Island Lake Rodeo, which helps grow the sport.
The near capacity crowd took in multiple events throughout the sunny day, such as bareback, saddle bronc, bull riding, wild cow milking, ladies barrels, team roping, tie down roping, cow riding and ladies steer undecorating, just to name a few.
Contestants were cheered on whether they were holding on for dear life on the back of bucking 1,500-pound steer, or just trying to yank a ribbon off the back of a sprinting calf.
“I’m really glad the sun came out this afternoon. Watching the cowboys and cowgirls doing their thing is really amazing. All I know is you wouldn’t catch me in that ring,” said spectator Kyle Whitney.
The audience was treated to a variety of skill, and intensity levels, as Highridge featured both junior and adult events. Despite the hard and fast action of the adult events like bull riding and saddle bronc, Highridge focuses on the younger rodeo riders.
“I think primarily they’re looking to build up the skills of the next generation of riders,” said Gravel.
As the final cheers faded and the exhausted horses, calves, steers and bulls were relieved from their duties, the society celebrated the end of the rodeo with a beef supper and a dance.
“We couldn’t have done this without the big help of all the volunteers,” said rodeo secretary Robin Young.
