A couple that rodeos together stays together.
Although there are no official stats on the subject, two Barrhead couples have shown that there just may be some truth to that statement.
Starting on June 15, for two days, the Barrhead Rodeo Grounds played host to about 85 senior rodeo athletes from all over North America to compete in the Canadian Senior Pro Rodeo Association (CSPRA) event.
Including Barrhead’s own Larry and Betty Adams, who compete in the team rope competition.
In the team roping event a steer is released from the chute and a team of two people, on their own horses, both attempt to rope the steer which is running loose in the rodeo arena.
The first roper, known as a header, ropes the front of the steer, usually around its horns, but sometimes as low as its neck. Once the steer is caught the header then wraps his or her rope around the horn on his saddle and then uses his horse to turn the steer to its left. While the header is doing this the heeler attempts to rope both of the steer’s back feet. It is a timed event and the team with the fastest time wins the event.
“In a perfect world,” Larry said, adding that sometimes the heeler either misses the steer’s back feet or is only able to rope one of the feet. If the heeler is only able to rope one foot then a five second penalty is assessed.
“We actually compete against each other on different teams, because we are both heelers,” Betty said.
The couple, who have a hobby farm about eight miles outside of Barrhead, started to compete in rodeos in different events in the late 1970s.
“We did lots of stuff,” Larry said. “I rode bulls, roped calves and team roped a little bit.”
Most of which they did on their farm. Betty said the couple has an outdoor arena on their property where the pair can practice their rodeo skills with a few roping steers the couple keeps on hand.
But, Betty said, it was Leonard Schmidt who really got the pair interested in competing in the team roping event on a more competitive basis, adding that Schmidt has an indoor arena and holds regular local competitions.
Before that, Larry said the couple were really more baseball people.
However, like a lot people, life got in the way and the couple gave up rodeoing for a number of years.
“It wasn’t until the last four or five years that we really got back into it,” Larry said. And back into it they have. Besides competing in the local CSPRA events in Mayerthorpe and Barrhead, the couple plans to travel to the United States, not long after the event in Barrhead is finished, to take part in about half a dozen rodeos in the Montana area.
The Adams will go to Montana as part of a small contingent from Barrhead.
“It is really a lot of fun,” Larry said, “Everyone brings their own rig and by the time we get to Montana there are about 50 of us all camping out together.”
Betty agreed that it was a lot of fun, but besides that she said what she enjoys the most is the people she meets on the rodeo tour.
“It’s a great group of people and that’s half the fun, the people that you meet and travel with,” she said.
Larry agreed with Betty, adding that it sure wasn’t the money that kept them competing in the CSPRA tour.
“You go to the senior pro rodeos for fun and points, but if you want money you go to the ATM.”
The Miller Team
The Millers, Darcy and Jackie, long time Barrhead residents also competed in the Barrhead CSPRA event and are fixtures on the local rodeo scene.
Ribbon roping is a bi-gender event where a calf is released into the arena and a roper, usually a cowboy riding on a horse, lassoes the steer around the head and secures the rope to his horse. While this is happening, the cowgirl, who is on foot chases the steer and attempts to snatch a ribbon from the calf’s tail.
“I then run with the ribbon to the finish line,” Jackie Miller said, adding that the team with the quickest time wins the event. Usually the cowboy has to get off of his horse, and secure the calf.
Jackie said although the couple have a hobby farm just outside of Barrhead, the pair really didn’t think of becoming involved in rodeo.
“It really was the Schmidts that got us into rodeoing,” she said, adding her husband was the first one to catch the rodeoing bug back in 1991.
At first Darcy competed in the steer wrestling competition and then moved on to team roping.
Although Jackie said she followed her husband when he competed on the rodeo circuit, she never really thought about taking part in the event until Darcy started to compete in the CSPRA.
“I knew I wanted to be take part in the rodeo and compete, but wanted to do something we could do together,” she said, adding that couple has been competing as a team in the ribbon roping event for about five years. “I really love it. Every year we go to 10 or more rodeos a year and after each rodeo is finished, I can hardly wait until the next one.”
The Millers are also planning to be part of the Barrhead contingent which will head to Montana to take part in half a dozen rodeo events.
