Going through hail: Cowboys battle it out in roundpen
Megan Strickland
Hail, rain, thunder and lightning pounded the round pen shootout Friday evening.
Megan Strickland
The horse being trained by Levi Guenzler bucks when he flaps a raincoat at it.
Megan Strickland
Joshua Senecal starts toward a horse with a hanging object to train it.
Megan Strickland
Levi Walchuk bridles his horse at the roundpen shootout.
Megan Strickland
Levi Guenzler
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
People in the stands huddle up as hail bounces off the tin roof of the rodeo arena.
Megan Strickland
Joshua Senecal
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Levi Walchuk
Megan Strickland
Levi Walchuk
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
Megan Strickland
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RONAN — The same hailstorm that evacuated the rodeo in Missoula on Friday made a difficult task even more challenging for three Ronan cowboys competing in the second annual Round Pen Shootout, sponsored by the Rocky Mountain Breeders Association.
“When the rain came up and the wind came up and the hail came up these cowboys kept right on going,” said commentator Jim Eli.
The hail and lightning began a little over a half hour into the competition, which put top quality untrained foals from Pitts Quarterhorses in Dixon into the hands of three young horse trainers. The foals had to be broken and trained enough to walk through an obstacle course at the end of two, two-hour sessions spread over a two-day period. The unbroken horses had not had any form of training other than halter breaking, and all three trainers started out with an outstretched hand, making sure it was safe to even touch the creatures.
“This is something that can normally take weeks,” Eli said. “They did it in four hours.”
The storm set in, pelting the cowboys and slightly spooking the horses. Caked in mud, but too tough to shiver, the cowboys sloshed around their pens, waving their hands, lifting hooves, using whips and plastic bags to acclimate their horses to human activity. Every motion and touch was repeated at least a half dozen times on each side of the horses’ body. This is because horses have brains that control each side of the body separately and each side has to learn to be comfortable with something to be fully trained.
“This is probably three times as dangerous under these conditions,” Eli told the audience who huddled together as hailstones bounced into the stands and soaked them through also. The slightest slip in a stirrup could send a cowboy tumbling and spook his skittish horse.
Levi Walchuk, 23, was the first to saddle and ride his horse before the end of the first night of training. He also impressed the crowd by gaining his horse’s confidence enough to crack a whip on the first night and riding his horse outside of the ring on the second day. Walchuk’s foal faltered at walking over a bridge in the arena and was slightly hesitant walking over lumber, but did well on the rest of the obstacle course.
The feat wasn’t enough to beat 28-year-old Joshua Senecal and 24-year-old Levi Guenzler.
Guenzler, who began training his foal with many obstacles in the ring, took the longest to saddle and ride his horse and had to deal with a bit of lively bucking, but ended up taking home the top prize at the end of the day after breezing through the obstacle course.
Senecal, whose original pick was too lame to enter the competition, ended up coming in second place with an alternate colt.
Senecal was the first to mount his horse on the second day and only had a bit of trouble walking his horse through a gate on the obstacle contest.
