Rodeo gets cut down to size
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RONAN – The animals might be a bit smaller than the ones in adultsized rodeos but the goal is the same.
“You gotta stay on and have a good ride,” said Austin Webster, 9, of the sheep riding at the Pioneer Days Kiddie Rodeo on Saturday. He said the trick to riding sheep is to hold on to their hair, although he is now retired from sheep riding.
“I’m too old to ride sheep,” he said. “I rode sheep when I was seven. Now, I like to ride minibulls. I’ll be able to ride the big bulls until I’m like 47.”
But, he still likes to watch the younger kids in the mutton-busting rodeo. “I’m a cowboy,” he said. “I like rodeos.”
Tino Templer, 10, said riding sheep is good practice for riding bulls. He also rides mini-bulls. His advice for young sheep riders: “Squeeze around them and hang on.”
Luc Cheff, 7, had a good sheep ride.
“I thought I was ‘gonna’ get bucked off but I had confidence in me so I didn’t,” he said.
Cooper Wayman, 6, was at the rodeo waiting for another event.
“I want to catch a pig,” he said. “I want to take it home and play with it.”
During the Farmer Olympics, kids in different age groups participated in age level games. This was the first year for the Olympics.
“Part of the plan for this was to have something for everyone,” said Kim Aipperspach, president of the Ronan Pioneer Days Company. He wore a vest full of buttons from past Pioneer Days with the oldest from 1960.
The Farmer Olympics started out on Saturday with the youngest herd of kids entering the arena, ranging in ages from 3 to 6. The younger kids ran barefoot across the arena, found their shoes out a dusty pile, put them on, grabbed a new T-shirt, collected some eggs, and rode a stick horse to the finish line.
The older kids in the Farmer Olympics needed to jump a fence, pick rocks, rope a steer, and hop to the finish line in a gunny sack.
Ruger Peterson, 5, stopped mid-race, got off his stick horse, and picked up his hat before heading to the finish line. His mom said like all good cowboys, he loves his hat.
