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Emma loosened the reins on Rocket, her brown horse, who galloped into the arena, kicking dust.
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Tim O'Connell of Zwingle, IA, gets thrown while competing in the High School Rodeo at the Coulee Region Riders Club in Holmen.
Erik Daily |
“Hey,” Martin screamed at Rocket periodically while yanking up on the reins, a cue to turn tight around the red-white-and-blue barrels scattered among the dirt field.
The sisters were among more than 150 riders from Wisconsin, Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois competing in the 10th annual Western Wisconsin Regional high school rodeo Saturday at the Coulee Region Riders Club.
Girls competed in barrel racing, pole bending, breakaway, goat tying and cutting. Boys competed in saddle broncs, bull riding, calf roping, steer wrestling and cutting.
“It’s a chance for kids to come out and compete, and it’s a good chance to attract people from out of town,” said Tim Hauser, treasurer of the approximately 70-acre club.
Emma’s ride went all right, she said. “We stumbled, but recovered OK.”
She’s still getting used to Rocket, called into duty when Boo, the white horse she usually rides, slit open his belly jumping a fence, putting him out for the season. She didn’t have to say anything to Boo to get him to turn— just “check him with my reins,” she said. “I miss him.”
The sisters live on a 225-acre cattle farm with their parents, Kathy and John.
“We’ve been doing rodeo our whole lives,” Emma said. “It’s something familiar.”
“I do it for the rush,” said her older sister.
Kathy, their mother, said she doesn’t get too nervous watching.
“They’ve taken some spills, but never broken any bones,” she said.
Most there said they enjoy the camaraderie among riders.
“You make friends,” said Josh Reuter, 17, a student at Cuba City High School in Potosi, Wis. “It’s a competition, but we all help each other out.”
There are seven rodeo events in the four-state region, all of which count toward qualifying for the state championship in Richland Center, Wis. in June.
Hoping to make it are the Nolan triplets of Dubuque, Iowa, and their horses: Ellen and Spud; Emily and Ike; and Katie and Keno.
Rodeo came naturally to them. “It’s what we did for a living,” said their father, John, referring to the family’s horse farm. The sisters have no other siblings.
“Having three within five minutes would be enough, don’t you think,” John said with a laugh.
The sisters all wore cowboy hats and large, glittering belt buckles over jeans, awards they’d won from various horse competitions through the years, although they just became eligible for rodeos last year, as freshmen.
“It’s harder than it looks,” Emily said.
Bridget Carlson, a senior at Cashton, Wis., was one of a handful of local riders. She also plays volleyball, and said it’s nice to have the competition in Holmen.
“I can go home at night,” she said while sitting on Rocky, her barrel horse.
Katelyn Martin said that no boys in her high school participate in rodeo, but she isn’t worried about their approval.
“They’ll either like it or they’ll get over it,” she said.
Dan Simmons can be reached at (608)791-8217 or dsimmons@lacrossetribune.com.
