Category: Rodeo LIFE Cover Feature

Rodeo roots run deep for young North Carolina cowboy, Cole Futrell. The Kidd, Tucker, and Futrell families have had an influence on the sport in the southeast. Cole, a first-year, youth IPRA member, is 16-years-old, and was born in Charlotte, North Carolina where his start in life was on his family’s legendary Rockin’ K Ranch. There aren’t many cowboys or cowgirls of any caliber in North Carolina, that don’t have a story to tell about their rodeo days there at the Rockin’ K, where Cole lived until he moved to their farm in Union Grove when he was in first grade. Cole’s great-grandparents, Helen and C.W. Kidd started the Rockin’ K Arena and were instrumental to the beginnings of the Southern Rodeo Association, and rodeo in North Carolina.

Cole’s Papaw, Scott Tucker (BWTB on page 22)is an SRA All-Around Champion Cowboy, that won the title multiple times in the 1960’s and 1970’s and had a big influence on Cole’s interest in rodeo. “I love listening to all of his old rodeo stories, especially his bull riding stories, and I want to be able to tell those kinds of stories one day too.” Cole’s late-Nana, Vicki Kidd Tucker, was quite the cowgirl, winning many titles during her rodeo days. Scott and Vicki raised their two children on the Rockin’ K; Cole’s mom, Keri Tucker Futrell, and his uncle, Jason Tucker. Jason competed as a team roper on the pro-level for several years and is an IPRA World Champion team roper. “My Uncle Jason has always helped me at rodeos to know what the start is and gives me advice on what I can improve on as a header.”

 

Cole is the youngest of Keri and Bart Futrell’s four children; his older siblings are Matt, 29, Paige, 27, and Clay, 19. Keri is a timer at many IPRA and SRA rodeos and has been a supportive rodeo mom to all her children. Cole appreciates that she hauls him anywhere he needs to go, watching most of his runs through the video lens, so that he can watch them later. Bart competed as a bull rider for several years and is a past IFR qualifier. He now owns Bow F Bucking Bulls and is a well-respected IPRA stock contractor and rodeo producer with his partner, Chet Kidd, (Keri’s cousin) as Rafter 3 Rodeo Company. Cole often helps his dad feed and care for bulls, as well as sorting stock and running them through the chutes before events to prepare them for the rodeo. “My dad has always told me to never give up no matter what anyone tells me. He is a hard worker, and I’ve learned from him that if I want something to never give up on it. If my dad puts his mind to something, he’s going to get it done.” Matt has also been an IFR qualifier, and still competes in many IPRA and SRA rodeos, as well as training horses and helping with the family stock contracting business. “When Matt is home, he’s always willing to pull the sled for me and is there to help me anyway he can.” Cole’s sister Paige is a NCHSRA alumni and went on to college rodeo in Texas; she is now a beautician and co-owner of the online boutique, Madeleine Paige. Paige is engaged to PRCA bull rider, Eli Vastbinder, who is currently in the top 15 in the world standings. “I really appreciate all of the help Eli gives me on my mental game; he has always been very motivational and positive.”

Clay, an IPRA heeler and IFR qualifier; and has been instrumental in Cole’s team roping. Cole watched Clay rope for a few years, while he stayed busy competing in steer riding, ribbon roping, and breakaway roping through junior high. Once Cole started heading, he and Clay spent nearly every day in the practice pen, roping the sled and steers together. Cole has been to several IFYR rodeos to watch Clay compete and last year was Cole’s first year to compete in Shawnee. Clay graduated in 2017, and is currently living in Stephenville, Texas. Cole’s favorite roping win was when he and Clay won the 12 Preliminary roping at the 2017 NTRL Finals in Jacksonville, Florida.

Besides the many family members, including cousins Cory and Tyler Kidd, that have been down the IPRA and IFR roads before him, Cole credits team roper, Bronc Fanning for much of his success as a header. Bronc competed at his first IFR in Tulsa, Oklahoma in 1971, and spent many years competing as a team roper. Bronc started working with Cole about five years ago, after Cole had told his dad he wasn’t ever going to rope, because he just wanted to ride bulls. “His dad called me that day, to see if I’d start working with him. I just started spending time teaching him how to do tricks on the dummy that his brother and cousins couldn’t do, and once he started beating them on the dummy, he got interested in roping steers. I don’t think I’ve ever been around such a kind and big-hearted kid, that has been so dedicated or works as hard at his roping.”

 

Cole, a homeschooled sophomore, team ropes at rodeos as well as USTRC jackpots. He just finished his second year competing in the NCHSRA, with roping partner, Blake Walker; finishing the season as the Reserve Champion Header. The two are anxious to compete at the 2018 IFYR and high school national finals. Since 7th grade, Cole has headed on a 15-year-old grey gelding he calls Bam Bam, “I like riding him because he is so honest, he never gets too strong and lets me handle the steers however I want.”

Cole was chosen to be on the Smarty Young Pro Team and has been blessed by the experience. The help he has received from Smarty Pro members, like Kaleb Driggers and family friend, Luke Brown have been invaluable to him. Last March, the Smarty Young Pro Team gathering at Allen Bach’s Smarty training facility in Texas, was a life-changing experience that not only gave him the opportunity to learn from many of the pro team members involved, but also strengthened his walk with the Lord. Trey Johnson leads the ministry and motivational team meetings, and Cole has learned lessons from him about being a winner inside as well as outside the arena. “Trey has really helped to bring me closer to God.”

With such strong family connections to rodeo, it is not much of a surprise that Cole is also traveling down the rodeo road. Like a rite of passage, it’s now his turn to compete at these events he has spent his life watching. His plans, goals and dreams for his future include moving to Stephenville, Texas and competing in college rodeo before starting a career as a roper; with the ultimate dream of one day, heading steers for his brother Clay at the WNFR. “It’s all I want to do – it’s all I think about and what drives me.”

Justene Hirsig from Cheyenne, Wyoming, turned 21 a year ago, and it’s been a great year for her. She won The Wrangler Team Roping Championships All Girl roping with Jimmi Jo Montera as well as second with Lee Sherwood. “I was first, second, and third high call,” she said. She also took third place in the Central Rocky Mountain Region with her partner, Denton Shaw, and is currently sitting ninth in the nation in the college standings and the only woman in the top ten.

She started roping when she was in eighth grade. “My dad (Tom) let us start chasing calves around the arena when he was still tripping steers. My sister (Jordan) and I started when I was about 8 – that lasted for a summer, but I didn’t get into it until later. I didn’t like it too much – I played basketball.” Justene played point guard and several other positions during her time on the court. “That was my first love.” She did both rodeo and basketball, and was leaning more towards rodeo when she received an offer to play basketball for Casper College. “I wanted to see if I could make it in the basketball world. I knew rodeo would be there forever.” She hurt her knee during practice and had to sit out for the year. After knee surgery in January of her freshman year, she called it quits. “I had another surgery last November.” Basketball played a huge role in what she’s accomplished. “I’ve had some tough coaches and they taught me how to put aside everyone else’s thinking about you and perform well. I took that from playing college basketball to rodeo – it’s the same thing –if you don’t perform well, you don’t get paid. It doesn’t matter what anyone thinks. I’ve played in a lot of close games and you have to perform when things are tight and you only have a few minutes to pull it off. That’s helped in short rounds. I can talk myself into it’s just another steer.”

 

The rodeo world is a very familiar place for Justene; she grew up going to Cheyenne Frontier Days. “My dad’s great great uncle (Charles Hirsig) was one of the cofounders of CFD. My family has been in the arena ever since. I’m carrying on the family tradition, picking up flank straps, or shagging cattle. I help where I can; I’m there every day.” Her dad is the CEO and President of Cheyenne Frontier Days. He is also the one Justene attributes her success in rodeo to. “He taught me how to rope and he knows so many people that have helped me – Tyler Magnus, Bobby Harris, JD Yates, Rod and Stephanie Lyman, and Rick and Jimmi Jo Montera – and he puts me on amazing horses.”

“The thing that always amazes me about Justene is how well she rides. She sits a horse picture perfect. That has always been her best attribute when it comes to improving her skills. Denton Shaw doesnt get the credit he deserves sometimes because he is amazing in his consistency and dedication. They have been partners almost their entire careers and is one of the biggest parts of her success. A great young man,” said Tom Hirsig. She works on her mindset by reading books – one of her favorite authors is Joel Osteen – and one of his that she reads often is ‘You Can, You Will.’ “My mom (Debbie) always gets me set up with books.” Her mom also helps with lots of other things. “Mom hasn’t missed church in more than ten years. Whenever I’m struggling, she encourages me to go to church and pray about it. She’s always praying for me as a person – my mother is the backbone of everything.” She also pulls the machine around, turns out calves for breakaway roping, and does whatever needs doing to help Justene succeed. “Without my mom, none of this would be possible. I’ll ask her to turn calves or steers and anytime of the day she says yes. If a horse needs reshod or hauled to the vet, she does it. Without her, we wouldn’t be able to do this. She sends me books to read and finds churches for me to go to on the weekends.”

 

“My dad gets me well mounted and I have that – and I’m blessed.” During the six-week long break at the University of Wyoming, after a short vacation, she and her dad headed to Arizona to rope for a few weeks. “My dad and I kept a horse for each of us in Arizona, and they were put on the walker every day and we’d fly back to rope. I think that’s a big part of my improving my roping.”

She transferred to UW two years ago, pursuing a degree in business financing. “My plan is to get a pretty good degree here so I can have the lifestyle that affords me to go to Arizona in the winters. I wouldn’t want to live there year round.” She has two years left on her rodeo eligibility and plans to make the most of it. “I sold horses when I was heading to basketball, and after two knee surgeries, the last year didn’t go so well. Now I’m roping with Denton Shaw – it’s been great. We roped together in high school for three years and qualified for Nationals, and we decided to rope together this year. We figured we did well in high school and tried it in college and we’ll rope at the CNFR.”

She sent her horses home so she could finish her finals. When she finished, she headed home to practice. “We have 22 to rope on. I have five head horses to practice on so I should be good.” She is excited to back into the box in Casper for the CNFR. “Making it is an end result of roping well in the college rodeos, and I’m looking at it as another rodeo. It’s going to be cool to make it there, but I’m going to rope like I always do – four more steers. I rope 50 a day if not more so that will be easy.”

Long term she plans to continue roping. “I want to be one of the best girl headers that’s on the road. I’d like to start getting into horse training and horsemanship – that’s something I want to work on. I don’t know what I want my job to be when I grow up – but I want to be one of the wellknown ropers.”

“Choose to dwell on thoughts that empower you, inspire you, and encourage you to have faith, hope and joy.”
“I’m around a lot of the people trying to make it to the NFR and it’s not something I’d be opposed to. If I wanted to try after college, I think it would be cool to do,” she concluded. “I have tons more to improve –and I just got moved to a #6, and I’ve worked hard to get there.”

story by Cassandra Robledo

Jerry Nelson’s love for rodeo began in 1991 when a friend invited Jerry and his family to their ranch in south Texas. As the son of a professional baseball player and raised in the city, he didn’t know a thing about rodeo.

“The first rodeo I went to, shoot, I didn’t know how you dressed. I was an oilfield guy,” Jerry said. “I wore a short sleeve shirt, a baseball cap and a pair of tennis shoes.”

Fast forward 27 years later Jerry went from leasing 1,900 acres to owning 8,000 acres and leasing some. Today, his ranch covers a vast 9,000 acres across the prairies near Freedom, Oklahoma, with 400 head of bucking horses, 70 rodeo bulls and about 350 commercial cows.

During the first few years after being introduced to the rodeo scene, Jerry helped produce amateur rodeos. Jerry said he worked his way from the ground up, doing everything from untying calves to working the back pens. The entrepreneur and rodeo stock contractor credits his success to his work ethic and long hours worked.

“I’m still having fun,” Jerry said.

In 1993, Jerry built an indoor arena and bought his first set of bulls. He began taking bulls to local amateur rodeos until 1997 when he bought his first pro rodeo card. That same year, he went to one of Harry Vold’s sales in Colorado to buy cows in order to begin his own breeding program.

Instead of buying the cows he originally planned to buy, Jerry said he left the sale with 10 mares. These mares began his new venture into the bucking horse business, “and the rest is history.”

 

Maple Syrup and Big Medicine are two of the most significant horses born out of the mares Jerry bought from Harry Vold. Maple Syrup is one of the first bucking horses he raised. She was talented enough to make multiple trips to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo and now serves as a broodmare. Big Medicine is Jerry’s stud horse who has sired some of rodeo’s biggest names such as Medicine Woman and Maple Leaf.

Jerry began Frontier Rodeo Co. at his home in Beaumont, Texas. In 1998, his friend Dan Mundorf bought 100 acres and moved from south Texas to Freedom, Oklahoma. Not long after Dan moved, he leased 1,900 acres in Freedom and began moving his growing operation, leaving Dan in charge.

Soon after moving to Oklahoma, Dan decided to get out of the horse business. Dan introduced Jerry to Heath Stewart who was hired on not long after. Growing up in a rodeo family, Heath is no stranger to the rodeo world and happily took the job.

With the same goals, work ethic and love for the industry in mind, Heath gained Jerry’s trust and respect. In 2005, Heath began running the ranch and is now rodeo manager. Jerry said Heath has made Frontier Rodeo what it is today.

“Most of the reason we’re successful is because of Heath.”

Heath and Jerry have created a world-class operation with some of the best and most recognizable bucking horse bloodlines in the country.

“Heath and Jerry have built together an awesome operation,” said Butch Stewart, Heath’s father and coworker. “We’re so proud of them.”

The first time Frontier Rodeo Co.’s bucking stock made an appearance at the WNFR was in 2005 when they took one horse and three bulls, Heath said. Last year, Heath took 18 horses and 2 bulls to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the 2017 WNFR.

Frontier starts the rodeo circuit year the second week of January each year. Heath and his staff travel across the U.S. to work up to 25 rodeos a year. For each rodeo, six to eight employees and at least five truckloads of livestock make the trip, Heath explained.

“The success for Frontier Rodeo Co. is all the people who work for it,” Heath said. “It’s not just me. It’s the people who stay here at the ranch and feed, the pickup men, the guys loading the stock, driving the trucks, announcers and secretaries.”

The work ethic and professionalism of Heath and his employees quickly gained the respect of many different rodeo organizations throughout the country, said Steven Money, rodeo director for Spanish Fork, Utah’s PRCA Rodeo. Steven commended Heath for the quality of work and livestock he brings each year to Spanish Fork.
“It’s real exciting to see Frontier come in each year,” Steven said. “We both have the same goals to have the best stock for the contestants.”

Steven said because Frontier Rodeo helps put on such a great rodeo each year, both Steven and Frontier Rodeo Co. were recognized at the 2017 WNFR. Steven received 2017 Committee Man of the Year and Frontier Rodeo Co. received the 2017 Stock Contractor of the Year award for the third consecutive year.
Part of Frontier’s success is due to the strategic breeding program set in place to keep new livestock coming each year, said Butch. Selective breeding and training have allowed Frontier to own some of rodeo’s most well known bucking horses such as: Medicine Woman, Full Baggage, Maple Leaf, Show Stomper, Delta Ship and Bad Medicine. Medicine Woman is a 4X PRCA Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year. She is second in the PRCA record books for the most wins (2011-2014-2015-2016). Full Baggage is a 2X PRCA Bareback Horse of the Year (2011 & 2013), and Maple Leaf was the 2013 PRCA Saddle Bronc Horse of the Year. Frontier Rodeo Company has also been awarded the Remuda Award by the PRCA in 2012 & 2016. This award is given to a PRCA Stock Contractor for providing a high caliber herd of bucking horses.

Every May, Heath and his employees load 70 to 80 young horses and take them to Guymon, Oklahoma, to buck at Robert Etbauer’s arena for their first trip. During the three-hour drive home, Jerry said his wife, Beverly Nelson, names most of the horses. Both Heath and Beverly come up with unique names for all of the horses they keep each year.

Butch described the yearly cycle that expands up until a horse turns six. Butch said each year their foals are born, yearlings are weaned, 2 year olds are moved and 3 year olds are bucked. The 3 year olds that make the cut are turned out until they turn 4 then bucked at a few local college rodeos, Heath said. Then they are turned out until they turn 6. At age 6, they are developed enough physically to begin their debut on the rodeo circuit.
“A lot of people don’t understand that it takes that long to bring a horse along to where you can use them in the rodeo field,” Butch said. “That’s why we have a cycle.”

Jerry, Heath, and everyone employed at Frontier have all participated in creating one of rodeo’s largest and most successful stock contracting companies in the country.

“My reason for success in the rodeo company is good family and good employees,” Jerry said. “That’s what makes it work.”

Donnie Gay, eight-time PRCA World champion bull-rider, and Jerry’s pilot and general manager, also contributes to making Frontier Rodeo what it is today. Donnie has worked for Frontier Rodeo for the past 12 years and is in charge of public relations, sponsorship meetings and commentating events for the company.

Twenty years ago, Jerry pulled up to Rodeo Houston, his first PRCA rodeo as a stock contractor. A lot has changed in the industry since then, including the quality of rodeos and livestock, said Jerry. One thing that has not changed, however, is Frontier Rodeo.

“We’ve been doing the same thing and don’t plan on changing,” Jerry said.

Since their very first rodeo, the Frontier Rodeo Co. team has worked to put on a show and leave a good impression each time they pull into an arena.

“We try to be as professional as we can, and we try to put on the best rodeo there is,” Heath said. “We try to make it as even for every contestant who enters the rodeo. That’s our goal. When we leave a city after doing the rodeo that year, we want the people in that town to leave talking about it until they’re so excited to come back and buy a ticket for next year,” he said.

Coco van den Bergh saw her first pair of Wrangler jeans and a Western saddle when she came to the United States as a college exchange student from Holland. Today, the 51-year-old is a breakaway roper in the RMPRA, making her home near Ferron, Utah, at the base of the La Sal Mountains, happily ensconced in the rodeo and Western lifestyle.

Coco started riding English as a child, first learning to ride bareback on a pony. “In Holland, kids usually go to a stable and ride ponies, and a fun thing they do is give you coins or money, and if you’re able to keep that money between your bum and your horse, you can spend it at their candy store,” she says. Her mother and grandmother both rode horses, and though Coco didn’t have her own horse until she moved to the U.S., she rode horses for friends, including a black Arabian stallion. “I did dressage and jumping, but the most wonderful thing is I lived at the coast, and you can ride your horse through the forest to the beach and go swimming with your horse.”

All of the disciplines Coco rode gave her a horsemanship foundation that made it easy to start riding Western, and the rodeo community was quick to show her the ropes. “The people are so friendly, and they treat you like you’re a part of their family. It’s so pleasant to go, and it’s fun and educational,” says Coco. “I love to watch human and equine athletes perform. I’ve been an athlete my whole life — I used to fence and figure skate, but horses are my whole life. That’s what I live for.”

 

A love of learning brought Coco to Utah, where she did her research for one of her two master’s degrees in geology, but she stayed for the Western lifestyle. She earned a welding degree taking evening classes, and she’s also tried her hand — and feet — at ballet, field hockey, surfing, sailing, and skiing. Coco was even on the college fencing team at her university in Holland and University of Wisconsin-Madison, competing with other schools much like any other college sport. Coco finished her second master’s degree in geology at University of Wisconsin-Madison at the request of ExxonMobil, where she worked for a year. “It means so much more when you see the landscape and understand the carbonate rocks, or fluvial or volcanic. I just love it (geology) because I love nature. I’ve found Indian arrowheads and pottery, and I love the wildlife you see out in the middle of nowhere by yourself. After that (ExxonMobil) I started my own business as a geologist doing research for oil companies, but the income was too inconsistent, so I got the job I have now so I could live the Western lifestyle.”

Coco purchased her very first horse in 1996 after moving to Utah, and once she’d run a few chutes for friends, she wanted to back into the box herself. She learned to team rope first before switching to breakaway roping. The first rodeo she entered was in Salina, Utah, and Coco even went to a Stran Smith roping clinic. She has four quarter horses, several of which are bred by Mary Journigan of the K Cross Ranch in Lamoille, Nevada. “My partner, Brad Richman, is a cowboy, and he takes my horses for five months and does nothing but cowboy on them and get them broke for two summers. After that, I take them over and cowboy on them myself because I help the local ranchers.” Coco met Brad in the mountains where he was herding cows and she was helping the local ranchers, and they cemented their friendship looking for several horses that got loose. Coco also welds on the ranches when needed and takes much of her vacation time to work cattle with local ranchers. “I cowboy on my horses for two years before I rope on them. It takes a lot of years to make a good horse, and I get nothing but compliments about them.” She’s especially excited about her 3-year-old gelding, Charlie, whom she started breakaway roping off of in the last few months. “I went to two Clinton Anderson clinics and put that foundation on him, and Todd Fitch put three months on him. My goal is to make it to the RM (RMPRA finals) by basically training this horse all by myself.” Steve Young has also trained a few of Coco’s horses and helped her with the team roping. Brady Ramone works with her in the breakaway, while Coco says the Mascaros, Clowards, Webers, and Foxes have become like family. Her own family, who live in Holland, love that she rodeos, and her mom comes to visit for a month every summer.

 

In 2012, Coco’s horse training earned her a spot in the credits of Disney’s John Carter, a sci-fi movie that she worked on in Moab, Utah. “I worked for three weeks training the horses and then training the actors how to ride. There were five horses from Hollywood, and then a whole herd of horses from Washington.” One of the horses Coco trained — the backup horse to the lead horse from Hollywood — starred in the movie, and she also trained them to accept riders jumping on and off their backs at a lope. “It was so cool, and I got such nice friends out of it too.”
Along with her horses, Coco runs a small herd of Corriente cattle, which she raises for roping. “It takes time for them to grow horns, so in the meantime, I breakaway on them, and when they’re ready to team rope, they’re already broke in and they run nice and straight. It’s so much easier on the head horse.” She ropes at least four times a week at friends’ arenas, or the indoor arena in town. She’s now the branch manager of a laboratory that analyzes coal and water, and Coco uses her breaks to rope the dummy in the bed of her truck. “I have that Jackie Crawford DVD Elevate, and that’s made a huge difference. I met her at a clinic in Utah one day, and last year I went to her house for a week to rope. Jackie Crawford and Jake Barnes are my heroes and role models.

“My whole life is horses and roping and rodeo,” says Coco, who’s entering her third season in the RMPRA. “This year, my goal is to make it to the RM finals, and then go to the Rehab Productions open breakaway roping during the NFR in Las Vegas. Another goal is to show people that it doesn’t matter how old you are. Live life to the fullest and make your dreams come true by setting goals, creating a plan, and working hard. Believe in yourself and go for it.”

Red Top Ranch Trick Riding school celebrated its 30th years at the Vold Ranch in Avondale, Colorado, this past March. Taught by Karen Vold and Linda Scholtz, a total of 28 students attended one of the four schools. Students traveled from Alaska, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and New York and several other states to attend the three day school.

Karen learned how to trick ride when she was young, “I learned from a lady that worked for us at the riding stables. I trick rode for a living from 14 to 27, when I went to work for Harry,” said Karen. “When I started going on the road, I didn’t have time to do it, so I started teaching.”
Linda came to work for Karen when Karen and Harry’s daughter, Kirsten, was 5. She and her husband, Paul, did the church services and Linda taught Sunday school. She learned to trick ride from Karen in 1978. “I was watching Karen teach Kirsten and I’d never seen it before. I wondered what it was.” Karen told her that she would teach them both. That went on for a year before Linda decided to ride professionally and she got her card in 1980. She and Paul took off for 27 years, part of the All American Trick Riders (Vickie Tyer and Lori Orman). “I fell in love with it,” said Linda. She and Paul continued their ministry at rodeos all over the country.

 

Linda rode with the All American Trick Riders for 14 years, and during that time someone wanted a lesson. “We started with one lesson in 1987. After that it started rolling along. It started with one weekend,” said Linda. “When we became an official school, we did them for a week. We coordinated it with the local spring break. We advertised a little and it snowballed from there.”

Many of the staff were former students; one from Scotland, who came as a student, is still coming over once a year to rekindle friendships and teach the next generation. Lorna Campbell, from Trinty Gask in Scotland, came ten years ago. “I used to do vaulting and I was too old, and I’d seen it and it looked fun. I ended up getting a couple horses at home and continued.” She shows her talents at Agricultrual shows and Highland games. Unfortunately rodeo is illegal in Scotland, so she isn’t able to trick ride at those events.” Now the clinical trial monitor takes almost a month off to come over and visit and help train the next generation of trick riders. One of her trick riding friends, Mellissa Pfaff, from Broomfield, Colorado, started coming to the class when she was 15.

Mellissa has a BA, four Masters degrees and is midway through her PhD in Education. She teaches high school science and takes time out of her schedule to come every weekend and help. After learning the art, Mellissa went and trick rode all over the country and ended up working for Cavalia for a year and a half. “We worked all over the Us and Canada. “I keep coming back because I love teaching and Linda and Karen changed my life – I’m a better person – trick riding has led me to everywhere I’ve been in my life. It’s a part of my identity.”

 

The school is open to anyone seven years old and up and any level of experience. “We’ve had students as old 0as 48,” said Linda. “In the past, we’ve had several mothers who gave it a try.”

“It’s harder than it looks,” said Karen. “But by the end of every school, everyone has mastered at least one trick. “We have people from Wisconsin who say this is the best vacation we had as a family.”

Bob Brenner, from Pikes Peak Saddlery, comes one day during the school to help with straps and whatever the students need for the saddles, which belong to Karen and Linda. Linda brought all the horses.

The staff consists of Aaron and Isaac Johnson – brothers. Mellissa and her sister, Mimi, and Lorna, Cory Young, Aaron and Isaac’s mother, Debbie, is one of the cooks, along with Karen’s lifelong friends, Bobbie Fritz. Gail Shivelry also helps in the kitchen along with Cindy Robinson.
“We started this in the first place so the art wouldn’t die, and we’re still doing it,” said Karen. “We have really and truly a fabulous staff and they come back every year. I don’t know why they keep coming. Cory finds ways to share the Word through the avenue of trick riding. “We always have a church service at the last day of the school – It’s shocking when you see students that you had and they introduce you to their kids. It’s hard to imagine it’s been that many years.”