Published: April 25, 2009 02:15 pm      

Kentucky Junior Rodeo comes to Richmond

A Kentucky Junior Rodeo Association (KJRA) event will be conducted Friday through Sunday, May 1-3, at the Madison County Fairgrounds.

Rodeo weekend begins Friday with a fundraising open horse show with pole and barrel classes for youth and adults, and continues with two days of rodeo competition by KJRA competitors, grades K-8. The funds raised will go to the KJRA to help promote this and similar rodeos for youths across the state.

The Friday night show, sanctioned by the International Barrel Racing Association (IBRA), is likely to attract top runners. Central Kentucky is famous for its pole benders and barrel racers who win at the most elite levels of competition.

At the end of last season, five Madison County horses were ranked in the top five in the nation in poles and barrels. While there are sure to be some thrilling runs, all riders are welcome to turn out and support youth rodeo.

Junior Rodeo will run Saturday and Sunday, including traditional rodeo events. Despite the Spanish name, rodeo is an original American sport that traces its roots to the early days of the American west. The Spanish verb “rodear” means “to encircle” and rodeo sports are based on the skills cowboys use to round up cattle and work livestock. Through its sports, dress code and culture, the KJRA strives to “keep the Western heritage alive.”

The youth will compete in classes, including bull riding, saddle bronc riding, chute dogging, mutton bustin’, goat tying, roping and steer wrestling. Mutton bustin’ is a sheep version of bull riding for younger riders, and chute dogging is a kind of steer wrestling.

Riders also will run barrels and poles, more stylized rodeo events that showcase the tight turns, quick shifts and rapid acceleration that horses need to work stock.

The Quarter Horse is the ultimate cowboy horse, and three members of the Madison County Quarter Horse Association (MCQHA) will compete in Richmond. Haley Fauste, a third-grader from Cynthiana, was the KJRA “All-Around Champion Cowgirl” for Division IA last year. Bethany Gray, a third-grader from Waco, and Jaley Olds, a first-grader from Richmond, are competing in the Junior Rodeo for their first time.

Local organizers are excited about bringing the rodeo to Richmond. Junior Rodeo is especially popular in Western Kentucky, where most rodeos are conducted, and the KJRA hopes to involve more Kentucky youth in the sport as part of its mission to “insure future generations maintain Kentucky’s tradition of equestrian excellence.”

More than 40 local businesses and organizations have contributed goods, services and more than $3,000 to support local cowgirls and cowboys and help produce the event.

For more information, call www.mcqha.com or call Kim Olds at 661-3229.



Details:

— Open Horse Show: Friday, May 1 beginning at 7:30 p.m. Free admission for spectators.

— Rodeo events: Saturday, May 2, beginning at 11 a.m. and Sunday, May 3, at 9 a.m. Admission is $6 for adults and $3 for children.