Kole Yeomans shoved his black cowboy hat lower and tighter on his head, partially obscuring his eyes. He raised his right hand in the air, gripped hard with his left and gave a barely perceptible nod.
Yeomans came out of the gates atop a hard-bucking bronco. After surviving the required eight seconds atop the horse, he safely dismounted.
Seventy-five points for the 25-year-old from Mancos.
“It’s just like riding a colt back home,” he said.
Yeomans was one participant in early July’s edition of the True West Rodeo, a new event this summer held about every two weeks at the La Plata County Fairgrounds.
Bankrolled by local sponsors and backed by the family of Al Harper and the Durango & Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, the True West Rodeo preserves a bit of the Wild West in Durango. Young cowboys and cowgirls come from places like Rico and Bloomfield, New Mexico, into an increasingly urban-feeling Durango.
John Harper started the rodeo this year with the backing of his father, Al, owner of the historic railroad. John Harper serves as business development officer at the railroad and owns True West Rodeo. First National Bank of Durango signed on as the main sponsor.
“The whole reason why we started is really to bring our Western heritage to Durango, Colorado,” John Harper said.
The first True West Rodeo was June 4. The remaining events are today, July 30 and Aug. 17.
The most recent rodeo July 2 drew 501 paying customers. Attendance has grown at each event.
Rodeos have come and gone in Durango.
Jeff and Linda Mannix ran a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association-sanctioned rodeo two nights a week during summer from 1989 until selling to an Alamosa company in 2000. The Alamosa company ran the rodeo for only a year or two before quitting.
Fiesta Days holds an annual rodeo at the fairgrounds. This year’s rodeo is coming up July 24-27.
True West Rodeo has all the ingredients of contemporary Western culture, with dashes of patriotism and religion, big trucks and country music.
For the participants, it’s an adrenaline rush. As in sprinting or ski jumping, athletes train for months or years for events that last seconds.
“It’s fun. It’s a break from your normal day,” said Marc Miller from Rico, a comparative rodeo veteran at age 27. “Everybody loves a good ol’ bucking horse.”
Rodeo can be dangerous, for the riders and the horses. In 2011, Michael Cody of Durango, then 28, broke his neck riding a bull at a Farmington rodeo and was paralyzed from the waist down.
Many riders have tales of significant injuries. Corey Lefebre of Bloomfield was bucked off a horse and suffered damage to his ACL and meniscus. He had two knee surgeries and endured a 17-month recovery. He was back at the June 2 rodeo to compete in bronco riding.
Rodeo also comes under criticism from animal-rights activists who believe some common rodeo practices are cruel. Calf-roping draws much of the scrutiny. True West Rodeo practices a version called breakaway roping that is regarded as a more humane alternative. The rope breaks, allowing the calf to run off instead of being jarred to a halt, flipped over and tied, as in traditional calf-roping.
At the July 2 rodeo, shortly after the event began, a 5-year-old bronco went down in a cloud of dust a moment after bucking off its rider.
The horse appeared to lose its balance and fall in the north end of the arena. The rider, Tanner Lockhart, a high school state champion from Dolores, was momentarily dazed but then ran over to help. The crowd went quiet as the horse was picked up by a front-end loading tractor and hustled into a horse trailer.
J.W. Kinder, a traveling announcer, talked the crowd through the incident during the downtime:
“The safety of our livestock ... we love our animals. ... He is somewhat hurt. ... Right now, that animal does not feel like he needs to move. ... It occurs just like a crash at a NASCAR event – somebody hits a wall.”
The horse had broken its back and later was euthanized, rodeo representatives confirmed.
The horse was provided by Bucking H Rodeo of Gobernador, New Mexico. The stock contracting company is owned by Richard and Bethany Hodgson, and their son Caleb works in the family business.
John Harper expressed his regrets for the horse’s death.
“It’s part of doing rodeo,” he said. “Things do happen. However much we try to avoid them, sometimes we can’t. My heart goes out to Bucking H Rodeo and the Hodgson family.”
The rodeo went on.
As a new event, True West Rodeo attracts some inexperienced riders, including raw rookies. Sixteen-year-old Chase Suckla of Cortez rode a ranch bronco in competition for the first time. He works as a cowboy at his family’s ranch.
Chase was bucked off before the necessary eight seconds to qualify expired, and he went to the ground briefly.
In a later interview, he said he intends to keep riding. The young cowboy plans to compete in tonight’s rodeo.
“I’m going to get on it again,” he said.
cslothower@durangoherald.com
If you go
What: True West Rodeo
When: 7 p.m. today, July 30 and Aug. 17
Where: La Plata County Fairgrounds, 2500 Main Ave., Durango
Tickets: $16 for adults, $11 for children. Kids age 4 and younger are free.
For more information, visit www.truewestrodeo.com
