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Children get 'natural high' at rodeo
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| Avrial Billings, 6, Klamath Falls, struggles to hang on to a sheep Saturday in the Mutton Bustin' event at the Klamath Treaty Days Open Youth Rodeo in Chiloquin. Billings, who has been riding for three years, will be a first grader at Ferguson Elementary School in the fall. |
Published August 24, 2003
By BRIAN COLE
CHILOQUIN - Everyone from tots to teens had their moment.
Whether it was mutton bustin' for 6-year-old Avrial Billings or bull riding for Evan Ferns, 14, rodeo activities filled the afternoon at the Chiloquin Rodeo Grounds Saturday.
The Klamath Treaty Days Open Youth Rodeo had children galloping stick horses along in a barrel racing event, and boys in their late teens racing wild colts.
"It gets them involved in a sport that gives them a natural high, not a high from drugs and alcohol," said Taylor David, a rodeo official and public information specialist for the Klamath Tribes.
Ferns only recently started riding bulls, but already has the bug.
The Henley High School freshman lives in Rocky Point, and spends many Sundays at the Chuck Reed Bucking Rodeo, in Beatty.
Instead of pick-up basketball at an asphalt playground with the jocks, Ferns is among the Klamath Basin youth who would rather strap onto a beast that could weigh up to 2,000-pounds - and hang on as long as he can.
Ferns is philosophical about the danger of his sport.
"It's not if you get hurt," he said. "But when, and how bad."
Ferns coach, Klamath Falls concrete worker Rusty McIntyre, 29, reminds him to lean forward on the bull, and dig his spurs into the animal. But he knows that technique is a minor part of riding bulls.
"It's 90 percent mental, and 10 percent technique," McIntyre said. A bull rider simply cannot allow fear to crowd into his mind.
Last month, a bull stepped on Ferns at an event in Central Point. "It knocked the wind out of me," he said. "I got up and shook it off."
Next year Ferns plans to join the Oregon High School Rodeo Association, he said.
McIntyre, 29, drives to Rocky Point on Sundays to pick up Ferns for the trip to Beatty. He coaches several other boys.
"He's starting out real well," McIntyre said of Ferns. "He listens well. I think he'll do well."
McIntyre said rodeo is a good thing for boys to do if they like animals. "It keeps them out of trouble because you're always going somewhere," he said. "It's really family oriented. I think that's very important."
Mutton bustin' sheep-rider Daine Taylor, 5, likes the sheep. In fact, he won a pair of leather chaps at a previous rodeo.
But he can't wait to ride a young steer. However, he'll have to wait until he's 7.
By BRIAN COLE
CHILOQUIN - Everyone from tots to teens had their moment.
Whether it was mutton bustin' for 6-year-old Avrial Billings or bull riding for Evan Ferns, 14, rodeo activities filled the afternoon at the Chiloquin Rodeo Grounds Saturday.
The Klamath Treaty Days Open Youth Rodeo had children galloping stick horses along in a barrel racing event, and boys in their late teens racing wild colts.
"It gets them involved in a sport that gives them a natural high, not a high from drugs and alcohol," said Taylor David, a rodeo official and public information specialist for the Klamath Tribes.
Ferns only recently started riding bulls, but already has the bug.
The Henley High School freshman lives in Rocky Point, and spends many Sundays at the Chuck Reed Bucking Rodeo, in Beatty.
Instead of pick-up basketball at an asphalt playground with the jocks, Ferns is among the Klamath Basin youth who would rather strap onto a beast that could weigh up to 2,000-pounds - and hang on as long as he can.
Ferns is philosophical about the danger of his sport.
"It's not if you get hurt," he said. "But when, and how bad."
Ferns coach, Klamath Falls concrete worker Rusty McIntyre, 29, reminds him to lean forward on the bull, and dig his spurs into the animal. But he knows that technique is a minor part of riding bulls.
"It's 90 percent mental, and 10 percent technique," McIntyre said. A bull rider simply cannot allow fear to crowd into his mind.
Last month, a bull stepped on Ferns at an event in Central Point. "It knocked the wind out of me," he said. "I got up and shook it off."
Next year Ferns plans to join the Oregon High School Rodeo Association, he said.
McIntyre, 29, drives to Rocky Point on Sundays to pick up Ferns for the trip to Beatty. He coaches several other boys.
"He's starting out real well," McIntyre said of Ferns. "He listens well. I think he'll do well."
McIntyre said rodeo is a good thing for boys to do if they like animals. "It keeps them out of trouble because you're always going somewhere," he said. "It's really family oriented. I think that's very important."
Mutton bustin' sheep-rider Daine Taylor, 5, likes the sheep. In fact, he won a pair of leather chaps at a previous rodeo.
But he can't wait to ride a young steer. However, he'll have to wait until he's 7.
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