Wild rodeo excites county

Rodeo fans packed the grandstands at the Mineral County Fairgrounds last weekend for the Superior Lion’s Club “Go for the Gold” Rodeo.

Throughout the various rodeo events, wound-up livestock kicked up dirt and knocked around riders and ropers alike.

For three nights, cowboys and cowgirls from all over Montana came to Superior for the rodeo. Barrel racer Haley Anderson came as far as Glendive in Eastern Montana.

Superior locals Travis Stroot, Kyle Ryan and Morgan Seeman all represented their hometown in their respected events.

Stroot competed in the saddle bronco riding, bull riding and wild cow milking. Ryan competed in the bull riding and Seeman competed in the tire down roping.

The rodeo crowd grew extra loud whenever the local cowboys would enter the area. Before Stroot broke out of the gate for the bull riding, fans shouted, “Go Travis” to show their support.

The weekend rodeo kicked off Thursday night with ladies barrel racing and pole bending. The barrels used in the barrel racing were coved in pink to support breast cancer awareness.

Libby Taylor, riding her horse Annie won the barrel racing Thursday with a time of 16.757 seconds. Abby Knight, riding Lanky, won the pole bending competition Thursday with a time of 21.056 seconds.

Before the events each night, the Rodeo Royalty galloped on their horses around the stage to be honored. This year, the Rodeo Princess was Kaylee Crabb. Nicole Stroot won Rodeo Princess and Rodeo Junior Princess was Ashley Blaylock.

After the Rodeo Royalty got the rodeo started, the National Anthem was sung and the royalty joined the local drill team for their routine. The drill team performed Friday and Saturday night.

Following the barrel racing and the pole bending Thursday night, the crowd-favorite event, wild cow milking stole the show.

Wild cow milking has been absent from the rodeo since the early 1990’s, but this year rodeo organizers thought it was time to bring it back. Six teams competed Thursday night.

Like something out of a slapstick silent film, teams of three chased a wild cow around the area dirt in an effort to milk it with a five-minute time limit.

Some teams easily stopped the cow and milked it, others had to give up and hop the nearest fence to avoid the angered cow.

Those teams that competed the first night include OK Café, Superior Septic, Superior Meats, Flyin H Ranch, 4 Aces and Superior Color and Lumber. OK Café’s team won Thursday with a time of 26.1 seconds, which is how long it took them to milk the cow once it was stopped.

Superior Color and Lumber would have had the best time, but the cow they chased was dry and nothing came out when they milked it.

Wild cow milking competitions continued throughout the rodeo weekend.

Friday night is when the bucking broncos and bulls came to the rodeo. Cowboys’ bodies snapped back and forth as they held on to the anxious animals. The cowboys shoot out of the shoots both Friday and Saturday nights for the events.

Bronco riding kicked off the rodeo events Friday and Saturday nights. Then steer wrestling, tie down roping and a calf scramble for kids followed. After those events, ladies barrel racing and junior barrel racing took place. All of which led up to the bull riding, that Beau Nordahl of Frenchtown won Saturday night with a score of 81.

The evenings ended with team roping, more bronco riding, bull riding and ladies and junior breakaway roping.

All the official scores from each event will be organized and released later this month. Scores are kept to determine if a rodeo competitor qualifies for the gold in the “Go for the Gold” Rodeo.

Each year, rodeo organizers put an ounce of gold into a pouch. A participant has to win an event at the rodeo three times to earn the gold pouch.

It is not yet confirmed if anyone earned the gold this year. Going into the rodeo, the pouch had nearly six ounces of gold.