One of the littlest cowpokes waves a freshly-untied ribbon she took from the goat’s tail after riding in and dismounting her horse. The younger participants do the goat untying as a precursor to goat tying. Jeannette Benoit-Leipert Meridian Source
The Little Cowpokes Junior Rodeo Association celebrated another successful year of riding, roping and much more over the weekend, as finals took place in Vermilion.
Board member Kelsey Volz said it was a good year for the club, with 105 participants in total.
“It’s a really fun, welcoming place for all levels, just to come and grow and enjoy the sport,” said Volz.
“We have four age groups. There’s five and under, six to nine, and 10 to 12, and then 13 to 16.”
The Little Cowpokes usually host five or six rodeos in a season, each with timed events including barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying and team roping.
“We always have the two-day finals. We sometimes try to have it at Lea Park because it’s such a beautiful setting, but just honestly for ease of everything it worked out to be in Vermilion this year, which is perfect because it’s all really handy,” said Volz.
“It is nice to be outdoors sometimes, but the college is really generous and donates the facility which is great.”
The volunteers and sponsors are a very important part of what makes the Little Cowpokes Rodeos run smoothly.
“We absolutely have lots of good sponsors, which vary year to year,” said Volz, adding Lakeland College has been a very steady supporter of their association.
“Any kids’ sport, it’s easy to get sponsorship it seems. The prizes we gave out were just amazing; every kid went home with a prize even if they didn’t place or whatever, we make sure they still get a qualifier award.”
Volz and her husband and children have been involved with the Little Cowpokes Rodeos for about six years, and she said it’s been a great experience for her kids.
“I think the main thing is the camaraderie and the friendship between them. They cheer each other on,” said Volz.
“Most of them are entered into three to up to five or six events. So they can have a great barrel run and then a crappy pole run, you know like highs and lows but they try to just take the positives from it and move forward onto the next event.”
She said the rodeos also teach important life skills such as responsibility and time management.
“They don’t have very long between each event, so they have to be prepared, have their horse ready…they’re a cool bunch of kids, rodeo kids because they are definitely in charge of a lot of things,” said Volz.
“They have to look after their horses and their animals, and you know the kids who bring the steers or the goats … there’s different levels to it as well. Lots of responsibility, yeah.”
The Little Cowpokes are always looking for new participants, of any skill level to join their group.
“We are absolutely open to any kids, all levels are welcome and we just want to see each child grow. It’s not necessarily competitive amongst each other, it’s like how much you can grow with you and your horse throughout the season too,” said Volz.
“That would be our goal is to just make sure that we’re welcoming and inclusive—for sure.”
