Lucky 7 Rodeos of Ignacio brought its brand of entertainment to the Montezuma County Fair for the first time on Friday and Saturday.
This years fair kicked off in style with the Bares, Broncs and Bulls Rodeo, which featured young local cowboys and wranglers from across the Four Corners. Many of the participants were amateurs, but some professionals also showcased their skills at Bob Banks Memorial Arena. One of which was arena favorite Darrell Triplett of Waterflow, N.M. The saddle bronc rider calls Bob Banks Memorial Arena his home field, so to speak.
The horse (Charlie Brown), Ive had him before. Ive got along great with him before. Tonight, it just worked a little bit better, said Triplett, who came in second in saddle bronc to Branden Biebell. As far as coming back here, I really like this place.
In total, 66 participants competed at the two-day rodeo that saw rain nearly every waking minute. But the moisture made for a softer, muddy landing. The top-three placers in the first-go round of each event advanced to the second-go, except in open bull riding where the top-five advanced. A total purse of $7,350 was awarded.
Overall, the first Bares, Broncs and Bulls Rodeo was a success.
The (Montezuma County) fair board called us and wanted to put on a rodeo, said Ty Hawkins, the Lucky 7 Rodeos director. Weve already talked about it being an annual deal. Were talking about next year already.
Lucky 7 Rodeos is a traveling stock contractor that organizes rodeos in four different states. Hawkins feels the rodeo stock did well at the Montezuma County Fairgrounds.
For horse riders, we bucked 15 head of horses. We bucked about 25 head of bulls total and we had a slew of mutton busters. Its about a two and a half hour show, and thats about where we want it, he said.
Other events at the rodeo included, bareback horse riding, and novice and open bull riding. A new event was welcomed to the Lucky 7 Rodeo slate, the mini buckers. Smaller sized bulls were brought in from Albuquerque, N.M., by Sullivan Bucking Bulls.
Kids aged 9 to 14 competed as mini buckers. Some went eight seconds, and some fell face first in the mud. Ray Black was the top mini bucker, followed by Trey Meyer in second.
Fome Smith and John Killian were the top two in bareback, and Wyatt Baton and Thomas Natsway claimed first and second in novice bull riding.
The final event of each night was the big open bulls. Local favorite Tim Jeter took top honors each night to win the event. The Garden City (Kan.) Community College bull rider went home with $780 in winnings, but it definitely came with a price during the second-go on Saturday night. Jeter sat on High Roller for the final time and the bull really made the stakes high at the Lucky 7 Rodeo. As the two came out of the chute, Jeter fell off High Rollers back after a couple seconds and was carried alongside, while being dragged across the hardened dirt. When Jeter got loose, High Roller gave the cowboy a stomp to his back. Jeter was able to get up and make it back to the chute where he collapsed in obvious pain.
He just kind of yanked me down over his head. He had a lot of power. He was just a really good bull. I just lost my footing when he tried to yank me down over the front, Jeter said while sitting down.
The Cortez cowboy is as tough as they come and the remaining crowd cheered him on and let out a major sigh of relief when he walked away from High Roller.
I wasnt planning on entering, and then I heard about it. I was at 88 points last (Friday) night and then I won tonight. It was a pretty good weekend, Jeter said.
Jeter will finish college pretty soon and then he plans to hit the pro Championship Bull Riding and Pro Bull Riding circuits.
Reach Bobby Abplanalp at [email protected].
