News and Notes from the Rodeo Trail, April 18
by ProRodeo.com | Apr 18, 2016
The RAM Mountain States Circuit Finals Rodeo is moving to the Ranch Events Complex in Loveland, Colo., later this year. The Oct. 27-29 rodeo includes the top 12 contestants in each event from Colorado and Wyoming. The event was most recently held in Rock Springs, Wyo., and returns to Colorado for the first time in years. “After five great years in Rock Springs, Wyoming, the Mountain States Circuit will open a new chapter,” said Guy Warpness, president of the Mountain States Circuit. “We would like to send a very sincere ‘thank you’ to the Sweetwater Events Complex and their staff for everything they have done over the last five years to promote and support the circuit and the sport of rodeo. Change is not always easy, but we are excited to enter into a new partnership with The Ranch, Larimer County (Colo.), Loveland and Fort Collins.”
The Cody (Wyo.) Stampede has received a jump-start $173,000 grant from the Shoshone Recreation District for a wide-ranging project at Stampede Park leading to construction, in stages, of a new, 1,000-plus seat indoor arena. Work should begin soon on nine acres of the empty parcel of land along West Yellowstone Ave. generally used only for overflow Cody Stampede Rodeo parking over the Fourth of July. The unveiling of the plan comes with the caveat that an additional $1 million-plus must be raised.
2011 Bull Riding World Champion Shane Proctor hosted his seventh annual bull riding clinic in his hometown of Grand Coulee, Wash., April 13. Proctor gave instruction to 40 bull riders, which included taking them through stretches and exercises and showing them proper riding technique.
A large crowd gathered at the Growney Ranch south of Red Bluff, Calif., April 13 to enjoy a good meal and raise money during the Round-Up and Rotary Club Tough Enough to Wear Pink Fundraiser Luncheon. The event’s live auction and ticket sales raised around $6,000, which goes to local efforts to fight breast cancer, including free mammograms to those who can’t afford it otherwise. PRCA barrelman Clinton “Wolfey” Selvester was sold for $100 in the auction, and kept the crowd laughing with his antics. The luncheon was one of several events that took place last week in preparation for the April 15-17 Red Bluff Round-Up.
The Longview (Texas) PRCA Rodeo hosted a Chicks ’n Chaps event April 16, designed to get more women interested in rodeo. PRCA bullfighter Rudy Burns was one of the instructors for the event, which also helps to raise awareness for breast cancer.
Charles Sampson, the 1982 bull riding world champion, spoke at the “Beat the Odds” event April 16 at the Bannock County Fairgrounds in Pocatello, Idaho. The event helped raise funds for Fawn Wright, a Pocatello victim of an accident last summer. Sampson, a 1996 ProRodeo Hall of Fame inductee, made his last professional bull ride in Pocatello in 1994, and was happy to return and try to help bring attention to the event. “If my name brings out three or four people, then that helps the program, so hopefully people support the Wright family,” he said.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“The first thing that came to my mind when I saw I had Raggidy Ann was ‘winner’s circle.’ Everybody that’s been on that horse has had a lot of luck and won a lot of money, so I was tickled to have her.”
-Bareback rider Mason Clements, who won the Red Bluff (Calif.) Round-Up with an 88- point ride on Growney Brothers Rodeo’s Raggidy Ann, sharing his thoughts with the Redding Record Searchlight
Courtesy of PRCA