OUT OF THE GATE
Rodeo de Santa Fe kicks off
Mia Ortega’s family owned a big dog not too long ago, one so big that it probably looked and felt a lot like a horse to a little kid like her. On Thursday night, Mia wished she had taken a few turns trying to ride that faithful family steed around the living room.
One of a dozen or so kids signed up for the nightly mutton bustin’ competition on opening night for the Rodeo de Santa Fe, Ortega drew one of the biggest cheers when she slid sideways off her randomly selected ride and landed safely in the groomed dirt of the arena’s south end.
“Never had a chance to ride the dog’s back, nope,” she said. “Since the sheep I was on had really short hair, it was hard to, like, find hair to grab onto. I kind of slipped off.”
But that was the least of her problems. Like every contestant, the majority of whom ranged from kindergarten to fourth grade, she was made to wear a protective leather vest and a hockey helmet.
“It was kind of tight and gave me a headache,” she said, her hair only slightly askew after collecting her complimentary belt buckle and red handkerchief. “It looked like fun and, yeah, my little brother did it so it can’t be that scary.”
Standing just to the side was Andres Ortega, 7, himself a proud owner of the nightly hardware.
Wednesday’s go-round was the first of a four-night run for the rodeo,
which celebrates its 69th rendition this week on Santa Fe’s south side. With nearly 700 professional rodeos taking place across the country every year, what sets this one apart is the odd combination of old-time nontraditional sports and the modern touristy feel Santa Fe provides.
At least 15 different state license plates were represented in the parking lot, some as far away as New Hampshire and Washington. Inside
were the usual haunts the Rodeo de Santa Fe provides; the smells of roasted meats and funnel cakes, along with the witty banter between public address announcer Dan Fowlie and the rodeo clowns.
It wasn’t a capacity crowd. Far from it, in fact. But the fans who were there took part in the traditional entrance of the rodeo royalty, plus a healthy rendition of the national anthem and a moment of silence for veterans.
The night’s events started with bareback riding and ended with plenty of barrel racing and bull riding.
Logan Corbett set the tone for the night. The first professional rider out of the chute, he rode the horse Olivia Pope to a prize-winning 83 points to take first place in the bareback.
The event included an appearance from one of the world’s top money
leaders, Luke Creasy of Hobbs, and a return of two-time Rodeo de Santa Fe champion Tolman Moore of Las Cruces.
Of course, the only thing that really matters to people watching is the the sight of an enraged animal charging out of the gate with a grown man on its back. The crowd got an early thrill when the top-earning rookie on the rodeo tour, Cody Strite, took his turn on the bull Desert Palms.
Strite made the most of it, but the real show was the huge and clearly agitated Desert Palms backing up slowly toward the center of the arena after the ride was finished. He had the look and feel of the classic bull getting ready to charge.
Across the arena, 6-year-old Dinen Boles took it all in. Another one of the mutton busters, he felt a little connection with the men and women who make a living riding animals. Just moments before, he was in that same arena clinging onto a sheep that came out of its pen at about the speed of an adult jogging down a sidewalk.
Decked out in a dark button-down shirt that still had a little dirt from his recent ride, he headed back to his family’s seats with the same keepsakes his fellow riders got.
“Well, the sheep had sand on its body and, like, a little piece got into my eye,” he said. “But it came out when I fell. That’s when I let go, when I came off and landed on the ground.”
And with that, the Rodeo de Santa Fe, with all its decades of tradition and history, is off and running once again.