Stickin’ with it at the rodeo
Children learn, demonstrate skills for a delightful time
By Katie Roenigk
Staff Writer

It is not always about horses and steers at the Fremont County Fair and Rodeo.
Sometimes, competitors ride stick horses and rope plastic steers — especially if they are involved in the Kids Stick Horse Rodeo.
The event took place in two sessions Friday afternoon, with children roping and racing and doing barrels and the bucking shoot.
It was quite a thrill for the young ones who whooped, hollered and rode their stick horses with all of their might.
“I did nuts!” Connor Shoopman, 3, said after his round of barrel racing.
Another boy ran to his mom after his turn, and she gave him a big smile and told him he did a good job.
Nathan Mills, 5, of Riverton, won the roping event, during which fair princess Tia Hampton showed him how to aim at the back of the steer’s head. After a little bit of practice, his lasso came to fall around the steer’s horns.
His mother Mara Mills said they entered the competition for fun, but if Nathan is interested he probably could get into live-animal competitions in the future.
“He loved it, and he wants to do more next year,” she said. “He’s my little cowboy.”
Claudette C’Bearing of Riverton said her son Darian Augustine, 3, has a penchant for cowboying too.
“We already have the hat, boots and glove,” she said. “When we go to the video store he only wants to rent cowboy movies.”
Augustine showed off the stance he planned to use when riding a bucking bronco, and when he ran the barrels on his stick horse he waved his hat in the air with gusto.
“I want to ride big bulls,” he said. “I want to be a cowboy.”
Lauri Shoopman, who helped organize the annual event, said it is meant to let small children, who cannot yet compete in the grand arena, learn the ropes of rodeo.
“You don’t have to be a country boy to enjoy rodeo,” she said.