Womens rodeo honors RHRA

By Ryan Howard (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published 11:23 a.m., January 11, 2010

It is a commitment to excellence that made Fergus Falls’ own Red Horse Ranch Rodeo the winner of the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association of America’s (WPRA) award for the 2009 Small Committee Event of the Year, and owner Leigh Barry said that same commitment will only improve the Red Horse Ranch Arena in the years ahead.

The arena’s annual rodeo is a full Professional Rodeo Cowboys of America (PRCA) affair, boasting events as varied as barrel racing, bull riding, steer wrestling and more. The award, according to the WPRA’s Web site, is given to “recognize those partners who have gone out of their way to encourage, spotlight and appreciate the WPRA membership.” A small committee event is one that offers under $5,000 in prize money. Barry speculated that what set the Red Horse Ranch Arena’s rodeo apart was the attention to detail.

“We make sure the ground is right [and that] all of the conditions are even for our competitors,” Barry said. The arena also provides good accommodations, meals for competitors, VIP seating, quality stalls and other little things that Barry identified as points of pride for the arena.

Candy Olson, the events coordinator for the arena, seconded Barry, calling the 5-year-old arena “a wonderful facility.” She explained that the arena’s goal was to add something new every year, be it more VIP seating, better prizes or more spectacular specialty acts.

The arena’s coming year will see a big name in rodeo entertainment gallop into town: The Priefert Percherons, a team of eight huge draft horses which perform exciting stagecoach acts around the arena. “They perform at all the big rodeos,” Olson said.

The arena’s rodeo also placed third in the WPRA and Justin Boot’s Justin Best Footing Award for the Great Lakes area. The award is given to the rodeos who have provided the safest ground for barrel racing.

Olson explained the arena’s process in making the ground safe. “At our second rodeo, we had 4 1/2 inches of rain in the first hour,” she said. To avoid standing water, the staff of the arena created a kind of incline on part of the grounds and tiled a small section underneath the dirt in order drain off excess moisture.

Beyond that, the surface that the competitors ride on needs to be just right. “At horsing events, you’re only as good as your ground,” Olson said. The ground in the arena is a carefully mixed, moisture regulated combination of sand, clay, dirt and topsoil. If any of the ingredients are out of proportion or if the entire mixture is not deep enough, the ground could become too slippery and more dangerous.

Barry added that while the outside sections of the arena are even harder to maintain, the staff is up to the task. “We pay real close attention to our ground.”

While the two recognitions are certainly nice for the arena, both Olson and Barry said that they were focused on moving forward. This year’s rodeo is partnering with the PRCA to provide more prize money, and the hope is that more top competitors will follow.

There have already been some successes on that front. The National Finals Rodeo (NFR) No. 5 bull rider and No. 3 steer wrestler have competed at the Red Horse Ranch Rodeo, and two of the top 10 female barrel racers have also won events there.

“Our dream is to make it like a small NFR rodeo right here in Fergus Falls,” Olson said, adding that she knows that there are some local residents who would travel to places like Texas or Wyoming to see a rodeo but who have never been to the Red Horse Ranch Arena. “Our rodeo is just as good if not better than any of the rodeos they travel across the country to see.”

Barry said his main hope is to see a enthusiastic audience and a stellar event every rodeo season. “We’re looking forward to seeing everybody next year,” he said. “Hopefully it’s bigger and better.”

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