Your future, our focus
Trying to stay aboard a bucking horse for 8 seconds is challenging enough, but in muddy conditions in pouring rain the odds go up.
But Jesse Nelson truly enjoyed the 9th second after capturing the bareback riding event for Northwest College at the Miles Community College Rodeo last week.
A moment after describing how miserable the conditions were, the Trappers’ top rider in that competition realized something else.
“Actually, it seems like whenever it rains I do well,” Nelson said of the one out of 20 horses he climbs aboard in precipitation.
The Northwest men placed third in the seven-team rodeo. The Northwest women placed fourth out of six teams.
Nelson and Shelby Mann in breakaway roping, were the two individual Trapper winners.
“It was a mess out there,” Trapper coach Del Nose said. “She (Mann) was the only one who caught at the end.”
There was a bit of decent weather and one day of monsoon.
“It was pretty cold,” Nelson said. “It was 40 degrees in the rain. I was soaked to the bone.”
Worse, the heavy rain left his rigging and handle completely wet and he had to adjust.
It wasn’t clear just what to expect from the horse Nelson drew either. It was a young colt, making it already unpredictable. Throw in muddy circumstances and the footing made things more iffy.
On the men’s side Casey Fredericks was second in bull riding, and team roping partners Lane Lahaye and Shawn Bird were fifth. Bubba Boots and Levi Mydland went five-six in tie-down roping.”
For the women, Taylor Werbelow was fifth in barrel racing and Tori Lewis was sixth in goat tying.
There are two more rodeos left in the 2015-16 season and the Trappers have a chance to qualify as a team for the College Finals Rodeo, but must perform well at the University of Montana event this week and in Great Falls the first week in May.
“We’re full steam ahead,” Nose said. “We’ve got to roll and roll hard. We can’t stub our toes. I’m excited to see what happens.”