... CPRA Stock Talk cont... “I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to ride broncs at the pro level, and that I’d need another year in the novice to get my bronc riding where I wanted ir,” he said. “I don’t want to give up on the bronc riding, so this will help.” Interestingly, Garrett’s father Darren started riding sad - dle broncs later in his rodeo career, attending a Byron Kelts bronc riding school at the age of 22. Although he would have been past novice eligibility, having already been competing as a fully carded timed event compet - itor, Darren felt much like Girletz in that he couldn’t continue learning the event at the pro level. The quality of stock at the pro level was as much a deterrent then as it still is today, as Darren felt he “wouldn’t be able to handle Zippy Delivery”, further driving home how much harder it becomes for someone deciding to develop a rough stock event alongside of their current event, as compared to a timed event. While this rule change solves one problem for up and coming competitors, many other factors may convince rodeo athletes to shy away from competing full time in more than one event. As the elder Zieffle pointed
out, “When you compete in multiple events at one end or the other, it’s hard, but when you start to combine events at both ends, the traveling and entering gets really tricky.” On top of that, Girletz believes the growth of the junior high and high school rodeo programs leaves many contestants further along in their development at the timed event end than the rough stock end, which can carry on at the pro level. “If you looked at the guys who were dual event com - petitors in high school rodeo and the amateur ranks but picked one event at the pros, it was often a timed event,” he added. “We hope to help make the decision to keep entering both easier.” The most obvious factors come down to the time and cost to practice and perform at a high level in more than one event, but the prestige of winning either the All Around or Kenny McLean award will push people to keep trying. Rodeo official and Board members are con - fident the rule change will let more cowboys hone their skills in a rough stock event at the novice level while competing in their main event at the pro level.
Canadian Rodeo News – May, 2024 – 38
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator