Boots and Saddles

The Phillips County Saddle Club held the second Boots and Saddles Rodeo event of the season last Saturday, August 12 at the Trafton Rodeo Arena.

"Today has been a great day," said Lori Meeks of the Phillips County Saddle Club. "We have a great turnout, beautiful weather and lots of food being sold today."

It was the first time this season that the event was held at Trafton Arena. The first was held in June at the Milk River Pavilion due to high temperatures and the second event scheduled for mid-June was eventually cancelled due to temperatures surpassing 100 degrees.

"We cancelled the last one because the temperatures were too hot," Meeks said.

She also shared the benefit of having the Boots and Saddles Rodeo at Trafton Park, instead of having it indoors.

"It's great," Meeks said. "It gets lots of people coming out. Probably more people than the Pavilion. It's a beautiful day for every age to be out here."

At the event, five-year-old Cayden Chapman of Havre, showed a lot of control with her horse in the six and under key races.

After making her first left turn to form the key pattern, her horse almost took her too deep and upon exiting the pole, the horse nearly went outside of the pole, but young Cayden got her horse to stop and backpedal before taking it home.

She shared how she was able to do so well in her time of adversity.

"Because I went back through it," she said. "I turned her rein (or around) and went through it."

Chapman admitted that the key race is her favorite event.

"Because you just have to go through it," Chapman said.

Though the key race is her favorite she admitted that her best event that day was in the barrel races, though she did not recall her time.

She shared what makes a perfect barrel run.

"You just have to run to that barrel and go to the next barrel, go to the third barrel and come back home," Chapman said.

The Boots and Saddles Rodeo brings children from all over Eastern Montana, but the event brings in from Central Montana as well.

One of those from the center of the state includes ten-year-old Jayden Murnion of Grass Range.

"It's not really about the prizes," Murnion said. "It's just to have fun and be safe and all that."

His favorite Boots event is pole bending.

"It's kind of the hardest," Murnion said. "If you watch people do it, you learn so much."

Murnion enjoys watching other riders but does not have a favorite.

"I don't have a favorite because they are pretty much all good," he said.

He watches his fair share of Professional Bull Riders and does have a favorite bull rider.

"Connor Murnion," Murnion said. "He's kind of like a friend of mine. I saw him at the Lewistown Fair Rodeo."

Jayden rides a ten-year-old quarter horse named Lucy. Lucy has been ridden by both of Jayden's parents in previous events.

"I've been riding horses since I was five or six," Murnion said.