Call it beginner’s luck! The first time he’s shown in the open reining division at the Del Mar National Horse Show’s Western Week, Bob Avila won the Pacific Coast Horseman’s Association Championship aboard Juarez Whiz. “He’s a very nice horse,” Avila said of the nine-year-old gelding, owned by Ken Banks of Chulenberg, Texas. “We don’t [...]
The West winds were blowing up a gust. The posse was just riding in as tumbleweeds wheeled on the edge of town. As you turned the corner, the blacksmith’s hammer chimed over the noise of the crowds that gathered outside shops and meandering down Main Street. Santa Clarita, circa the 1800’s. None of those new-fangled [...]
The second annual Palm Springs WestFest and Frank Bogert Memorial PRCA Rodeo, presented by Spa Resort Casino, rode into town on March 25-27. Former mayor Frank Bogert was a cowboy and a celebrated rodeo whose statue adorns the commons area in front of Palm Springs City Hall. WestFest and the rodeo in Bogert’s honor were [...]
Waving one hand in the air, blood pumping with adrenaline, 21-year-old California cowgirl Kaylynn Pellam whirls astride a spinning bull. She doesn’t make the eight seconds required to qualify her for the next round, and flies to the ground. But she dusts herself off and prepares to ride another day. “God made dirt, and dirt [...]
Trail fans are invited to join the “Best of America by Horseback” cast as they film an episode for RFD-TV in Norco, aka “Horsetown USA,” May 6–8. There’ll be three days of riding through the Hidden Valley Wildlife Preserve, past the historic Lake Norconian and Norconian Hotel, and over the scenic hills of western Riverside [...]
Trevor Brazile smiled from ear to ear, pumped his fist to the crowd and walked out of the Thomas & Mack Center arena with his second Triple Crown in four years. The Decatur, TX, cowboy won the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo tie-down roping average and finished second with partner Patrick Smith in the team roping [...]
Spectators showed up in droves for the Anaheim Invitational, the third event in the “Built Ford Tough Bull Riding Series,” nearly filling the Honda Center, Jan. 21–22. Silvano Alves took top honors in the championship round on a bull named Hawaiian Ivory, and had the highest point average for the four rounds: 946.25, with total [...]
The charro arena, located at the west end of the Hansen Dam Equestrian Center in Lake View Terrace, is normally a quiet, dusty, even mysterious place. But on July 25 it was anything but. Five hours of fast action, south-of-the-border family entertainment featuring brave bulls, charros y charras, song, brass bands and mariachi strings, and, of course, gorgeous Spanish [...]
Ron Emmons took first and second place in the Magnificent Seven stock horse competition at the 12th Annual Western States Horse Expo, which took place June 11–13 in Sacramento. The rider, of Ione, CA, was named All Around Stock Horse Champion amassing $10,528 in winnings aboard Olena Oak, owned by Mel Smith and Nichole Scott. [...]
