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A group of kids demonstrated their cowpoke skills at the Sanders County Fairgrounds last weekend roping and riding as part of the Southwest Youth Rodeo Association competition.

Sixty-eight boys and girls participated in age classes from under 7 to 18 years old during the two-day event. The Plains competition was part of a youth rodeo circuit that started in Ramsey two weeks ago and will finish up with state competition in Butte on August 27. Last weekend's event drew youth from 20 Montana communities from Plains to White Sulphur Springs. They even had one girl from Eleva, Wisconsin, said Martha McClure, the rodeo director who coordinated the Plains competition.

McClure was the host for the Plains rodeo, but lends a hand in all 16 youth rodeos throughout the summer, something she's been doing for the last 17 years. Southwest Youth Rodeo Association is a nonprofit organization to get kids started in rodeo, said McClure. She also noted that some of the kids' parents are professional rodeo competitors.

The circuit starts each year in Ramsey and finishes up at the state finals at Butte, but Plains is her favorite arena, she said. This is the fifth year that McClure has hosted the rodeo at Plains. "Sanders County arena is such a nice arena. It's huge and has the ability to stall more horses," said McClure. In particular, she was extremely pleased with the help of Chris McGuigan, the fair manager, who kept the arena in shape throughout the two days.

Only two Sanders County residents took part in last weekend's rodeo. Josie Uski, 12, of Hot Springs participated Saturday in the barrel racing competition. Josie was not a member of the Southwest Youth Rodeo Association and did it just for fun. Her time in the barrel racing competition with "Pancho" was 29.34 seconds. Dan, her father, said she's considering taking part in more of the youth rodeos this year and looks forward to beating her Saturday time.

"She's just getting into it. Her and her horse are pretty green," said Dan, who added that she's thinking about entering more events next time, too. The competition had 11 different events from dummy roping for only younger kids to steer riding, although only Gavin Knutson of Polson signed up for the steer riding. The kids could get a maximum of 10 points at each event. Josie practices at an arena on her property in Hot Springs and other youth in the community have offered to help train her.

Josie competed only in the barrel racing, but most kids signed up for several events. McClure said that most of the participants go to all 16 rodeos throughout the season because it's an accumulative point system and the more points they acquire the better their chances are of taking top honors and a new custom made saddle in one of the four age groups.

Eight-year-old Sofia Dicken of Plains was the other local competitor, signing up for dummy roping, goat tying, barrel racing, pole bending, and flag racing. Her father, Jesse, said this was her first youth rodeo, but she plans to compete in the rest of the circuit. Jesse recently got out of the U.S. Navy and plans to open a saddle shop in Ronan.

Ed Moreth

SHARP TURN – Josie Uski of Hot Springs rounds a corner during the Southwest Youth Rodeo Association barrel racing competition. Josie finished with a time of 29.34 seconds.

Sofia didn't get any points for her three tries at the dummy roping on Saturday, but collected four points on Sunday. The horse she was using Saturday broke pattern during the pole bending competition, disqualifying her, but on Sunday she used a different horse and did it in 43 seconds. Her Saturday barrel racing finished with a time of 48 seconds and on Sunday she did it in 52.57 seconds. Her goat tying time on Saturday was 26.59 seconds; on Sunday, it was 28 seconds. Her time in the flag racing contest was 10.42 seconds and on Sunday she did it in 10.9 seconds.

"My horse actually listened to me on Sunday. He wasn't much faster, but at least he listened to me," said Sofia.

McClure said the kids usually do better as the season progresses and many of them are experienced competitors, although there were a handful of children last weekend that had never competed. "Some of these kids have been doing rodeo since they could ride," said McClure. She said the maximum age is 18, but there's no minimum age limit. "If they can sit on a horse, they can compete," said McClure, who had two children competing last weekend.

The next Southwest Youth Rodeo Association competition is scheduled for Choteau July 15-16.