Not your average athletes

Athletes, both human and equine, play a big role in who wins and who loses in the arena, but a rodeo team’s horsemanship and care for their equine team members is often what brings home buckles.

Horses depend on their owners to provide them care and look after their well-being. Team members rely on their horses to compete and do their best in the arena.

Each rider has their own horse to care for and must do so both in and out of rodeo season, requiring a significant investment of time and money. 

According to CSC Head Rodeo Coach Dustin Luper, a typical barrel racing horse might cost anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000, and a roping horse could go for more. 

That’s just the beginning, and doesn’t account for the thousands of dollars it can cost raising and training a horse for competition. 

Once trained, Luper says it’s typical for a performance horse to cost a rider about $1.50 per day as cowboys and cowgirls are responsible for maintaining the health and performance of the horse, as well as boarding and  transporting it to and from competition and practice.

Despite the cost and care, many cowboys and cowgirls believe it’s worth the effort.

Dusty is a 13-year old smoky buckskin owned and ridden by CSC team roper Tate Petrak a junior of Martin, South Dakota. At the age of three, Dusty was purchased by Petrak’s family. After six years of being a ranch horse, Dusty was trained to be a heel horse, and heeling and roping has been his job ever since.

“With hay and fuel it’s about $300 a week, roughly,” says Petrak of competition related costs. He says he spends around $1,200 a year in feed, tack, and board.

More than just daily maintenance, Petrak is also financially responsible for Dusty’s health, and maintains insurance on him just in case the worst might happen. 

Petrak says his veteranarian bill, barring the unexpected, typically runs about $200 a year.

“It’s worth every dime. Not many students get to bring their horse to college,” Petrak says.

The game means more than money, though, Dusty’s care takes time.

“I’m with him four days a week,” Petrak said. “I take him out to excersise him so he doesn’t get sore stading in the pen. And we practice twice a week at the college barn.”

Like many rodeo horses, Dusty is reliable. The time spent with his horse helps Petrak ensure he stays that way.

“Trust is the best quality in a rodeo horse. If you have trust that is what binds you together as partners,” Petrak said. “I know when I ask him something and he does it, he trusts me and does his job. Then it all comes together as a partnership.” 

Another equine member of the CSC rodeo team, Virginia a 11-year old Quarter Horse mare, registered as HPQ Sneaky Virginia and owned and ridden by CSC cowgirl Quincy Segelke a sophomore of Douglas, Wyoming. 

“She was a renegade,” Segelke says of the horse she and her family raised. “She was hard to break.”

Despite setbacks early in her life, the mare has always been close to the Segelke family’s heart and is named after Quincy’s grandmother. 

Like her sister before her, Segelke has found success riding Virginia at the High School Rodeo Finals, and making it to the College National Finals Rodeo last season. 

“Sometimes she can be grumpy,” Segelke says of Virginia’s personality. “She is very serious and knows her job.”

Segelke said she believes that business-like personality and having the heart to play the game, is what every rodeo horse needs. “Like a basketball player, you have to like what you do,” Segelke says. “A horse needs to have heart to do rodeo. (Virginia) is like any athlete.”

On average, providing for Virginia costs Segelke $150 a month for boarding. Virginia stays at the boarding facility for eight months of the year during rodeo season. 

“It’s worth it,” Segelke says of the effort to care for a horse that’s not just a partner in competition, but also a friend. “She also is part of my therapy. It’s a way for me to get away from school and just go spend time with her.”

Without a horse that is up to the task, a cowboy or cowgirl won’t amount to much in rodeo. Creating the kind of partnership and bond required to win championships takes a great deal of time and resources. 

Neither a tool to be mastered, or a muscle that can be trained, horses are a living, breathing necessity for  most rodeo athletes, bringing with them a great deal of responsibility before, during and after hooves hit the arena dirt. 

That responsibility though, builds respect between a rider and their mount, and etches out a special place in a cowboy or cowgirl’s heart.