EAST HELENA — Saddle up, cow-ladies and cow-gentlemen: Saturday marked Day 2 of Northern Rodeo Association action at the all-new East Helena Valley Rodeo Grounds.
Kicking off Day 2 was a great start for nature. There were no qualified rides in rookie saddle bronc. Riders have to hold on for at least eight seconds, but those beautiful bucking horses didn't let that happen.
In rodeo, nature always gets the advantage, and nature kept its momentum rolling into steer wrestling. The event’s first five competitors all failed to register a time. But forget an advantage, the steer wrangled by Helena’s Austin Whitehouse would have needed three to five business days to outrun the cowboy. Whitehouse’s 4.1 proved to be the rodeo-winning time.
Day 2 had twelve entrants in ladies breakaway roping — but all twelve finished with a no time. There's two ways to look at that result: either everybody tied for first or everybody got last.
But man clawed back into the battle with nature during saddle bronc. The event, which had seven contestants, saw six qualified rides. Philipsburg’s Wyatt Hotz took home the saddle bronc crown with a score of 79 — just half a point higher than the next-closest rider.
All eight competitors for tie-down roping must’ve been wearing Levi’s — because MTN Sports didn’t catch any wranglers. All eight competitors finished with a no time.
Day 2 concluded with bull riding, and the very last ride of the rodeo came from former NRA champion Caden Fitzpatrick. His ride scored a rodeo-winning 75 points.
