Male barrel racers learning to ride like a girl

I had to laugh out loud talking to Best of Barrels Only owner Bobo McMillan the other day about the 11th annual Sand Cup Futurity and Divisional Barrel Race coming to the Kenny Ardell Pavilion.

I’ve seen a barrel racing superstar or two, starting with 11-time World Champion, Charmayne James Rodman at Cheyenne Frontier Days. Rodman and Scamper, the pride of Clayton, N. M. (pop. 2,968) were invincible for years.

Also had a chance to talk with Kassidy Dennison, the first Navajo barrel racer to qualify for the National Finals Rodeo (2014). Dennison, a five-time Indian World Champion All-Around Cowgirl, won a round at the NFR that year, doing the Dine Nation proud.

But I’d never heard of male barrel racers before. But it appears they’re out there and they are coming to Moses Lake to ride in the Sand Cup Futurity at Grant County Fairgrounds this weekend.

“Once they figure out how to ride like a girl, they do pretty good,” McMillan said.

Since it was a telephone conversation, I couldn’t tell if she said it with a straight face or matter of fact. But I laughed loud anyway. She was making reference to the fact that you can’t muscle your way through barrel run. You have to give the horse its head and use a little finesse, ain’t no muscle involved.

Adds a whole new meaning to Cowboy Up.

One of the best barrel dudes around, Pete Oen, is coming to town. Word has it, Pete is picking up a paycheck everywhere he goes. He’s also going to do a clinic in the Harwood Pavilion at 9 a.m. on Wednesday. Of course, the Harwood Pavilion is named after someone special and not the guy making the words in this column. Of course if you want to throw money my way, who am I to say no?

But the 11th annual Sand Cup Futurity and Divisional Barrel Race will showcase some of the best barrel races, men and women, in the country, including Kathy Grimes from Medical Lake, who is currently ranked third in the WPRA world standings.

You don’t have to be particularly interested in horses, riders or anything associated with rodeo. It’s a nice outing and a chance to see poetry in motion. There will be riders and horses of all ages. Who knows, maybe the next 16-year-old Charmayne James is out there, or James Charmayne for that matter?

Rodney Harwood is a sports writer at the Columbia Basin Herald and can be reached at rharwood@columbiabasinherald.com