50 horses hath October

RITZVILLE — Lexy Hibbs is on a mission.

On Sunday, Hibbs stood underneath the high ceiling of the indoor riding facility at the Iron Legacy Ranch south of Ritzville. People are arriving with their horses, tying them up and getting them ready. Hibbs, Miss Rodeo Washington, is looking to ride as many of them as she can as part of a fundraiser for breast cancer as well as the upcoming Miss Rodeo America competition in Las Vegas in November.

“So, today I am doing the Pink 50 Horse Challenge,” she said. “It’s for all of the state contestants.”

The Pink 50 Horse Challenge involves riding 50 horses in the month of October, taking each horse out on a short pattern, getting that pattern videotaped and submitting it. Each contestant with 50 valid rides — riders must not ride two-handed or wear spurs, Hibbs explained — will be eligible to compete for a scholarship as part of the overall competition.

Plus, it’s just a good way to get ready for eight days of fairly grueling competition, she added.

“It’s a way to prepare us all for the Miss Rodeo America pageant coming up, because you basically have to throw a leg over a horse and compete in front of judges,” she said.

Heidi Tracy, who with her husband Ryan owns Iron Legacy Ranch, said they were happy to provide Hibbs a place to get as much of the challenge riding done as possible.

“We’re kind of giving her a kick start here, and we’ve had a bunch of people haul (horses) in. So we’re going to get the horses settled in and warmed up for her,” Tracy said. “We like bringing people like Lexy to help with her goals. The reason we started this equestrian facility is to use horses to connect with people.”

Iron Legacy Ranch is a busy place, Tracy said, with summer day camps for kids, lessons and various religious activities like a fellowship ride and a combined ladies Bible study and horsemanship lesson. She said they’ve even held cowboy church at the ranch, and special events for mothers of preschoolers.

And that doesn’t even count Holy Cow Better Beef, which the Tracys run with Jerry and Megan Herold.

“We have a lot of different things going on,” she said.

Hibbs is also busy. A Washington State University graduate, she currently manages 2,000 acres of wine grapes at Goose Ridge Estate Vineyard and Winery near Benton City while maintaining a full Miss Rodeo Washington schedule. She intends to continue her education and get a masters degree in integrated plant science.

“When I'm not Miss Rodeo Washington, I'm out in the vineyards riding my quad around. It's harvest right now. So it's been quite a busy few months,” she said. “It seems like I never have a chance to slow down.”

But she did get a chance to do a little riding on Sunday, looping patterns, guiding horses carefully, putting each one through a quick, two-minute pace before moving on to ride the next horse.

“This is Badger. He is a quarter horse and his coloring is flea-bitten gray,” said JoJo Ewing as she stood watching Hibbs ride. “He’s an awesome horse. He does a lot of cow work, and he can also do reining, which is more like the kind of showy Western stuff. He’s just such a good all-around horse.”

Ewing smiled as she spoke. Hibbs kicked up clods of dirt in the arena as she rode past.

“I love all this stuff. It is so fun,” she said.

It wasn’t a bad day for Hibbs, either. Sunday afternoon, she rode 26 horses — more than halfway to her goal.

“It went well,” Tracy said.

Charles H. Featherstone can be reached at cfeatherstone@columbiabasinherald.com.