Hoofbeat

What draws people to rodeo?

The collegiate rodeo season is drawing to a close with student athletes hoping to get their point totals high enough to be winners.  It’s a sport for both men and women.  In fact, Bridger Chytka, the rodeo coach at the Nebraska College of Technical Agriculture, tells Brownfield it may not be evenly split, with team members skewing slightly to favor females.
On Coach Chytka’s rodeo team, women, that’d be the Lady Aggies, compete in different events than their male counterparts.

Chytka’s rodeo team won a team title at a rodeo in Hastings, Nebraska last week.  They were helped by a winning performance in barrel racing from Lexus Kelsch, who comes from McLaughlin, South Dakota.  Chytka says it’s not unusual for rodeo riders to come from agricultural backgrounds.

But rodeo’s a rough sport, and among other things, it’s a love of horses that draws people to participate in rodeo.

AUDIO: Bridger Chytka (3 min. MP3)