The McNeese State University men’s rodeo team is the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) Southern Region champion for the third consecutive year. Seven team members and one women’s team member are headed to the 2024 College National Finals Rodeo (CNFR) June 9-15 in Casper, Wyoming.

Bronc riders attending the CNFR are Isaac Richard of Eunice, Drew Bordelon of Ville Platte and Caleb Miller of Wales. Richard is the Southern Region Saddle Bronc Champion. Kash Martin, Lufkin, Texas, will compete in bareback riding.

Jude Leonards of Bell City and Brad Hesnor of Ville Platte will compete in steer wrestling. Leonards is the Southern Region reserve wrestling champion. Kash Krogman, of Lufkin, Texas, will compete in bull riding.

From the women’s team, Kamryn Duncan of Denham Springs will compete in goat tying at the CNFR.

“We’re ready! Kamryn is roping better than ever and our seniors are experienced and ready for this year,” explained Justin Browning, McNeese rodeo coach.

The McNeese women’s rodeo team won the final rodeo of the season at Hill College in Hillsboro, Texas. Kaylee Cormier, Iowa, was named All Around Cowgirl. She placed fourth in rope tying and seventh in goat tying. Duncan was the goat-tying champion. Alyssa Gary of LeBleu Settlement placed fourth, Katie Schlang of LeBleu Settlement placed sixth, Cormier placed seventh and Kat Moss of Moss Bluff placed tenth.

The men’s team placed third. In bareback riding, Jacob Lamon of Lufkin, Texas, placed fourth, Monty Fontenot of Ville Platte placed sixth, Martin placed eighth and Conner Griffith of Bradford, Tennessee placed ninth.

Bordelon was the Bronc saddle champion. Richard placed second, Izaah Bartels of New Underwood, South Dakota placed fourth, Miller placed sixth, Griffith placed eighth and Jace Nixon of Lake Charles placed ninth. In roping, Hesnor placed third.

“I am very proud of this team and the culture we have here. The team is working hard mentally and physically. Team members continually strengthen each other to be the best people they can be,” Browning said. “You can see the reflection of that in the sand.”

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Emily Beisel of Weatherford, Oklahoma, made the short two-hour drive to Shawnee, Oklahoma, for the 2024 Bonus Race World Finals (BRWF). The Bonus Race World Finals, taking place June 10-16, adds more than $90,000 to barrel racing and rope racing payouts. Racers must earn a “qualifier” from a qualifying event/series to participate in the $40,000 bonus race and the final $5,000 bonus in the BRWF. Entry to this event is rider-based, with the only limitation placed on horse entry: the maximum is two times.

Beisel earned eight qualifying spots before the BRWF. On Tuesday, June 11, Emily won the Bonus Race aboard the Namgis D 33, better known to barrel racing fans as “Chogo.” This veteran team recorded a run of 13.83 seconds. The race also finished second overall in the combined bonus race and won the ultimate prize.

Beisel’s entire team of horses contributed to her big victory in the event. Ivory on Fire “Liza” placed fifth overall and third in the finals. Teasin’ Dat Guy “Chewy” finished third on Wednesday and seventh overall. Namgis D 35 “Pipewrench” placed 16th overall and 10th in the final. Fresh off his first position and victory in a professional rodeo, Vanilla Gorilla “Trigger” even snuck into 2D to contribute to the team total.

Chongo did the heavy lifting on Biesel’s team. The 14-year-old gelding added another $20,349 to his lifetime earnings. Chongo’s BWRF earnings put the gelding dangerously close to $850,000 in career earnings. Biesel’s earnings in this event totaled $41,650, with each horse contributing to the overall total.

Emily’s top mount for the 2023 NFR, Liza, earned $13,267. Chewy, owned by 4M Equine, a new addition to Emily’s arsenal, earned $6,296. This 8-year-old mare, trained by Molly Otto, recently helped Emily earn money in North Platte, Nebraska; Parker, Texas; Crossett, Arkansas; Claremore, Oklahoma; and Abbeyville, Kansas, in favor of rodeos. Pipe wrench, who has been part of Biesel’s team for nearly a decade, won $1,175 and local Trigger won $563.

Two days of earnings at the BWRF look even more attractive considering Beisel’s 2023-2024 WPRA season earnings of $49,294. Beisel occupies ninth place in the world rankings and, after his performance in the BWRF; She and her horses will be a force to be reckoned with come summer.

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Due to the tragic events that occurred on the UNLV campus on Wednesday, December 6, the original start date has been canceled. The Wrangler NFR will now run through Saturday, December 16 with the full ten rounds scheduled to determine the PRCA world champions. The original purse of $11.5 million will remain in effect and will be paid in full over the nine days of competition and ten rounds.

For NFR season ticket holders, Las Vegas Events will issue full refunds for the canceled performance. If tickets were purchased through StubHub, StubHub will issue a refund directly to the buyer.

A moment of silence will be observed on Friday, December 8 at the start of the rodeo show.

“We are all heartbroken by the tragic events that occurred Wednesday,” said LVE President Tim Keener. “The National Finals Rodeo has united the Las Vegas community since 1985, and we will honor those we have lost through our rodeo, an event that celebrates unity, togetherness, and the coming together of friends and families. “We will do this in solidarity with our fans, as well as our partners at the PRCA, UNLV, and the community.”

“The PRCA is saddened by the tragedy that occurred yesterday and our thoughts and prayers are with the victims, their friends and family,” said PRCA CEO Tom Glause. “We have worked closely with our partners in Las Vegas and the Thomas & Mack Center to work on the NFR schedule while maintaining sensitivity to the events that took place. “We will bring our fans together on Friday night to share our support for this community.”

The Cowboy Channel Cowboy Christmas at the Las Vegas Convention Center, in the south and center halls, began today and will continue through Saturday, December 16. It is free and open to the public.

This article is updated by www.rfdtv.com

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In the debut of the Rodeo in the CONADE National Games, the Durango delegation managed to reach the finals, in a competition that took place in the state of Aguascalientes.

And the double lasso cowboys, Anwar Banda and José Pérez, managed to win the silver medal and thus make history within this new sport, in the most important sporting event in the country.

For the first time, the Commission of Physical Culture and Sports (CONADE) allowed the sport of Rodeo its incursion so that the cowboy family can enjoy this event that is held year after year, where high-performance athletes from all over Mexico are measured. champion of this luck in the Senior Youth category who took the gold was the state of Nuevo León with Jesús Martínez and Daniel Morales, while the bronze went to Johan Miranda and Eder González from Sonora.

In another exciting final, with a good score in both of his mounts, Celso Núñez entered the final in third place with 140 points after facing 30 competitors, but in the last round, he had to ride the bull called Hollywood, who knocked down, leaving him without a score and thus being left out of the medal table.

It is worth mentioning that the day before, this same specimen knocked down Luis Santiago Vargas, who suffered a fracture of the tibia and fibula and was operated on in a hydro-warm hospital, with insurance covering the venue of the event. He had a very good score, but in the end, he was unlucky to deal with that horn.

In the final of the Junior Senior Women’s barrel race, Ximena Palacios managed to get to the finals, but with her time on her last attempt, she did not manage to get on the podium, against the best in the country.

Cowboys and cowgirls participated in this event in various ways, in addition to barrel racing, goat tying, stick racing, bull riding, and pair roping, as well as the delegate trainers and horsemen.

The delegation was made up of: Ana Valentina Álvarez Piña, Yaremi García Chaires, Daniela Dominik Ramírez Rodríguez, Georgina Dilen Rosas Hernández, Victoria Alcántar, Victoria del Carmen Sandoval Fierro, Azalia Odilet Saltijeral Saucedo and Ximena Janmet Palacios Rodríguez.

Pedro Sabino Limones, José Luis Pérez Quiñones, Celso Francisco Núñez, Luis Santiago Vargas, Celso Nuñez Nevarez and Anwar Omar Banda Sánchez, under the command of coaches Salas Carrillo Ana Rosa, Sandoval Trejo José Armando, José Manuel Santiesteban Salas and as a delegate of sport Dulce María Santisteban Salas, as horsemen José Renato Alvarado, Pedro Luna and Juan Luis Pérez, who are in charge of the horses in this competition.

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The 22nd National School Rodeo Championship, organized by the Cordillera Association, ended on the afternoon of Sunday, September 3 at the Medialuna of the “Vicente Huidobro” Park, in Pirque, with a Champions Series that had Matías’ triumph as its highlights. Sandoval and Carlos Mann (Río Bío-Bío Association) and the participation of three colleras with female members in the fourth animal. One of them even took second place, that of Felipe Fuentes and Monserrat Fuentes (Asociación Linares).

The title for Sandoval and Mann, riding Trumaos Negros Suspiro and memorias de Pilauco Come y Calla with 28 good points, was a reward for their consistency in the championship that 21 colleras competed for.
The students of the German Lyceum of the Divine Word of Los Angeles started with 7, they repeated the number in the second bull to take the lead and from there they did not let go; They added 8 in the third and closed their task with 6 to be at the top of the score.

The thing about Fuentes y Fuentes in Quinta San Antonio Bramío and Rarimávida Holgazán was also very meritorious, since they started with 9 good ones, then they put 4, 7 and 4 again to total 24 points, which at the time had them in expectation, but the consecration of those from Río Bío left them in a spectacular second place.
Third were José Manuel Cortés and Adolfo Navarro (Santiago Sur and Talca Oriente Associations) in Doña Ventura Don Gaifa and El Tani Conserje with 23 good points. This couple came with options until the end, entering the fourth bull with 21 points, after scoring 5+8+8, but in the last race they could only do 2 more and with that they closed the champions’ ride.

Another collar that shone until the fourth animal was that of Florencia Figueroa and Luis Bernardo Allendes (Asociación Maipo) in Coyahuasi Preferido and El Vaticano Odre, who scored 21 good points (9+1+8+3), finishing in fourth place.

The fourth bull was also run by Mauricio Vásquez and Alejandro Varela (Asociación Cordillera) in Tanilvoro Castañuela and Las Patagüitas de Pirque Pincel with 17 (5+1+4+7); Vicente Rojas and Luis Felipe Rojas (Talca Association) in Ramal del Claro Buen Compadre and Millalonco Enamorao with 16 (8+2+8-2); and Paulette Ayala and Joaquín Rojas (Maipo and Santiago Poniente Associations) in Royal Tierra Tembleca and Vista Volcán Sorbo Largo with 11 (7+2+1+1), the third couple with a female rider and who, in addition, stood out for being from Basic education.

Before riding the champion, the award was given to the Best Presented Rider, which, like last year, went to Alonso Quiroga and José Pedro Pino (Valle Santa Cruz Association), while the Youngest Rider of the championship was Francisco Muñoz Carvajal.

The Breed Seal, chosen by Rolando Varela, president of the Cordillera Association, and Juan Carlos Moraga, was the mare Las Toscas Prometida, ridden by Roberto Hot

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75% of Chileans stated that they do not feel identified with the rodeo as a typical activity in the country, according to the latest survey carried out by Criteria. Even so, in the Commission on Principles, Civil and Political Rights of the Constitutional Council,  representatives of the Republican Party and Chile Vamos promoted an article  that defines that “the national dance is the cueca and the national sport is the Chilean rodeo.”

In conversation with Radio and Diario Universidad de Chile, the animal rights lawyer and president of Anima Naturalis (Chile), María Celeste Jiménez , pointed out that what is intended with the eventual consecration of rodeo as a national sports in the new Constitution is to obtain more economic resources. for this practice, along with penalizing any public opposition to it .

“When you declare an activity as national and as something that has to do with the honor of the country, you elevate it to a category in the Constitution in which whoever opposes that is offending the country,” he explained.

In 2009, the Law on Responsible Ownership of Pets and Companion Animals (Cholito Law) was enacted, which does not distinguish between animals. However, the lawyer explained that if the Constitution “cuts off the possibility that there is crime in the rodeo, because it is a national emblem and would be separated from that possibility , you are clearly allowing anything to happen in the rodeo .”

Those who promote this activity defend that “the rodeo has evolved in its relationship with animals, being governed by a Manual of animal welfare and embouchures that regulates the treatment and care of horses and cattle both inside and outside the medialuna,” as explained to At the beginning of July, the director-treasurer of the  Chilean Rodeo Federation, Claudio Aravena Flores, before the Agriculture Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, in the midst of dialogue on a bill that seeks to declare rodeo as a national sport.

Likewise, he assured that rodeo is not just any sport, but one that “promotes Chilean culture and national identity.”

In this regard, the founder of the NGO Animal Libre, Mauricio Serrano , stated that the organization believes in promoting Chileanness, but through activities that do not harm others . “In any activity, in which there is a clear and consensual position, when we move on to lead the other, this must already be questioned. There are limits,” he asserted.

In that sense, he commented that “when we promote folklore through music, dance, food and hundreds of other forms of folk and traditional artistic expression” there is no harm to others, nor is there any mistreatment involved. Therefore, he indicated that these cultural activities are those that as a society we must encourage “over others, such as in this case the rodeo, which we must already eliminate.”

In the same way, the animal rights activist and co-founder of the Empathy Sanctuary, Eliana Albasetti , recognized that the rodeo is a traditional activity, but said that if any practice is “traditional, that does not mean that it should not be changed, even more so. when that tradition ends up to the detriment of someone . ”

“And for someone to be considered someone, they just have to have the particularity of feeling, they don’t have to be your own species,” he highlighted.

Why rodeo should not be the Chilean national sport?: A door that is beginning to open

The criminal defender specializing in animal law, María Celeste Jiménez, considers that it is dangerous for rodeo to be a national sport because it means that from that point on the State “will provide resources for the execution of this animal abuse.”

“Be careful, this is a door that is beginning to open, because the best friends of the rodeo huasos are the lords of greyhound racing , they are the lords of coleus, they are the lords of other forms of animal abuse,” he stated.

Furthermore, Jiménez explained that from criminal policy, “which is the science that studies why crimes are created, how to prevent them, why people become bad, why we penalize behavior or not, from green criminology and the FBI (United States Federal Bureau of Investigation), it has been considered that abuse and cruelty to animals is a hard fact when considering that the great abusers of human beings are also born from this .

“So, if we allow them to be given carte blanche to exhibit in crescents, to exhibit, to give more money so that more crescents and rodeos can be made, we are generating praise, a form of animal abuse that makes us more bad people.” . That is why I see a criminal policy reason behind it when it comes to opposing us,” he argued.

Thus, he considered that “it is not good to open doors through which these ways of validating activities that in general are a social and human setback enter . ”

Likewise, animal defender, Eliana Albasetti, expressed that the evolution of society has allowed the use of animals to become obsolete, and with rodeo as a national sport “we are going against what world civilization would be . ”

For the same reason, Albasetti rejected the claims of rodeo defenders that they are the ones who love the animals the most. “They love them because they take them as a resource, as something that makes them money, they don’t want them to protect them. “Animals do not live nor are they cared for in order to give them peace, to make them happy,” she reproached.

The activist highlighted that those who practice this “so-called sport” love and care for animals “because they then sell their bodies, their leather, their skins, use them and abuse them to generate fun. That’s not wanting . “

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The Medialuna Monumental venue received almost 12 thousand spectators to witness the “Champion”, an occasion where the winner of this contest was met.

As is tradition, the Rancagüino stronghold was filled with color with the presence of the runners, their horses and the thousands of fans who enjoyed the occasion.

Although it is true, the attention was focused on the arena and the performance of the riders, in the surrounding area the Chilean culture was the protagonist, as well as the products of the artisans who for years have worked in the world of the national rodeo.

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And around 250 riders from across the entity competed in finals in different categories, such as the Chiva Tie-Down, Race between Poles, False Lasso, Lasso and Ribbon, Calf Lasso, Pairs Lasso, Flattened Steer, Barrel Racing, Bull Riding and Bull Riding.

In the Amarre de Chiva Younger Children’s category, Guillermo García and Miguel Hernández stood out, while in the Older Children’s category Alberto Rojas, Aline Juárez and Leonardo Coss stood out.

The ladies were also present with their courage and skill in the women’s Polo Race, including Ingrid Juárez, Maya Encinas, Ángela Rojas, Ximena Femat and Mariana Puente.

Regarding the False Tie modality in the Men’s Junior Youth category, Diego Medrano, Pablo Muñoz and Germán Aguirre were the ones with the highest scores, while in the Women’s Junior Senior category, Claudia López and Fernanda Gutiérrez were first.

The Barrel Race was exciting, with 85 ladies participating in different categories, which gave a special touch to the State Grand Final Rodeo that was held in Torreón for the first time.

Taking top honors were Estefanía de la Peña, Aline Juárez, Salma Valdés, Sofía Martínez Corpus, Tammy Valler, Constanza de la Peña, Mariana Puente, Diana Laura Oyervidez, Camila Ramos and Andrea Gloria.

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The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (NFR) kicked off its 65th year with a celebrity presentation, Las Vegas style. This year’s theme was “You never know who you’ll meet in December.”

Las Vegas Events hosted the event, where Las Vegas icons, celebrities and 2022 NFR Champions gathered for a promotional shoot months before the event inside the Pearl Theater at The Palms Hotel & Casino.

Among the celebrities: The Blue Man Group, cast members from Cirque du Soleil’s ‘KA’, Penn and Teller, The Chippendales, former Vegas Golden Knight Deryk Engelland and Terry Factor. Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman also attended.

The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association organizes the National Rodeo Finals every year. According to the Las Vegas event organizers, the event was attended by more than 10,000 people over ten days of competition in 2022.

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This year’s Wrangler NFR, scheduled for December 7-16 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, will bring home a record payout of more than $11.5 million. This amount includes $1.2 million in guaranteed prize pools and $10,301,505 in tournament prize pools for all NFR qualifiers.

From 2015 to 2020, the NFR paid out a total of $10 million annually, including $8.8 million in tournament prize money and $1.2 million in guaranteed qualifying prize money. The total amount of the scholarship increases to $10,257,048 in 2021 and $10,900,098 in 2022.

Under the revised 2023 portfolio, each Tour will pay out a total of $99,053 per race, with the winner of that Tour receiving $30,706. The tournament totaled an average of $297,159, with an average win of $78,747 at the end of the ten-day tournament.

The stock contractor fee, which is 30% of the competitive fee, has increased to $3,450,451.

Recognized as the richest and most prestigious rodeo in the world, the Wrangler NFR drew the top 15 competitors in bareback riding, steer wrestling, team roping, bareback riding, roping, barrel racing and bull riding to compete for a part of additional scholarships and a prestigious gold belt from the PRCA. In 2022, the tournament drew a total audience of 173,350 over 10 days at the Thomas & Mack Center, with more than 350 consecutive shows in Las Vegas.

To learn more about NFR Wrangler, visit NFRexperience.com or via social media at @LasVegasNFR and use #WranglerNFR. Visit prorodeo.com or social media @PRCA_ProRodeo for the latest ProRodeo news and NFR Wrangler coverage.

Courtesy of NFRexperience.com

Read More About: Wrangler National Finals Rodeo Pay Is Up Again in 2023

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