Rough first day for Sample
J.P Sample stood underneath the announcer’s stand 10 minutes into the opening performance of the 2005 Cheney Rodeo on Friday night, shaking his head in disgust while he unwrapped a couple of yards of white tape from his right elbow.
The bareback rider from Bend, Ore., had just been surprised by his bronc, thrown to the arena dirt a few seconds shy of a qualified ride.
“I’m getting too old to be doing dumb things like that,” Sample said. “I’m 40. At some point, you stop doing stuff like that.”
It wasn’t the shortened ride that had Sample shaking his head and chastising himself.
No. Sample was feeling sheepish about his footwear.
You see, Sample’s been active on the Columbia River Circuit of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, competing in back-to-back rodeos.
After last weekend’s particularly sweaty event, he’d set his boots out to air dry.
When he arrived in Cheney, he realized that the boots were still drying. In Oregon.
“They were pretty sweaty,” Sample allowed.
But helping out fellow competitors is a cowboy tradition. Rope break? Here, take mine. Need to use my saddle? Sure.
But footwear is not something a cowboy traditionally borrows.
Sample found a friendly soul with the same-sized sole.
“Someone got me together with the rodeo announcer,” he explained while standing in Wayne Wright’s well-broken-in, ox-blood-colored-but-very-dusty cowboy boots. “These are his riding boots. He just told me where to put them after I was done.”
The bareback riding was done early Friday.
By the time the rodeo began, under a steady rain with occasional brief flashes of lighting, only Sample and Prineville, Ore., cowboy Kirk Giovanini, were left to complete. Giovanini’s score of 70 was enough to win the first go-round heading into today’s 8 p.m. second performance.
“That horse I drew usually bucks right in front of the chute in a tight circle,” Sample said. “It surprised me by taking off down the arena. In this business, if you have to think, it’s already too late.”
It was a night where a lot of things went awry.
Not one of the seven teams entered in Friday night’s team roping competition managed to turn in a time.
In the night’s rain-soaked finale, Colby Reilly’s 86 set a high standard for the final two performances, but was one of only two cowboys to last 8 seconds. The other score, Andy Crozier’s 70, came on a re-ride after his original draw fouled in the chute before coming out.
Jessica Tatone won the first go-round of barrel racing by turning in a 17.38-second run. The Las Vegas native and UNLV student is the No. 1-ranked collegiate barrel racer.
Shane Erickson, the No. 1 all-around cowboy in the current Columbia River Circuit standings, had the top time in the first go-round of tie-down roping, turning in a 9.7-second effort.
Levi Hapner turned in a score of 76 to take the early lead in saddle bronc riding, one point ahead of J.L Schaffner.
The rodeo continues tonight at 8 and concludes Sunday with a 2 p.m. matinee.