It's the third open rodeo in Lac La Biche this year, and organizers say the extra events have given local competitors the opportunity to hone their skills.
Sometimes it's just making the six-second run that counts.
Bull rider Ryan McDonald moved into the lead of a high-point summer series with an 81-point ride Aug. 1 at the Lac La Biche Open Rodeo.
"It was good," McDonald said. "I had a really good bull that just turned back away from my hand, and it worked out really good."
McDonald, from the Buffalo Lake Metis Settlement, entered the event, one in a series held at the Billy McDonald Rodeo Company's open rodeos, tied with Blake Jackson of Goodfish Lake.
But Jackson got a no-score, giving McDonald the advantage coming into the final rodeo August 8-9 at a rodeo in Buffalo Lake. Wyatt Howse of Buffalo Lake placed second, with a 70-point score.
McDonald said it was a solid win in what has been a hit-and-miss season.
"I've been winning here, bucking off there, but it all works out at the end, you know?" he said. "It should be good from here on, because it was a little bit of a slump for about five bulls, and then I climbed out of it here. It feels good to get into the groove of things."
McDonald said that he always enjoys riding in Lac La Biche.
"It's my home town pretty much... and it gives you that extra oomph to get on and perform in front of your hometown crowd, right?"
It's the third open rodeo in Lac La Biche this year, and organizers say the extra events have given local competitors the opportunity to hone their skills.
Christy Eleniak, a ladies barrel racer from Lac La Biche, says that the season has been useful for getting back to speed after an injury.
"I've been kind of slow because I had ACL surgery," she said. "I just got started again the last couple of months and I have a young horse, so it's just been a lot of training and keeping on the patterns."
Eleniak said it takes at least one season to get into a good rhythm with a new horse.
"You can definitely have a good and a bad season, there's always going to be good and bad runs," she said. "But every bad run, and, I guess if you want to call it failures, is towards your success. At least one good season, and to season them, get them to remember, takes a couple."
Seanna Merchant, who is from Hylo, said she's been using the rodeos to keep her skills up since moving to Edmonton.
"It's the second run of the year. We're just trying to get it corrected, leave the barrels standing and, you know, try to hopefully make a good time," she said. "He hasn't been ridden in a while... I've been living in Edmonton, come home, try to ride as much as I can. We did the best we could today."
Merchant said her goal with her horse, Seven, is to make the Indian National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas this November.
"We're going hard now, coming these next few weekends until the end of September, hoping to qualify for the NFR," she said. "We're going to be going hard, hitting up every rodeo on the rodeo trail and hope to make it down there."
Wandering River's Honesty McCallum said she has been able to push her race times greatly in the last season.
"I've found a big improvement just this summer just by coming to the.. rodeos, practicing," she said. "We started with the 21 second (runs) and now we're down to 18."
The ladies' barrel racing was won by Lana Chorney of Sturgeon County, Alta., with Jessica Kuchar of Grassland placing second and Leanna Frey of Athabasca third.
Eleniak finished outside of the podium, her horse just a bit too hard to calm down during the race.
"Out here, he was very calm in the beginning, and then we started warming up for the actual event and he started throwing his head around," she said. "I managed to get him to take the corner (but) coming into first, I just couldn't slow him down enough. So we dropped first, but the rest of it felt smoother."
Jackson, while not managing a score in the brahma bull category, won the junior bull riding category ahead of second-placed Keanue Cardinal from the Kikino Metis Settlement.
Colton Ouelette, from Meadow Lake, Sask., won the novice horse riding, with Vilna, Alta.'s Cody Smith placing second and Newbrook, Alta.'s Aaron Mercer placing third. Smith also was in a first-place tie with Bengough, Sask's Tyson Thue in the saddle bronc riding, with Bonnyville's Tyrel Charlton in third. Penny Patton and Katie Squair from Clyde, Alta., were first and second in the ladies' breakaway roping, with Harley Wasieczko third.
Brandon Stuart, of Innisfail, Alta. won the bareback riding, with Pierceland, Sask's Cody Robertson as the runner up. Kerstin Bennett and Bryan Bacon from Athabasca took the team roping top prize, with Atif Fayad and Dale Kozakevich of Lac La Biche taking second and Darwin Routhier and Lonnie Roth of Athabasca taking third.
Quincy Squair of Clyde, Sarah McLeod of Ashmont, Alta. and Lyric Strzepek were the top three in the junior barrel racing, while Cole Roth and Riley Roth, from Newbrook, took first and third in the mini broncs, with Clyde's Tanner Miller in third.
