TimesLeader.com

25th annual Benton Area Rodeo

Wild West in Benton

By Steve Mocarsky smocarsky@timesleader.com
Staff Writer

BENTON – The gate flew open, and out bounded the 1,000-pound beast – snorting, kicking and trying like anything to unseat its 19-year-old rider.

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Daniel Kraft of Oscela Mills competes in the saddle bronc competition at the Benton Area Rodeo Thursday.

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A competitor in the bareback saddle bronco competition prepares for a short but spirited ride on Thursday.

Aimee Dilger photos/The Times Leader

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But Daniel Kraft was determined to stay mounted.

And that he did – for the entire eight seconds required – until the buzzer sounded and a rodeo worker on a horse rode up to him and slung the young rider from Osceola Mills off the bronc and onto his horse.

Saddle bronc riding was the final event in the first half of the 25th annual Benton Area Rodeo on Thursday, following bareback bronc riding, steer wrestling, calf roping and mutton busting – a euphemism for children’s sheep riding.

The rodeo continues through Sunday with a multitude of events – including fireworks – and ongoing competition.

After a 15-minute intermission, it was the cowgirls’ turn to strut their stuff and compete for the purses.

Sheila Keeney, 30, of Benton, has been barrel racing across the country since she owned her first horse at age 12.

“Your nerves get to you. I’ve done it like a million times, but I still get those same nerves,” Keeney said earlier in the day on Thursday.

But during competition that evening, mounted on Belle, the stocky 12-year-old quarterhorse Keeney raised, Keeney looked confident and intent as she waited at the starting line.

At the sound of the buzzer, she slapped down the reins, and off they sped, dirt flying in the air as Belle dug in her hooves rounding each barrel.

The rider’s goal is to guide the horse from the starting line to circle three barrels set up in a cloverleaf pattern as fast as possible. Depending on the arena, that could take an average of 14 to 17 seconds.

“It’s just a race against the clock. Whoever’s the fastest wins. With barrel racing, time is crucial. You’re not talking seconds, you’re talking tenths or hundredths of a second between taking home,” she said.

On Thursday, Keeney placed fourth at 16.524 seconds. She’ll have to wait until Saturday to find out how she placed in the overall competition.

Luckily, Keeney’s never been hurt competing. When she rides a good race, Keeney credits her horse.

“I love her to death. She’s broke very well. Anytime that we don’t do good, it’s my fault. I always take the blame because she knows what she’s doing and I sometimes just interfere with her,” Keeney said.

She rides every weekend from June through September. “It’s a hobby that sometimes pays for itself, which is nice,” Keeney said.

Here love of horses was handed down to her 3-year-old son, Jaegen, who loves to go trail riding with her.

Of course, her love for riding led to another kind of love.

Her boyfriend is a bull rider, and they rarely miss a rodeo together, although he’s been out of competition for a while after suffering a pulled groin. They met on the rodeo circuit.

Ask Kraft, our featured bronc rider, if girls tend to like rodeo cowboys, and you’ll get an answer in a slow southern drawl he picked up spending a year at rodeo college in Carthage, Texas.

“Well, see, that’s up for debate,” Kraft said. “Girls say they like a timey, but deep down, they want a roughy.”

A “timey” is someone who competes in a timed event, Kraft said. As a bronc rider, he’s a “roughy.”

Kraft met his girlfriend working at Cook’s Forest Scenic Trail Rides, where they both worked as trail guides.

For now, the fourth generation horseman put college on hold to pursue his rodeo career. When he’s not on the road competing, he’s shoeing horses at his family business – Boom’s Quarterhorses.

His parents were at first skeptical about his riding. “But after they realized I wasn’t going to quit, I guess they had no choice but to support me,” he said.

His love of riding and the camaraderie of rodeo are what keep him mounting broncs.

“It’s like one big family,” Kraft said of the rodeo crowd. “You’ve always got someone who’s got your back. You don’t find that too often anywhere else.”

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What: The Benton Area Rodeo

Where: Rodeo Grounds, Mendenhall Lane, Benton

When: Continues today through Sunday

Admission: $12 for adults; $9 for children 4-12. Children 3 and under are free.

Friday – Breakfast at 7 a.m.; Midway opens at 5 p.m.; Country Express performs at 5 and 10 p.m.; Championship Rodeo at 7:30 p.m.; free fireworks at 11 p.m.

Saturday – Breakfast at 7 a.m.; Rodeo Run for Lukemia Cure at 8 a.m.; Special Kids Round-up at 10 a.m.; Jesse Wade Gang performs at 5 and 10 p.m.; Championship Rodeo at 7:30 p.m.; free fireworks at 11 p.m.

Sunday – Free Ranch Rodeo at noon; a bull riding extravaganza at 7:30 p.m.