![]() ![]() But Najuch, a native of Amherst, N.Y., has always worn cowboy boots and dreamed of riding the range. The construction supervisor lives in an upscale neighborhood of sprawling mansions in eastern Sarasota County. "Now we have a lot of people who just like riding horses." "It was started to give rodeo wives and girlfriends something to do," said Rick Hardy, membership director for the National Barrel Horse Association. Those events became dominated by traveling professionals as Florida's cattle industry began to wane in the 1970s and large ranches were sold to developers.īut barrel racing is not tied to ranching and the historically female-dominated sport has been promoted as a way for girls - be they suburbanites or farmers' daughters - to do something athletic with horses. Marquee rodeo events such as calf roping and bronco riding once showcased the skills of local ranch hands. "Barrel racing has really exploded," said Johnny McDaniel, who organizes the junior barrels event in Arcadia and others throughout the state. ![]() Membership in the National Barrel Horse Association has doubled in the last 10 years to 22,794 riders. "She's a pistol," Renee said as she watched Maddy and Dirt whip through the cloverleaf-shaped course on the family's property in rural DeSoto County. Most of the contestants in the 79th annual Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo are professional cowboys like Texan Will Lowe, the 20 world bare-back bronc riding champion who earned $185,000 in 2005.īut barrel racing is one of the few events that continues to attract a large number of local contestants, thanks in part to the sport's growing popularity among young girls like Maddy. ![]() She is talented and unusually fearless for her age, but not necessarily unique. Over the last few months, 6-year-old Maddy has posted race times comparable to her mother Renee, a longtime barrel racer.Ī student at Nocatee Elementary School in Arcadia, Maddy still needs her mom to lift her into the saddle. The 55-pound kindergartener started barrel racing - a sport in which the rider guides a horse around three barrels in a timed course - last year. ![]() ARCADIA - The youngest cowgirl to compete in Florida's oldest rodeo this weekend began riding a stubby little pony at age 2.īy age 4, Maddy Hanners was going full gallop on a 1,200-pound horse named Dirt. ![]()
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