Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Dedicated to the citizens of Mason County, Washington since 1886
Shelton High School student Madison McClanahan competes in a reined cow horse competition.
Shelton High School student Madison McClanahan is preparing to compete in the National High School Rodeo Association's Reined Cow Horse Championships from July 16 to 22 in Gillette, Wyoming.
In reined cow horse competition riders must control the horses' movements while in the ring. Midway through the allotted time, a cow is released into the rodeo ring and the rider must control the horse to control the cow.
Riders are scored on the reining part, which is how well you know a pattern and how well you can execute it and also scored on the cow part, which is solely how well you control the cow and how much control you have over it, McClanahan said.
McClanahan, who will be a senior at Shelton High, has been riding horses since she could walk, and she has been competing in these competitions since age 7. She got involved in the competition due to her mom competing in the competition when she was younger.
"When I had the opportunity to do it for myself in high school, it was just kind of something I started doing," McClanahan said. "It's so much fun. I get to ride horses and hang out with some of my favorite people."
McClanahan practices with her trainer in Ellensburg, with her mom driving her there every Saturday, but recently, she's been getting lessons in Auburn. She said four competitors stuck with it for the entire year and she enjoys hanging out with them.
The skills she's learning is a competition skill. McClanahan has three horses she uses in competition, but in the reined cow horse competition, she uses Axel, who is 11 years old. She has been riding Axel for 1½ years, after her previous horse, Tiller, died. She competed with Tiller for about two years.
"It was really a big struggle trying to find him. After my previous horse passed away, during the competition season two falls ago, we were kind of in a rush to find a new horse," McClanahan said. "Thank God we found one. We're still trying to figure each other out, it's been a rough competition season. You pretty much form a bond with any horse you have because you ride them daily and you compete on them. You spend a lot of your time together so there is a bond that you form and you just have to trust your horse completely."
McClanahan said it is the luck of the draw on which cow enters the arena during competition, and competitors need to know where to position the horse in order to get the cow to do what the rider wants.
Certain reined cow horse competitions have just one round to showcase how well you can control the horse and a cow, and McClanahan said there are usually doubleheaders. In competitions with multiple rounds, such as a national competition, the average of the two scores will be used to determine who makes the finals.
This is McClanahan's third straight trip to the national competition, with her best finish landing her in the top 50 out of 150 competitors. She competed in the junior high school competition as an eighth-grader in light rifle shooting, which she still likes to compete in.
McClanahan, who is going to be a cheerleading captain next year as a senior, said that people are shocked to find out she competes in these events.
"It's not something a lot of people from Shelton do so they just kind of wonder how I got into it," McClanahan said. "Sometimes my friends will come out and ride, but a lot of the times, people from my school don't really know, not that they don't know that I ride horses but I'm also the high school's dance team captain this next year. A lot of them, it's really surprising."
McClanahan said she hopes to keep competing after high school and she plans to go to college for rodeo in other events. Some colleges offer rodeo scholarships, including colleges in Montana, Wyoming, Texas and Oklahoma.
Prior to the national competition, she plans to keep Axel in shape and ready to go so he can "do what I know he can." Her goal is to place better than she did last year. Coming off her Washington championship this year, she said she's confident she can reach her goal.
"Some of the other states have some amazing competition too so it's all about how you do under pressure and how well you can ride under pressure when you get there," McClanahan said.
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