RODEO AUSTIN

Mutton or bust: The thrill of the ride

For these cowboys and cowgirls in pigtails and tiny boots, the nightly sheep ride at Rodeo Austin is all about holding on and having fun.

By Kevin Robbins
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, March 26, 2009

Elizabeth Smitheal posed her nephew. She drew her camera and aimed.

"Squint your eyes!

"Serious face!

"Jake!" she said. "Are you going to win mutton bustin'?"

Jake Smitheal, 6, tugged at the straps of his red safety vest. He liked the ripping sound the Velcro made, and when a volunteer snapped the straps of his black helmet, Jake liked that, too.

"What's my number?" Jake asked.

"656," another rider told him.

"I'm 652," said Landon Sanders, 6.

Then Jaime Harper blew a kiss to her son before she left.

"Follow the rules, OK?"

"K," said Konner Cox, 5.

Then James Rathmann bent down to look at his daughter one last time before her ride.

"You ready?"

"I'm always ready," said Meredith Rathmann, 5.

The seven numbered contestants made a line outside the white tent at Rodeo Austin. A volunteer told them to hold the rope that connected them and to not let go until they were in the arena. Meredith's blond pigtails erupted from her helmet. Jake had a hard time standing still.

"Who's ready to ride a sheep?" yelped Jeri Leseman, a rodeo volunteer.

Led by Leseman, the children paraded away, one by one, down the rope. They passed Miss Rodeo Austin and the rodeo princess, who winked.

And at 7:25 p.m., it was mutton or bust.

Rodeo announcer Hadley Barrett looked around at the crowd, which looked small on Tuesday night except for the section with the parents of the riders, where flashbulbs twinkled.

"How would you folks like to watch the kids ride some sheep tonight?" Barrett boomed into his mic.

Grayson Ramey rode first. He did fine. Then Meredith held on for a notable score of 82, which Barrett repeated so the crowd would understand that 82 is a difficult score to beat in nightly mutton bustin'.

Harper Smitheal, Jake's cousin, earned an 80. Landon scored the same. Konner, the smallest of the bunch, fell immediately out of the chute. Score: 75.

Javier Moreno rode to an 81.

Jake rode forever.

"Eight-six points for Jacob!" Barrett roared. "Wow!"

Jake accepted his first-place belt buckle, the contestants received their trophies and everyone trooped back to the tent. Their parents met them with pats on the shoulders, and hugs.

"Jake!" shouted his mother, Ellen.

"Proud of you," his father, Jeremy, said sweetly.

It was dark and nearing bedtime for the children. Jake sat cross-legged on the asphalt with his buckle in his hands.

He turned it over and over in the last light of one of best days of his life.

krobbins@statesman.com; 445-3603.