Exceptional Rodeo

By Patrick Everson

“It’s just good.”

Sometimes, such a simple description says more than a thousand-word monologue ever could.

Especially when describing something that hits you in the feels the way the Exceptional Rodeo does each year at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Team roper Colter Todd uttered that simple statement at this year’s Exceptional Rodeo, held Thursday morning on the dirt at the Thomas & Mack Center.

It’s just good to see:

• Dozens of local special needs students get such a unique opportunity, hanging out with the best rodeo contestants in the world, learning about this great sport.
• Those Wrangler NFR cowboys and cowgirls not only graciously donate their time, but enjoy themselves as much if not more than these exceptional children.
• Smiles. Everywhere.

Most of the kids derived joy from stick-horse barrel racing, or riding rocking bulls/broncs, or roping hay-stuffed practice steers. For Colter’s partner on this day, Enrique Estrada Alonzo, it was far simpler than that.

“We were having a good time just looking for dirt clods to stomp,” Todd said. “These kids are just here to enjoy the day. The teachers and parents, the people taking care of them, they give the kids a chance to do something out of the ordinary.

“It makes you want to not take so much for granted.”

No question. NFR bullfighter Dusty Tuckness is a 17-year veteran of this specific Exceptional Rodeo – there are about a dozen more at rodeos across the country each year – and he wouldn’t dare take this event for granted.

“They always say it brightens the kids’ day. I say it brightens my day,” Tuckness said. “We do have a lot going on this week. It’s a long 10 days. But this kind of gives you a reset.

“To be out here with these kids, seeing those smiles, it just fills my heart.”

It does likewise for Exceptional Rodeo newcomers, as well. Barrel racer Katelyn Scott, competing in her first Wrangler NFR, got paired with an exuberant youngster Addysen Agasi, a veteran of this Exceptional Rodeo, coming out for a third straight year.

“This is us giving back. I am so glad the NFR does this,” Scott said. “This really brings a light to the rodeo. This is what it’s all about.

“Everyone is so busy this week. But us being out here means more to these kids than we will ever know.”

Scott is absolutely right. In the end, though, there’s a shorter, simpler way to describe all the fun, the joy, the smiles. And all the charitable acts toward children and families who so richly need and deserve it.

“It’s just good.”