By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio — If you’re looking to get started in rodeo competition, your best bet is the Championship 4-State Youth Rodeo circuit. This rodeo, for those 20 and younger only, puts emphasis on learning the sport and having a good time.

“This is not a cut-throat rodeo, and the kids who enter do so for the fun of it,” said founder Judy Shepherd. “The idea of the youth rodeo is to teach kids how to compete in rodeos.

Judy started the rodeo six years ago near her 125-acre farm near Glenwood, W.V. Her rodeo attracted 30 participants from three states so she moved the rodeo to Wilmington, Ohio to be more centrally located. After a two-year stint in Wilmington she moved her rodeo to the warm confines of the Champions Center at the Clark County Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ohio.

Shepherd now has 160 participants from Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Illinois and West Virginia, but still refers to it as a four-state rodeo.

“I raised two children of my own and was active in show horses and rodeos,” said Shepherd, who uses steers raised on her farm for her rodeo. “I started the rodeo after my kids got out of college and I got the ‘empty nest syndrome.’ I had a lot of friends who had little ones who were just getting started and since I needed something to do and I enjoy being around kids I decided to start a rodeo of my own.”

And her rodeos have something for all ages under 20. There’s stick-horse races and goat tail tie for the five-and-under class. (Goat tail tie involves taking a scrunchy wrist band off a goat). Children a little older compete in dummy calf roping or even try their skills at pole racing.

“It’s really a learning-step rodeo,” Shepherd said. “But while it’s learning and casual competition, anyone who wins one event receives a buckle at the end of the year and the overall champion for each age group receives a $1,000 saddle.”

She gave away 109 buckles and five saddles last season.
“At the high school level we attract the top high school rodeo participants from Ohio and Indiana,” she said. “But in the end it’s still a learning rodeo. We design it to see the child’s needs and to see what they need to work on to go further in rodeo. I’ll keep holding them as long as it keeps that family atmosphere. Our goals are safety, horsemanship and sportsmanship.”

Shepherd holds seven rodeos each year (September through March) and each day-long rodeo is roughly 12 hours long. Other events include barrel racing, flag races, chute dogging, pole racing, steer wrestling, heeling and team roping.

“The level of competition has risen because the kids can compete year round,” Shepherd said.

Assisting Shepherd is her daughter, Kylie Brooks.

“We try to add new things each year to make it better for the kids,” Kylie said. “Our intention is to make it fun. And oftentimes you’ll see the older kids helping the younger kids, so it’s a real team atmosphere.”