Not far from home

ST. PAUL – The biggest July 4 rodeo in the nation kicks off this week in St. Paul.

The eyes of the rodeo world will be on St. Paul this weekend, when the annual St. Paul Rodeo begins Tuesday, July 2.

More than 750 cowboys and cowgirls from the U.S. and Canada will make their way to St. Paul, to compete in what is billed as the Nation’s Greatest Fourth of July rodeo.

For barrel racer Arley Hughes, she won’t have far to travel.

The Dayton, Ore. cowgirl will compete during the slack event on the morning of July 3.

She attended the rodeo many times as a youngster and an adult, and now will compete at it for the third year in a row.

Hughes grew up in Yamhill County with grandparents who had horses, competing in youth associations, but when she was fifteen, she quit the horses.

Three years ago, her husband Troy asked if she’d like to get a horse.

“I had been completely out of the sport,” she said. “We lived in town, we didn’t have a truck or a trailer, or anything. After 25 years, I got back into it.”

Getting back into barrel racing was a “steep learning curve,” she said, but riding a horse is like riding a bike: much of it comes back.

“I had some not memorable runs when we first started,” she said, “but I’ve been competitive.” The last two years, she’s finished in the top twenty in the Columbia Circuit, the pro rodeos in Oregon, Washington and Idaho.

She and Troy have two children: a daughter, Poppy, who is six, and a son, Tripp, age four. They love the horses and being in the barn.

“My daughter is very timid and happy just walking the (barrel) pattern,” Hughes said. “My son has the pony that he will literally smack on the butt and run around the arena. He’s my daredevil. Both of them love the horses very much, help me in the barn, and travel with me when they can.”

She loves competing in St. Paul. The arena setup is unique; the arena is so large, there are no walls close to the barrels, and horses sometimes take their cue for when to turn from having a wall behind a barrel.

“It’s unique in that there are no walls or fences” near barrels, she said. “If your horse doesn’t turn and goes by a barrel, then you’re going to be out of the money, definitely.”

Hughes is a nurse in McMinnville; she and her husband own a construction company.

Husband Troy is a “city boy,” and maybe didn’t realize what he was getting into when he suggested they buy a horse, she said. “He said, ‘do you want one,’ and now we have fourteen horses and a living quarters trailer,” she laughed.

But he’s been her biggest supporter. “I couldn’t do any of this without him,” she said.

St. Paul native Rawley Koch will get his second try at a bareback horse at the St. Paul Rodeo.

The twenty-three year old bareback rider made the eight-second buzzer last year but failed to “mark” his horse out – have his feet in front of the break of the bronc’s shoulders on its first jump out of the chute, which disqualified him.

Last year, St. Paul was his first rodeo back after sitting out due to a pulled groin.

This year, he’s taken off the entire month of June for a shoulder injury.

“I might have messed up something in my AC or SC joint,” he said, referring to two shoulder joints, “but it’s feeling better than it was a couple weeks ago.”

Koch, a third generation rodeo cowboy, is a volunteer with the St. Paul Jaycees and last week helped with setup for the Jaycees beer garden held in conjunction with the rodeo.

He’s ready to be back to rodeo competition.

“It’s eating at me,” he said. “There were some cool rodeos I could have gone to. I’m chomping at the bit for it, but I knew it was probably better to stay home and work and heal this up before I stress it too much.”

Three of the leaders in the Resistol Rookie Race, pro rodeo’s race for those in the first year of pro rodeo competition, hail from Oregon and will compete in St. Paul. They are bareback rider Mason Stuller, Veneta; saddle bronc rider Nick Joyce, Juntura, and bull rider TJ Gray, Dairy.

Twelve of the top fifteen breakaway ropers in the WPRA standings will make their inaugural runs in St. Paul this year, the first year that breakaway is added to the rodeo.

Of the 2023 St. Paul Rodeo champions, all of them return except for two. Returning to defend their titles are bareback rider Cole Reiner, Buffalo, Wyo.; steer wrestler Dirk Tavenner, Rigby, Idaho; tie-down roper Shane Hanchey, Sulphur, La.; team ropers Cole Thomas, Meadville, Miss. and Clay Green, Pine Grove, La.; barrel racer Tarryn Lee, St. David, Ariz. and bull rider Braden Richardson, Jasper, Texas.

The rodeo runs July 2-6 with nightly performances at 7:30 pm and a 1:30 matinee on July 4.

Tickets are available online at StPaulRodeo.com. They range in price from $20 to $60.

Fans are advised to take care in buying from third party retailers; the official ticket website is StPaulRodeo.com. The rodeo cannot guarantee the validity of tickets purchased from other sites.

For more information, visit the website or call 800.237.5920.