It’s been a decade since Natalie McCrary got on a horse to race, but July 9 was the right time to get back on the saddle.
“Horse riding has been in my blood for as long as I can remember,” she said. “I’ve always had a horse.”
But it wasn’t really her race that got up her there.
Joslyn, her 3-year-old daughter, was in charge of these reins as she rode around their quarter horse.
The duo were participating in a play night at the North Topeka Saddle Club, 7341 N.W. Topeka Blvd., where they were among other riders getting the opportunity to hone their skills.
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“Seeing her on the horse and being able to get out here and practice barrel racing is just really special to me,” McCrary said.
A labor of love
There’s a lot of work to that goes into maintaining an outdoor arena as Jason Stoneking, president of the Saddle Club, told The Capital-Journal last week.
“It’s one of the nicest outdoor arenas here in northeast Kansas,” he said.
Stoneking stepped into the position in January.
“My father-in-law was co-president of the Saddle Club for many years out here," he said, "and that’s something I wanted to see keep on going.”
Stoneking says the club was started in the late 1950s or early 1960s as a place for families to come out and socialize, ride together and improve their horsemanship skills.
“It’s all volunteer,” he added. “We’re a 501c nonprofit organization, and it takes a lot to keep it going.”
On most nights when the club has an event, you’ll see Stoneking running obstacles on and off the arena floor, whether it's smoothing the surface with his tractor or leading fellow volunteers — including his wife, Christy, and daughter Laykin — throughout the evening.
The club hosts this low-pressure practice night for riders of all ages on the first Tuesday of the month from May through September, weather dependent.
Tina Cramer, a board member and secretary of the Saddle Club, was in charge of announcing, timing riders and recording scores.
“We have 12 different events,” she said. “Some of them are your normal pole bending, barrel racing, and then some of them are strictly weird stuff that we found.”
Cramer came with her 21-year-old daughter Danali who has competed and ridden at the club since she was very young.
“It’s defining like where I grew up,” Danali Cramer said.
“Where I have some of the best memories of my friends when I was on my little pony that was like this tall,” she added while motioning its height.
The outdoor arena is where she learned to develop her skills and bond between rider and horse. That led her to win equestrian scholarships to Cloud Community College and become a competitive rider in the Extreme Cowboy Association.
“That’s every horse event, jumping, roping, working cows, bridges, barrel type pattern, stuff like that," Danali Cramer said.
Practice, practice, practice
Time in the saddle is the most important thing for anyone wanting to learn how to ride a horse well.
For 12-year-old Charlotte Williams, the relaxed atmosphere was right up her lane.
“I’ve never galloped before,” she said from her horse named Dallas. “So I feel like if I do barrels, like at a real show, I have to, you know gallop, but here I can just trot.”
Charlotte traveled from Hoyt with her parents, Sarah and Matt Williams, and met with their friend Kristy Caughron, who had been coming here since she was very young and continues to come for practice and getting younger riders to feel confident.
“I think it’s super important because it gives the littler kids a chance in the exposure and not fee the pressure,” Caughron said. “So if something happens, they let them restart. It’s so there’s no pressure for the kids.”
Abby Capes, 14, could relate as she was working on reining in her new mustang pony named Avalanche — Ava for short — between events.
“I got her untrained last May and have been training her for a while,” said Capes as she scolded Ava for trying to bite a Capital-Journal reporter's camera.
Capes started riding when she was 8 after her neighbors got her into it. After leasing a horse for a year, she saved up her own money to buy Ava and all the accessories needed.
“Our family is not one that has just had horses forever," she said, "so all this is still new to us.”
Capes' mother, Ariel Unselt, said it wouldn’t have been possible to consider getting a horse without the Saddle Club and having access to the facility to train.
“Had we not just asked questions and really put it out there like: 'Hey we’re new to this. We don’t know anything, but she wants a horse,' and that’s how we found Ava,” Unselt said.
Long days of running after Ava and not being able to catch her to learning how to barrel race on the mustang is a testament to the facility, she added.
“Compared to just over a year ago to what she’s done now,," she said, "it’s amazing, and she did all of that training on her own."
Not their first rodeo
Besides the monthly play nights, the Saddle Club hosts weekly team-roping nights at 7 p.m. Thursday, depending on weather conditions.
“It’s a chance for guys to get together and just be able to come out, rope and have fun,” said Kim Vann, committee president for the Big 94.5 Country Topeka PRCA Rodeo, which has been operating from the Saddle Club a weekend in August since 2012.
Many of the Thursday night participants work on ranches or are professional rodeo cowboys looking to perfect their craft.
The skills developed during team roping involves immense concentration, balance and technical ability that are applicable in real-life situations.
“They’re out doctoring cattle and everything,” Vann said. “They’ll rope and handle them the same way and head-and-heal them, stretch them out and that way they can doctor them.”
Vann, who is a former team roper, was stationed by a cattle gate to release a mix of steers alongside Saddle Club president Stoneking.
“A lot of people don’t realize just how hard it is to rope," Vann said. "Looks easy with these guys the way they do it, but it’s actually pretty tough to do.”
As Vann and Stoneking released a steer from the shoot, the riders were ready, one on each side.
Troy Callaway, of Maple Hill, took off as the header position to the left while Lois Terrazas, of Gardner, worked as the heeler on the right. Callaway’s first quick draw secured the head to control the steer's movement, while Terrazas followed up with a throw its back to tie it up.
The team made quick work of the exercise. Callaway and Terrazas have been doing this since they were teenagers, and Callaway is a Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association rider.
“Its very important to have a facility like this because it gives everybody a chance to get their horses away from home and practice,” Callaway said.
Saddle Club lets local 4-H and FFA clubs use arena free of charge
The club offers its arena free of charge for local 4-H and FFA clubs as well.
This year's Big 94.5 Country Topeka PRCA Rodeo will be Aug. 23-24.
More information about the Saddle Club can be found through their Facebook page and website.
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