HOUSTON – “A lot of the stuff we do here is just stuff we do every day,” Shannon Conley said.
Conley and her team, Halsell Ranch, are taking part and only the second-ever all-women's Ranch Rodeo competition at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. As a real-life rancher, she feels right at home during the event.
“The history of the Ranch Rodeo was just another mechanism to really promote the Western heritage and to let these guys showcase their skills and how proficient they are in what they do on a day-to-day basis against their peers,” said Tucker Knight, chairman of the Ranch Rodeo.
Among the three events teams compete in is "sorting." A dozen cattle are numbered and corralled behind a white line. When the first team member crosses the line, a number is called out. The team must then drive five animals out of the herd in numerical order starting with that number. Then there's calf branding.
"They try to do it the same way we do back at home. You go in, you rope a calf, got to be about 2 feet, drag him out to your flankers, brand him and then time stops whenever the brand is back in the bucket,” Conley said.
If so many of these activities are apart of Conley's regular day, then what makes the competition any different?
“Your husband cannot yell at you whenever you're in the arena. That's pretty much the only difference,” Conley said.
The women's competition took place at 1 p.m. on Friday while the men's go-round one kicked off at 7 p.m. The men's go-round two is set for 11 a.m. on Saturday with the finals for men set for 8 p.m. on Saturday.