2025 Bares & Broncs

THE 17TH ANNUAL ADVANTAGE DIRT

BARES & BRONCS PRESENTED BY THE DAILY RECORD

ELLENSBURG RODEO ARENA

MAY 16-17 2025

TICKETS:

baresandbroncs.com

LAYOUT & DESIGN: DARLA ALLEN

GATES OPEN AT 6PM

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MAY 2025

NAMING SPONSOR

EVENT SPONSORS

THE 17TH ANNUAL

ADVANTAGE

PRESENTING SPONSOR

CHAMPION SPONSORS Pendleton Whisky Badger Gap Solar 3 Boots Ranch Red’s Fly Shop Wendy’s Mid-State Co-op Cascade Custom Apparel Cinch Central Powersports Smokey’s Bar-b-que Molly Morrow Photography Cle Elum Roundup T&T Electric Les Schwab Tire WSECU

PERSONNEL SPONSOR WM (Waste Management) Coca-Cola Dolsenco Bottling Jimmy Watterson Trucking Agri-Service Old Cannery Furniture Warehouse Evergreen Home Loans BiMart AgWest Farm Credit TMobile Boot Barn Icon Inn

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ROUGHSTOCK SPONSORSHIP Windermere Clean Cut: The Men’s Shop Country Financial KXLE Radio Stillwell-Hanson Architects ReMax The Collective 1rst Security Bank StonewingsII Hay Export Justin Boots Ellensburg Rodeo Hall of Fame A-1 Petroleum Dairy Queen Luft Trailer Supply Cowboy Cross Toppenish Livestock Commission Jerry Lael Farmer’s Insurance Econolodge Pape Machinery Honest Cuts Meats Old Mill Country Store Sullivan Dental

BUCKAROO SPONSORS

Bill Haberman Hay Knudson Lumber Ellensburg Rodeo Anytime Fitness Tarp It Ellensburg Cement Bivens and Wilson Accountants Toby Williams ReMax Realty Twin City Foods Grebb, Johnson, Reed, and Wachsmith CPAs

BARES & BRONCS

The 17th Annual Advantage Dirt Bares and Broncs, will be MAY 16 and MAY 17, 2025, at the Kittitas Valley Event Center (Ellensburg Rodeo Arena). The Advantage Dirt Bares and Broncs is sanctioned with the PRCA and is part of the Xtreme Broncs tour Bareback Riding and Saddle Bronc Riding. Plus, local barrel racing, mounted shooters, vendors, concessions, and more!

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS: Friday, May 16th, 2025, Advantage Dirt Bares and Broncs, 7PM Tickets available for purchase.

Gates open at 6PM. Saturday, May 17th, 2025, Advantage Dirt Bares and Broncs, 7PM Tickets available for purchase.

Gates open at 6PM. BARES AND BRONCS

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FRONT OFFICE - Sabrina Nutt EDITOR - Brian Kelly ADVERTISING Amanda Bequette • May Askins-Huber

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WELCOME TO THIS YEARS

BARES & BRONCS E

very year, I want to start with gratitude. This is the 17th year of Bares and Broncs.

We need so much help each year to make it happen and we appreciate everyone who supports us.

life and the demands of home, and then add the entropy of a PRCA entry system that forces randomness into the plans. Not everyone can get their ideal schedule, so cowboys need to adapt and overcome, juggle schedules and use lots of frequent flier miles.

In 2008, we had big dreams and modest beginnings. Advantage Dirt Bares and Broncs has grown to become part of the worldwide rodeo circuit, part of the Xtreme Broncs Tour, and part of the PRCA’s year-round national pursuit of National Finals Rodeo qualification and a potential World Championship.

Another result of the “buddy system” is that cowboys travel together to share costs.

They spend the year together in the peril and glory of riding bucking horses and also the comedy and frustrations of travel. The cowboys you see competing against are creating lifelong friendships. They really are helping each other and rooting for each other.

The cowboys you will watch competing in Bares and Broncs are a collection of some of the finest young men in the world. Their aspirations and competitive spirit take them all over the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia. They will leave home for months on end and travel the world in vehicles of all vintages, sizes, and states of repair with the hope of making a good ride and getting to the next rodeo.

It is a privilege to get to know these men. It is an honor to share in their lives as they overcome obstacles, achieve success, and also to watch them create relationships, find spouses, have children and then figure out how to retire from the sport and move onto the rest of their lives.

The PRCA allows cowboys to enter individually or in “buddy groups” of up to four people. Cowboys’ travel schedules are as complex as college calculus and as unique as each young man. Each cowboy judges for themselves their own priorities of where to compete, which bucking horses offer the best chance of success, factor in a personal

MAY 2025

In 17 years, Bares and Broncs has been a very small part of the lives of many, many cowboys. It has been an honor to welcome them to Ellensburg each year. We hope you enjoy the show.

All the best, Daniel Beard

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SUBTLE DIFFERENCE

DECIDES RIDE TYPE W hat is the difference between bareback and saddle bronc horses? I had a cowboy ask me this at a rodeo and it is one of the most common questions for people curious about rodeo. There are only subtle differences between bareback and saddle bronc horses, but the difference is profound.

The two events have their own special characteristics. The bareback rigging has a single cinch located in the girth of the horse, basically right behind the shoulders. This allows the horse freedom of movement and keeps the rider’s weight forward over the horse’s front legs. Horses that buck with a lot of sideways movement or lots of twists may benefit from being in bareback riding. Having the rider’s weight forward helps them keep their balance in their contortions and the lack of a back conch allows them to buck “rank” without any hindrance. Bareback horses have their heads free of any halter or rein which helps them gather themselves for the next jump and helps them keep their balance if they are twisting or are out of line”.

Saddle bronc riding has its own characteristics. The saddle

is built around a stiff fiberglass or rawhide tree, covered with leather. It usually extends two feet or more. The saddle has a 16-inch seat with swells in front of the rider to brace their knees and a seat in the back to cradle their rear end. Stirrups are set forward to the saddle for the cowboy’s feet and two cinches keep the saddle in place. The saddle moves the rider’s weight back slightly – more into the middle of the horse’s back, rather than the front orientation of a bareback – and limits some of the horse’s motion. The most important characteristics for saddle bronc riding are the halter and rein. If a cowboy “lifts” with his arms in front of him, it keeps his weight back in the saddle and allows him more balance in the saddle. If the cowboy pulls, he can take away some of the horse’s motion and especially the horse’s ability to balance and gather momentum for the next jump.

Most people assume the main difference between bareback and saddle bronc horses is the size and there is some truth to that notion. Because the saddle moves the cowboy’s weight further back, it helps to have a bigger, stronger horse. And

because the halter and rein take away some of the horse’s power, it’s nice to start off with more size, strength, and power in the saddle bronc riding. But size is not the primary difference. The primary difference has to do with the horse’s personality and characteristics, which relates back to the breeding program.

Certain horses buck better in the bareback riding or the saddle bronc riding. As breeding stock, they pass on these traits to their offspring. In raising rough stock it’s an experiment in developing traits that will work in both bareback and saddle riding. I’ve added genetics to my herd from Big Bend/Flying Five, Korkow Rodeo, Kirby Rodeo, J-J Rodeo and Cervi Championship Rodeo while beginning to cross different lines of genetics with our own lines. The hope is that each generation gets better than the generation before it. To keep the speed and athletic ability, to improve the size and strength, to keep the energy and bring in some mental toughness, to get the horses that can excel in every part of rodeo – bareback riding and saddle bronc riding.

It’s a process.

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