Buckles earned at Boots and Saddles

The Phillips County Saddle Club held its last Boots and Saddles Rodeo of 2016 Saturday, August 13 in Trafton Park. Nine buckles were handed out in the event that featured plenty of skill, thrills and spills.

High point buckle winners included Royce Strobbe who won in the 6 and under grouping, Morgan McEwen who won the 7-8 year old buckle, Jace Bantz who won the 9-10 year old buckle, Taten Erickson who won the 11-12 year old buckle and Charlee Rhodes who won the 13-18 year old buckle.

Reserve Champions were Tant Anderson who was the 6 and under reserve champion, Dalton Harvey who was the 7-8 reserve champion, Dylan Simonson who was the 9-10 reserve champion, Brady Bantz who was the 11-12 reserve champion and Aidan Wiese who was the 13-18 reserve champion.

Maddy McEwen won a buckle in short pattern. Tant Anderson was the champion in sheep riding, while Jaxton Crowley was reserve champion. Flint McEwen was crowned champion in calf riding, while Dalton Harvey was reserve champion. Spencer Gibbs was crowned champion in steer riding, while Zoey Delaney was reserve champion.

Ty Murphy also put on an exhibition bull ride at the conclusion of the steer riding.

Charlee Rhodes, who was the High Point Champion in the age 13-18 group along with her sister Danie Rhodes nearly won both awards in their age group despite Charlee only being fifteen and Danie only being thirteen.

Both sisters are horse trainers and are active in 4-H.

Though Charlee had a new horse Smokey for last Saturday and recorded a time of 9.45 seconds in arena races, she has ran in the seven second range in past races.

Danie rode Charlie, her friend's quarter horse.

Though Danie just missed out of reserve champion, she admitted the 2016 season has been good.

"I'm doing pretty good," Danie said. " At first I was kind of rough but I still placed in quite a few things."

She said her favorite event was either barrel racing or goat tying.

"I've just done it for a while and it's something I knew I can always be good at and it's just natural for me to do," Danie said about goat tying.

Charlee's favorite events were pole bending and goat tying.

"Probably just going through the poles and weaving through them fast," Charlee said answering why she loved pole bending.

The sisters also enjoy 4-H and shared what they loved about the organization.

"Just working with animals, that's fun," Charlee said mentioning that sheep showing was her favorite activity.

Charlee plans on showing a steer for the first time next year in 4-H.

"I love the fact that you get to meet new people and get to have a lot of fun with it," Danie said.

Danie also enjoys showing animals.

"I love showing my horse or my pig," Danie said.

Only being two years apart, the sisters get along well, in public at least.

"There's a ginormous rivalry," Danie said. "We are always fighting but when we are around new people we are really nice and friendly."

She went on to say people will comment on how well they get along, but mother Cathy Verhoef knows better.

"My mom, she kind of just goes, I wish they were like that at home," Danie said noting that the fights are brief and they do get along in general.

According to Danie, the meanest thing her sister did was strike her in the throat.

"She throat punched me one time, with my own hand," Danie said. "We were in the house just goofing around and we got in a fight. My sister grabbed my hand and punched me in the throat."

She grabbed an inanimate object and retaliated.

Charlee confirmed that incident happened and then shared the meanest thing her sister Danie did to her.

"Probably throwing a brush at me," Charlee said.

Danie disagreed.

"I picked up a stick and just whacked her with it," Danie said.

Upon hearing the transgressions they had passed against each other, they had to say something nice about each other.

"She's really funny," Charlee said. "The stuff she says is just hilarious sometimes. She comes up with the most randomest things to say."

Danie responded saying that her sister is an excellent worker and sport.

"She's a really hard worker and she always pushes me to do my best at things," Charlee said. "Even if it's something she doesn't enjoy, she gives me advice. Even if we are competing against each other, we cheer each other on and she's really loud about it."