The Nonella Family

For Riley Nonella, age 6, riding horses is as natural as breathing. She’s been riding as long as she can remember. Nonella spends days on her family’s ranch in Redmond, playing with baby goats, riding with little sister Reagan, age 4, and honing her roping skills. Best of all, she says, is time on her quarterhorse, Polly, practicing for the next rodeo.

Riley is already a top contender at PeeWee rodeos across Central Oregon, where contestants are ages 3 to 14. She’s among the youngest riders invited to the recent Crooked River Roundup’s Young Guns competition. On the Nonella Ranch, rodeo is a family legacy—Riley’s father, Roger, entered the professional rodeo world in 2007 and has won steer and tie-down roping championships on the Columbia River circuit and beyond. These days Nonella chooses rodeos closer to home, where he feels the heart of rodeo beats strongest. “Rodeo isn’t a hobby,” he said. ”It’s a way of life grounded in caring for livestock. Rodeo keeps the ranching community connected.”

The Rodeo Community

Ask any cowboy or cowgirl what they love most about rodeo and odds are good it won’t be the adrenaline or the prize money. It’s the people. Rodeo folks are like family; they stay connected through generations.

“The competition can be fierce, but we’re each other’s biggest fans,” said Sadie Bateman, 2023 Rodeo Queen for the Sisters Rodeo. Bateman knows rodeo spirit firsthand. A competitor since childhood, she won the 2019 state championship in breakaway roping. This year, she’s experiencing different thrills. “My favorite moment as queen is opening the rodeo. Galloping into the arena with the national anthem playing, carrying the flag—it’s such an honor,” she said.

Bateman’s primary role is to spark enthusiasm for rodeo among visitors and locals because it takes the whole village to make a rodeo happen. From livestock contractors to announcers to judges, hundreds of unsung heroes work behind the scenes.

Some of the riskiest work happens in the arena, alongside the action. When the bareback riding events begin, professional bullfighters, such as Logan Blasdell of Prineville, step in to keep the cowboys safe. Once the rider is off the horse or bull, Blasdell goes face-to-face with the animal to guide it away. Unlike rodeo clowns who entertain the crowd, bullfighters focus on protecting the cowboy.

“My job is a blast, but there’s a downside, too. I’ve had stitches, staples and broken bones, and the season is just getting started,” said Blasdell. Usually, he explained, the animals quiet down quickly after rides. “They’re not angry or mistreated,” he said. “Bucking is what they do by instinct. For me, keeping the cowboys safe is the best reward.”

The Next Generation of Rodeo

Adriene Steffen, age 17, will begin her college rodeo journey this fall after a stellar run in the high school circuit. She grew up on the Steffens’ ranch in Sisters, where she and her siblings were the family’s first generation of rodeo riders. Coming up through PeeWee rodeo, she participated in every event. Eventually, Steffen narrowed her focus to breakaway roping–a longstanding women’s rodeo event finally accepted into sanctioned professional rodeos in 2019.

“Adding breakaway roping as a pro event made a huge difference. It means more scholarships, more prize money [on the professional circuit]. Now women have a chance to make a living with their roping skills, just like men,” she said. “Rodeo is hard work every single day, but it’s taught me confidence, responsibility and especially how to start fresh after things don’t go the way I planned.”

For Wyatt Wood of Prineville, the love of rodeo, “started with mutton busting when I was a kid.” From sheep, he moved up to riding calves, steer and ponies. “I loved the challenge of staying on. Couldn’t get enough of it,” he said.

Outside the arena, he excelled in many sports—and credits wrestling for teaching him to never give up—but bareback bronc riding became his passion. Now 19, he competes on both the college and professional circuits.

A bronc rider’s mission is to stay on for eight seconds. Wood’s rodeo routine starts with a check of his glove and rigging, the only point of attachment with the bronc. Then he tapes his arm to protect the muscles. “Now my motor’s running a thousand miles an hour, but time slows down during the ride. Win or lose, I always learn how to do better next time,” said Wood.

It’s an individual sport, but as part of the Cal Poly Rodeo team, Wood is building his rodeo community. Of all the achievements during his freshman year at college, it’s these relationships that mean the most.

“I’ve met lifelong friends, people I can count on, all over the circuit,” he said. “That’s how it is with rodeo.”

From the youngest PeeWee riders to the mentors raising them up, the rodeo family thrives on tradition, community and a heritage rooted in a multitude of cowboy cultures. It’s a spirit that passes down through generations, along with a love for livestock and a good dose of grit. Rodeo celebrates the American West, past and present. And, as Riley Nonella would add, it’s a whole lot of fun.

The Rich History of Rodeo

Back when life on the range was lonely and hard, cattle roundups offered a rare chance for cowboys to show off their bronc riding and roping talents. By the early 1900s, these rowdy competitions evolved into the rodeo we know today, full of pageantry, cheering crowds, thundering hooves and moments of awe. Yet cowboy culture goes beyond typical stereotypes, with a complex history shaped by influences as wide and diverse as the West itself. These traditions elevated horsemanship into artistry, and are still evident across Oregon.

At the Pendleton Round-Up, American Indian heritage has been integral to the rodeo since its start in 1910. Members of the Umatilla, Cayuse and Walla Walla tribes host a pageant and teepee village. The Indian Relay, a breathtaking event when riders leap from one galloping horse to another while racing bareback, spotlights the traditional Native mastery of bareback riding. The Warm Springs Ranch Rodeo Association established in 2022 helps recognize this heritage as well. Its Pi-Ume-Sha Treaty Days held each June in Warm Springs is a three-day rodeo event featuring a parade of traditional dress and a separate day to showcase young rodeo talent.

The 2023 debut of the 8 Seconds Juneteenth Rodeo in Portland lifted up another piece of cowboy history: the contribution of Black cowboys in the West. Often overlooked in the media, in reality, one-fourth of Western cowboys were Black. In recent years, the Black community has reclaimed its connection to horse culture, and Oregon’s newest rodeo is part of that renaissance.

Mexican vaqueros, the original buckaroos, added lassos, chaps and expert livestock management to the West’s roundups. Even the name for rodeo comes from the Spanish verb rodear, meaning to encircle. The vaqueros’ style and skills evolved into a type of rodeo called Charrería, now a Mexican national sport. Demonstrations by charros such as Tomas Garcilazo (shown above, right) continue to wow the crowds at rodeos throughout Oregon, including at “The Biggest Little Show on Earth”—the Sisters Rodeo.