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KENNETH SONG / NEWS-PRESS PHOTOSSerafina Madonna with her horse Metallic Flame competes in the Buckaroo Class during the Fiesta Stock Horse Show Thursday at the Earl Warren Showgrounds in Santa Barbara.
For the 98th year, the Santa Barbara Fiesta Stock Horse Show at the Earl Warren Showgrounds kicked off on Thursday.
The event brings together the best horsemen and women from Santa Barbara, Ventura and San Luis Obispo counties as they show off their riding and roping skills. The public is welcome to come watch competitors in the stock horse classes, which are free to attend.
Today the event continues as the Fiesta Stock Horse Show and Rodeo, and it will continue through Sunday. Weekend rodeo performance tickets are available for $15-30 at sbfiestarodeo.org/tickets.
Stock horses classes started Thursday morning and ran through most of the day. The stock horse classes continue today starting at 8 a.m. Today’s classes will include junior roping, keyhole and single stake up to age 17 with several age categories for both boys and girls.
Melissa Alvarez with her horse Mo Beta, who also goes by “Buster,” competes in the Buckaroo Class during the Fiesta Stock Horse Show.On Saturday, Tri-County Adult Roping starts at 7 a.m. On Sunday, morning team penning and sorting starts at 8:30 a.m.
For a full schedule, go to sbfiestarodeo.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/2022-Fiesta-Stock-Horse-Show-Schedule.pdf.
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association starts this evening and runs through Sunday. The rodeo begins at 7:30 tonight and Saturday night, and continues at 2 p.m. Sunday.
The rodeo is a ticketed event. Some tickets are available for purchase at the showgrounds box office, which opens at 10 a.m.
“Friday and Saturday nights will likely be sell outs,” Josiah Jenkins, rodeo chair, told the News-Press Thursday.
Rodeo events include: saddle bronc, bareback, women’s barrel racing, ladies breakaway, team penning, bull riding and steer wrestling, according to Mr. Jenkins.
“Once again the faithful and prized friends of men enjoyed the importance and respect that was theirs in the real Old Spanish Days when a good horse was a man’s right hand without which he was powerless to cope with the distances and problems of his frontier environment,” according to a 1937 edition of the News-Press.
Mr. Jenkins discussed the history further.
“It’s been a part of the Fiesta since 1924 when everything was at Pershing Park,” he said. “When the Earl Warren Showground opened, the stock horse show was moved to this location, and the professional rodeo was added.
“It’s a good cultural event,” he said. “It brings the people from the ranching life and country that do this as living together to compete and see who is the best that day. The public has always enjoyed it, coming from Santa Barbara,Ventura and Santa Ynez Valley.”
All the money that is raised during this event goes toward funding the PRCA/
For more information, see sbfiestarodeo.org.
email: kzehnder@newspress.com
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