Rodeo girls chomping at the bit to ride in Pahrump

Riders from the first Pahrump Valley High School rodeo team started practicing in the spring for their fall debut.

The team members have been practicing their roping skills and riding skills since the formation of the team in March.

The team rodeo director, Buddy Krebs, said there are seven girls currently on the team with various levels of experience.

“We have beginners and veterans,” Krebs said. “I am very proud of each and every one of them, and I know we are going to be very competitive.”

Julie Young will be a freshman this year and has been doing barrel racing since she was four.

“Racing barrels is 50 percent rider skill and 50 percent horse skill,” Young said. “My horse Presley I have been riding since I was 7-years-old. She is stubborn, blonde, but she is pretty good.”

She added, “This is my first rodeo team. I just want to try my best and do well. We have been having issues and I am happy with it. We have been doing pretty well.”

Julie’s younger sister Karen is also on the team.

“I will be in seventh grade this year,” Karen Young said. “I have been riding since I was two. The horse was my legs. I have been riding barrel horses since I was little and my horse makes me feel great about it.”

Both sisters are looking forward to the upcoming year and although they are on the same team, they love the friendly competition.

“We are a very competitive family,” Karen Young said. “I can beat my sister.”

Both girls will be doing team roping and breakaway for the first time.

“I also started roping this year,” Karen Young said. “I am going to rope the dummy for a while. Then we will do barrels. We rope for about an hour and then do barrels for two.”

Stacy Little, Karen and Julie Young’s mother, is excited for both girls.

“I was happy to get the rodeo team back,” Little said. “It is something more diversified and something more than just barrel races at the local gymkhana. It gives them the cows, the goats and something to do.”

Michailah Cobillas will be a junior this coming year and has been barrel racing since she was five.

“I was pretty excited to join the team,” she said. “It gives me something else to do other than trail riding. I think we have a good chance next year. We are confident. I just started roping and I think it’s fun and I enjoy it. I have not tried roping a moving calf yet, just a dummy on the ground.”

Cobillas said her favorite event in rodeo is doing pole bending.

“I love pole bending,” Cobillas said. “I like it more because of the faster pace and I feel the horse more.”

Korey May-Parks will also be a junior when school opens back up again in August. She said the other girls have been working hard and they are, “all doing pretty good.”

According to her father, Dusty Parks, she has been riding most of her life and has been roping and doing Little Britches rodeos.

“I have been doing rodeo for about a year now,” she said. “I do both roping and barrel racing. But I prefer barrel racing because it is faster-paced.”

Although the main rodeo schedule for the whole 2018 season has not been posted on the Nevada High School Rodeo Association website, Krebs said the Pahrump High School rodeo is scheduled for Feb. 23-25.

At the moment, the team has one male roper, Kody Peugh, but still lacks boys for team roping and other roping events. Krebs said the team now has 12 bullriders.

“The team keeps on growing,” Krebs said.

Contact sports editor Vern Hee at vhee@pvtimes.com