Although the rodeo for high school has been gone since 2008, rodeo cowboys Austin and Cheyenne Romans and their parents, Jason and Krystal, continue to still cling to the sport and take whatever the town has to offer.
The family has seen the rodeo in Pahrump dwindle down to nothing in the past 13 years.
“When we moved out here 13 years ago this town was filled with rodeo and agriculture,” Krystal Romans said. “The McCullough arena was filled every weekend with some type of rodeo or horse event. As years have went on, the kids do feel a bit hindered due to the lack of cattle resources but are grateful for the opportunities Pahrump has offered and helped with through the years.”
Last year 16-year- old Austin Romans competed in the Nevada High School Rodeo finals and his younger sister, who is 14-years-old, competed in the Nevada Middle School rodeo finals, but this year the high cost of competing at the high school rodeo drove them to other competitions.
According to Krystal Romans the two are competing in Little Britches Rodeo and will both be competing in the Little Britches National Rodeo Finals in Pueblo, Colorado from July 20 to July 25. There will be 900 contestants ranging in ages from 5 to 18 years of age.
“We did Little Britches this year to save money,” Krystal Romans said. “For the most part, most of the high school rodeos are up in Northern Nevada and they are almost every weekend. This requires a lot of traveling costs.”
She said Little Britches is not every weekend so they get a break, which they didn’t have last year. At the national level, Little Britches is on par with the National High School Rodeo Finals.
“On a local level Little Britches would rate a little less as far as competition,” Krystal Romans said. “Little Britches is a bit easier on the pocketbook, due to the fact that the rodeos are closer and the a family can save for the finals in July. The finals are televised nationally on RFDTV also and is as well-known as high school nationals.”
At the moment, the family said there are but a handful of kids still involved in rodeo competitions in Pahrump and only a few are interested in competing at the high school level.
“We think that possibly there would only be a handful of kids involved if a high school team was formed,” Krystal Romans said. “We do feel that if there was to be a rodeo team here in Pahrump that it could open up that possibility for others to get involved. This has been a major attempt for a long time, by Michelle Chappell, Lynn Shirkey, Robert Tibbitts just to mention a few, that have and are still working hard to promote rodeo in this valley.”
Krystal Romans sought out people last summer to form a combined team with Sandy Valley, who has a few high school students interested out there but couldn’t get anyone from Pahrump. Her intention was to find someone around town they could split travel and fuel costs with.
As the rodeos slowly decreased in town, so has the resources to train future rodeo cowboys. Jason Romans said there are resources still in town for training, but not for every event associated with rodeo. Resources include knowledgeable people who know the events and also the steer, goats and horse trainers to train for the rodeo events, to name a few.
“There are definitely barrel racing and pole bending help out here,” he said. “For rough stock, team roping, and goat tying there is some, but for calf tying and steer wrestling there are limited resources or none. Of the youth in town that do rodeo, the majority haul into Las Vegas for lessons, instructions, and practice with all but the speed events.”
Austin and Cheyenne are both ropers and have sought help locally and in Las Vegas for roping experts.
Despite the limited resources, Austin Romans believes he can still compete on a state level.
“I think I have a fair chance at the national level,” he said.
His sister feels differently.
“I feel I can definitely compete on a state level, but feel I would need much more resources and time to compete on a national level,” she said.