Rough Riders to hold hoedown; It’s all about the horses

The Pahrump Valley Rough Riders will be holding their first annual "End of the Summer Hoedown" on Aug. 1 at the McCulloch Arena from 7:30 p.m. to midnight.

According to roughrider spokesperson Mea Guajardo, the event will be used to raise funds for the end of the year banquet in January. The cost is $10 per family.

"Every year we have an end of the year banquet where we give out prizes like saddles and belt buckles to our members with the most points," she said. "The organization has been around for about 30 years and our purpose is to promote horse riding and to have fun."

The dance will be in the arena by DJ Sounds who will be providing country music. The VFW beer wagon will be there and there will be food too. There will also be vendors there.

"We will be dancing on a dance floor in the arena so you won't sink," Guajardo said.

She said the organization holds a gymkhana every third Saturday of the month for young kids and adults. At this event, members compete in pole racing and barrel racing for points. The purpose of the gymkhana is to learn more about horse riding.

"The pole racing is similar to barrel racing," she said. "But the poles don't always have to be in the same pattern. The poles can be in different shapes, like hearts or letters to make it more challenging."

Guajardo said the organization is all about horses and horse events and this includes rodeos.

"We would like to see more rodeo events in town," Guajardo said."But I stay out of the politics."

President of the Rough Riders Loyce Seastrunk said he loves promoting riding in town and is involved with the politics and the arena committee. He said he enjoys being involved with getting more rodeo events for the town, but he said his organization is about educating people about horses and therefore concentrates on smaller horse events.

"We have a lot of smaller events at the arena but I am involved in getting the bigger events too to the arena," he said. "If you look at the arena calendar we have a lot of barrel events coming to the arena that will help kids learn to rope. We also have some barrel racing and a couple of WJRA rodeos coming to town in the future."

Seastrunk said a lot people just don't know about the smaller events and a lot of those events are geared to teaching the kids either to be better riders or how to rope.

It has been said that amount of horse owners has declined in the valley and it may have, but the Rough Riders have seen an increase in membership.

"We now have 53 members and this is the biggest membership ever in recent history," Guajardo said.

Seastrunk added that many people still come here with their horses because the property is cheaper out here. He moved with his family out here in 1999 from Las Vegas.

"Our organization has seen a lot of families still coming from Las Vegas," he said. "We are getting more kids involved and more families coming out for our events. People say that horse owners are leaving, but I believe we are still getting horse families coming out from Las Vegas."

The organization will also be having a car wash on Aug. 9 at Draft Picks from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.