At home on the range

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Three or four years ago, as Shirley Kennedy was preparing for the Bangor Rodeo, her husband, Paul, told her she and her horse were too old to compete.

“He thought we were both over the hill,” said the 64-year-old horsewoman with an amused expression. “We won.”

Kennedy and her 18-year-old horse, Little Red Music, will be in the ring this weekend, during the Down East Stampede Rodeo in Whitneyville on Aug. 4-5.

Joining Kennedy will be her daughter Terry West, and Terry’s 15-year-old daughter, Morgan. The three will compete in the Women’s Barrel Race on Saturday and Sunday.

Barrel racing is a competition where riders and their horses charge out of the shoot and make loops around each of three barrels before returning to the gate.

The barrels are arranged in a triangle and, during a rodeo, the winner usually takes about 15 seconds to execute a cloverleaf around the course, Kennedy said.

Barrel racing was introduced as a rodeo event in the late 1970s, to give women a chance to participate, she said.

“The men had all the other events, like calf roping and bull riding,” West explained.

Kennedy said rodeos still limit barrel racing to women riders, but the sport has become popular with men as well. The National Barrel Horse Association, which has its headquarters in Georgia, was founded in 1993, she said.

“It’s precision riding and a tough competition – right down to thousandths of a second,” Kennedy said.

This is the first year that the Down East Stampede will take place at the new fairgrounds on Route 1 in Whitneyville, and none of the participants know that course, she said.

Despite all of the competitions they’ve won – including Morgan’s selection as Maine’s Youth Champion during the National Barrel Horse Association state finals in Bangor on July 22 – none of the three is making any prediction on how they’ll do this weekend.

West said a lot depends on how many horses go before you.

The lineup is decided by drawing straws. If you end up down the list, the horses ahead of you have changed the depth of the dirt – or the top of the ground, as it’s referred to in rodeo circles.

That can lead to a bumpy ride and you really have to hang on, she said.

Kennedy said the last time she fell from her horse during a race was in 1993, when she was the 25th rider to go during a competition in Litchfield.

She broke her ankle when her horse fell on her during a race in 1981, she said.

“They’re kind of heavy,” she said. “That one was 900 to 950 pounds.”

West said she received formal training in barrel racing when she went to Texas as a graduation present in 1975.

“They taught us how to hang onto a horn, which wasn’t allowed in Maine at that time,” she said. “And, instead of neck reining, you bring the horse’s nose into the turn.”

Barrel racing requires the rider to stay in the middle of the horse and to train the animal how to slow down going into the turn, West said.

“The thing is to get in and around the barrel as fast as you can,” she said.

This weekend’s rodeo is just one of the many events that Kennedy, her daughter and granddaughter usually compete in during the summer months.

This is the first year they haven’t been on the road every weekend, going to competitions in southern Maine, Canada, Vermont, New York and Pennsylvania, Kennedy said.

Sometimes Kennedy’s other daughter, Anne, and West’s other daughter, Megan, go with them, they said.

The family stays in their horse trailers, cooking out and using the campground facilities that most competitions provide for participants.

West said many of the people who go to those events have big trailers, but the women didn’t want to have a stove, a flush and a shower.

“We don’t want to do housework when we leave,” said Kennedy.

The purse for winning a race varies from $500 for first place, which is typical for area rodeos, to as high as $55,000 for some larger races. The state championship prize was $1,400, but there are national competitions where the prize is in the millions. Participants also can win saddles and other equipment, West said.

The prize for the barrel race at the Down East Stampede is $1,000 added to entry fees. Each participant must pay an entry fee of $50 and at least 20 participants are expected for this weekend’s race, Kennedy said.

Kennedy said most of the time the family has been fortunate – winning their expenses, which is usually gasoline and entry fees.

“We consider the enjoyment of doing it, the people we’ve met and the places we’ve seen to be our profit,” she said.

Stampede schedule

The sixth annual Down East Stampede takes place Saturday and Sunday at the Down East Fairgrounds on Route 1 in Whitneyville.

The rodeo begins at 3 p.m. on both days, but the festivities start at 8 a.m. with Roger Asselin and the Cowboy Church Concert.

The ?Amazing Adrian? Magic Show by ?Maine?s funniest magician? is scheduled for 11 a.m. Saturday and Sunday, followed, on Saturday, by the Struttin? Country Line Dancers.

Saturday and Sunday?s pig scramble begins at 1 p.m.

Jim Chard and The Windy Ridge Band will play at Saturday?s bluegrass concert from 6 to 9 p.m.

A petting zoo, kiddie train rides, pony rides, bouncy house and a forestry demonstration take place on both days.

Advance tickets are $8 for adults and $6 for children. Tickets purchased at the gate are $10 for adults and $7 for children.

For more information, call the Down East Fairgrounds Association at 255-8660.