The East Helena Rodeo offers fast-paced action on the second day

EAST HELENA — Saddle up, cowladies and cowgentlemen. The second day of the Northern Rodeo Association took place Saturday at the brand new East Helena Valley Rodeo Grounds.

Day 2 got off to a great start for nature. There were no qualifying rides in the rookie saddle bronc. Riders must last at least eight seconds, but these beautiful bucking horses wouldn’t allow that.

Nature always has the upper hand in rodeo. And nature kept its momentum going in bull wrestling. The first five competitors in the event had no time to show. But forget the advantage: The bull fought by Austin Whitehouse of Helena would have taken three to five business days to outrun the cowboy. Whitehouse’s 4.1 turned out to be the rodeo-winning time.

On the second day, twelve competitors competed in the women’s breakaway roping – but all twelve finished the race without a time limit. The result can be viewed in two ways: either everyone was tied for first place or everyone came last.

But man has once again fought his way into battle with nature in the saddle bronc. There were six qualifying rides in the event, which had seven competitors. Wyatt Hotz of Phillipsburg took the saddle bronc crown with a score of 79 – just half a point more than the next best rider.

All eight participants in the tie-down roping must have been wearing Levis, because MTN Sports couldn’t catch a single Wrangler. All eight participants finished without a time.

Day 2 ended with bull riding. And the very last ride of the rodeo was done by former NRA champion Caden Fitzpatrick. His ride earned him 75 points, which made him the rodeo winner.