The MSU Rodeo Club hosted the 42nd Spartan Stampede International Professional Rodeo Association, or IPRA, Rodeo this weekend at the MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education. The show drew large crowds of people interested in watching cowboys and cowgirls wrangle steers, ride horses, stay on bulls and rope cattle among other events.
The MSU Pavilion for Agriculture and Livestock Education was full of wrangling, roping and riding action during the weekend as part of the 42nd MSU Spartan Stampede International Professional Rodeo Association, or IPRA, Rodeo.
The event was a series of rodeo competitions and events — including bull riding and steer wrestling — and was sponsored by the MSU Rodeo Club, club adviser and equine exercise physiology professor Brian Nielsen said.
He said spectators likely could feel a sense of nostalgia when watching rodeo events and possibly still are interested in rodeo because of the dreams they had as children.
“Most little kids at some point want to be a cowboy or cowgirl so they can dress up in hats and boots, and I think even as you get older, there’s still a little of that inside you,” Nielsen said.
Vendors selling rodeo paraphernalia, food and rides on a mechanical bull were available for spectators as well.
Nielsen said two of the most popular competitions for spectators were barrel racing — a timed event in which horse and rider must make turns around three barrels placed in the arena as fast as possible — and bull riding.
Nielsen said this year’s Spartan Stampede was particularly special because it was dedicated to Jim Fusee, a stock contractor for the Wagon Wheel Rodeo Company who was involved particularly in the rodeo planning process. Fusee was killed in a car accident three weeks prior to the rodeo, but the event went on and was hosted in his memory.
“We didn’t think we could host the rodeo without him, (but) we had to go on with it — he would have wanted it that way,” Nielsen said.
The fast-paced atmosphere and the risk factor involved in rodeo sport likely keeps people coming back for more, said Shelbyville, Mich., resident and competitive bull rider Nick Vanderheide.
“It’s hard to explain the feeling you get when you make a great ride,” Vanderheide said. “It gives you an adrenaline rush, and it gives you a sense of accomplishment much bigger than yourself.”
Students involved in the event and the rodeo club draw other experiences from being a part of the rodeo community, said Danielle Palermo, an animal science senior and the 2010 MSU Rodeo Queen.
She said being involved in MSU Rodeo Club and other rodeo competitions during her college career made a huge impact on her life.
Palermo said she took special pride in being involved in the rodeo club and the Spartan Stampede rodeo events during the years and said what she has taken from the overall experience will last a lifetime.
“It’s not just rodeo — it’s about relationships and community,” she said. “It’s the best thing I ever did at MSU.”
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