Chase Massengill can’t seem to get rodeo out of his blood.
After winning the 2006 National High School tie-down roping championship and graduating from Pojoaque High School in 2007, he continues to pursue his passion.
“I just love it,” he said. “I get to see a lot of beautiful country and meet a lot of good people.”
Massengill, who won the tie-down roping competition and steer wrestling events at the 2008 Rio Arriba County Rodeo, teamed with Aaron Romero, of Santa Fe, to win the team roping competition at the 2010 Rio Arriba County Rodeo, earning each of them a hefty $897.55 paycheck. The prize money in each event is determined by how much the event collects in entry fees. Team roping drew the most entries, 65, and had the largest payouts.
“We live paycheck to paycheck,” Massengill said. “Once you add up equipment, tack, feed and gas, it’s spent.”
Team roping involves a team of two riders. One rider, called the header, ropes a calf by the horns while the other roper, called the heeler, lassoes both of the calf’s feet. A five-second penalty is deducted if the heeler ropes only one leg. Romero and Romero and Massengill finished the task in a lightning-fast 6.1 seconds.
Romero, who won the tie-down competition at the 2007 Rio Arriba County Rodeo and was second to Massengill in 2008, got back at his teammate at the 2010 Rodeo, edging Massengill in the tie-down competition. Romero chased down, lassoed and tied down his calf in 10.1 seconds, compared to Massengill’s 10.3 seconds. Romero won $681 for first place and Massengill earned $481 for second.
“He’s one up on me now,” Massengill said.
Massengill didn’t place in steer wrestling this year. He pulled up rather than attempt to grapple with his steer.
“It’s been awhile since I bull-dogged,” he said. “I’m a little bit rusty.”
Massengill and Romero practice at the Massengills’ ranch in Pojoaque. Massengill is studying equine dentistry and bit-and-spur making at Mesalands Community College in Tucumcari.
After two years of rain, this year’s Rio Arriba County Rodeo was hot and dusty. Dylan Henson, 17, of Farmington, ate a lot of that dust June 19 in the saddle bronc-riding and bull-riding events. He couldn’t stay on his first saddle bronc, but got a second try. The second horse bucked him as well.
“That’s okay,” Henson, a senior at Aztec High School, said. “I’ve still got bull riding.’
Bull riding didn’t turn out any better. His bull quickly threw him off. Henson has been participating in rodeos since he was 15 years old, he said.
“I want to make it to the national finals,” Henson said.
In attendance this year was New Mexico Rodeo Queen Kristie Bierner, of Truth or Consequences, who helped crown 2010-11 Rio Arriba queen Natasha Trujillo, of El Rito.
The Rodeo drew a crowd of about 1,000, including children, rodeo director Travis Law said. That included 689 paying adults, according to gate receipts. Few contestants entered this year in several popular events, including bull riding and saddle-back and bare-back bronc riding. That resulted in smaller purses for those events. The winning bullrider, R. T. Doyle, took home just $631.
“The only thing I’m disappointed in is the number of contestants,” Law said. “The sport of rodeo is really dying. That’s due to the economy and is something we can’t control.”