Ranch rodeo circuit forming

All you wannabe cowboys and cowgirls, here’s your chance.

Organize and become part of the Ridge Riders Ranch Rodeo activity this season.

The Ridge Riders hope to tap in to a regional ranch rodeo network where teams of four -- three men and one woman -- compete in a variety of typical real ranch skills.

If it all fits together, local rancher Bubba Egbert says, competition would go on from Tonasket to Republic and Winthrop to Grand Coulee.

Grand Coulee has two dates on the circuit, June 30 and (tentatively) Sept. 22.

Anyone can put a team together. Ranches around, including Egbert’s, will develop teams for the competition in four categories:

- team branding,

- trailer loading,

- pasture gathering, and

- saddle bronc riding.

The first three are team events, and their times are accumulated with the best time winning special belt buckles. In the saddle bronc riding, competitors will use normal working saddles.

The ranch rodeos have been put on by a Tonasket cowboy, and this year officials are trying to create a circuit where teams can compete in a variety of communities.

“Teams can be made up of families that have ranches, or mixed groups including children,” Egbert stated.

“We would like to get 20 teams competing in our local ranch rodeo events,” Egbert noted.