Jodie adds Lions Club rodeo to her list of 2023 winners

By Santiago Ramos Jr.
Special to the Times

GALLUP

Crownpoint cowgirl Kadin Jodie has been having a significant rodeo season.

Jodie added a win Saturday night to keep her sizzling streak going during the 73rd Annual Gallup Lions Club Open Show rodeo.

Competing as one of the last competitors in the ladies breakaway roping, Jodie topped the competition with a sizzling run of 2.39 seconds Saturday that was worth $1,489 at the pay window.

Beating out 57 other cowgirls, Jodie finished just .01 of a second ahead of Odessa Yazzie, a close second with a 2.40-second clocking. Yazzie received $1,223. Kai Presley took third with a 2.45 ($957).

The 18-year-old Jodie, who last competed at the Gallup Lion’s Club Rodeo for the first time back in 2018, said she’s been having a banner year competing in rodeos this season.

“I’m doing pretty good in all of my rodeo associations,” said Jodie, who is first in the breakaway roping in the Indian National Finals Rodeo standings, first in the Grand Canyon Rodeo Association and first in the New Mexico Rodeo Association.

“It’s been a pretty good year so far,” Jodie said. “I won money at Page, Camp Verde, Cortez, and Okmulgee, Oklahoma. I had a good weekend here and at Window Rock.”

Crediting Piggy

Jodie credits her 15-year-old breakaway horse “Piggy” for much of her success.

“She’s getting old,” Jodie said. “I’ve had her since I was 12 years old. She was a dogging horse before being a breakaway horse.

“She helped my dad win a world title at the INFR,” she said. “She still has a couple more years left in her. A lot of practice I’ve been doing with my family’s help for driving me everywhere and supporting me on the rodeo roads.”

Jodie says she’s looking to buy a younger horse.

“Hopefully, that works out,” she said.

Jodie’s biggest payoff this season was a $3,000 payday competing at a pro rodeo in Cave Creek, Arizona.

“I’ve been going pretty much every week,” she added. “I’ve had 10-15 rodeos this month.”

Jodie, who placed second in the breakaway average at the Best of the Best two years ago, will compete in the Timed Events Best of the Best this week at Red Rock Park.

She will then be at Prescott, Window Rock; Vernal, Utah; Lame Deer, Montana; and Pagosa Springs, Colorado.

“It’s getting pretty busy,” said Jodie, who will attend Navajo Technical College in Crownpoint and compete on its rodeo team.

Open team roping

The team roping combination of former NFR world champ header Aaron Tsinigine of Tuba City, and INFR world champ heeler Ty Romo of Whiteriver, Arizona, enjoyed a nice payday beating 62 other teams in capturing the open team roping.

The pair combined for a winning time of 3.51 seconds that paid $1,676 for each roper. The winning team just nudged out the team of Justin Macarenas and Eddie Nieto, who was a close second just 0.01 of a second back with a 3.52 ($1,366 per roper).

The 35-year-old Romo also picked up a third-place showing with header Wawa Ben with a 4.57 ($1,117 per roper).

Romo said he was roping with Tsinigine after a long break.

“We haven’t headed in a while,” Romo said. “Whenever he needs a partner, that’s usually when I fill in. I’ve rodeoed here before, but this is the first time I’ve won at Lion’s Club. Glad I won it.”

Romo said that his season has been like “a roller coaster.”

“It’s been up and down,” he said. “We’ve (Tsinigine) roped off-and-on. We probably win more than we lose.”

Romo said that he has been scaling back the number of rodeos he’s been roping at.

“I have stuff to do at home,” he said. “It’s not full-time for me. Aaron – he’ll go all summer. I’m easing off now.”

Bareback

On his first trip to the Lion’s Club Rodeo, Cauy Betony of Tonalea, Arizona, topped the other seven riders in the bareback riding event. Betony rode “Continental Cowboy” to a 76-point ride in the long go worth $667.

Kyle Charley placed second with a 73 ($500), with Trick Wilson third with a 70 ($334).

“My (horse) had no kick to it,” Betony said of his first draw. “I was kind of just doing my work.”

Betony picked up an extra $1,000 for winning the bareback bonus round with a rematch on “Great North” with an impressive score of 87 points.

“I just felt the adrenaline going through my head,” Betony said of the bonus round. “That’s what I really liked. Once I hear the crowd, that makes me want to go more. I had a good draw. Even though I was the only one in the bonus round, I was going 100 percent. I was bucked off him at Apache Junction.”

The 18-year-old Betony, who competes in the INFR rodeos, says his dad persuaded him to compete in the Lion’s Club Rodeo.

“My dad has been hitting me in all these rodeos,” says Betony, sitting in fourth place in the INFR bareback standings and qualifying for the INFR Finals in Las Vegas. “He knows I can win it. It runs in the family. My brothers do, my family, my grandpa. Everyone does it.”

Betony plans to hit the Fourth of July rodeos with Prescott, Window Rock, and Kayenta trips.

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