‘One horse at a time’: Moenave cowboy Stade Riggs headed for national finals

Posted by David Smith | May 26, 2022 | Rodeo |

CHINLE

In April, Stade Riggs earned the Grand Canyon Region Saddle Bronc Champion title, qualifying him for the College National Finals Rodeo in Casper, Wyoming, in June.

Riggs finished the season standings with 961 points.

“I was pretty happy about it,” said Riggs, a junior at Northern Arizona University, where he’s studying health science – fitness wellness.

“That was my goal, to win it and make it to the college finals,” he said.

Riggs comes from a family of rodeo riders, and the family resides in Moenave, Arizona. His father, Wayland Riggs, is a bull rider and his mother, Tanya J. Riggs (better known as T.J.), is a barrel racer.

“I really love to ride horses,” he said. “It’s pretty cool just feeling the rhythm of the horse. My dad used to ride bulls too, and my older brother (Shannon) was the one who made me want to ride more because he was riding for a bit, and that made me want to get on as well.”

Stade started at 8 years old doing team roping. He competed in rough stock events during his junior high years before moving up to saddle bronc in high school.

Riggs said he enjoys the competition at rodeos, doing his events, and just riding horses.

After graduating from Tuba City High in 2019, he went to NAU. Two years later, he would start competing in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association.

The coronavirus didn’t affect him much as he wasn’t competing during the first two years of the pandemic. He spent most of that time at home training with his horses. Local rodeos were canceled, so he didn’t have anyone to compete against.

Despite the pandemic, his skills remained on par as he competed and made it to this year’s finals.

“Sometimes it can be kind of difficult because I’ll have homework or I’ll have to study,” Riggs said. “When I travel and get to where I need to be, I’ll begin to do homework, and I’ll try to get as much done as I can during the week so that I can be a little bit more focused on my event.”

Riggs said he is excited, this will be his first time going to the college finals, but he feels confident as he competed against nationally ranked riders at the Indian National Finals Rodeo before.

“I know I can improve,” he said. “There’s still a lot of room for growth and improvement. These college rodeos really help me to improve more in my career.

“Like I said before, I just want to focus on what I’m doing and take it one horse at a time because I’m just there to ride up my horse.”

“I just like to thank my family members and close friends and the whole support system I have,” Riggs said.

Stade Riggs is Naakaii Dine’é and born for Mą’ii Deeshgizhnii. His maternal grandfather is Tábąąhá and his paternal grandfather is Tł’ízíłání.