Cowboy culture on display at opening night of the 42nd Ramona Rodeo

The Ramona Rodeo grounds came to life on opening night at about 6. Booths and trailers lined the inside the Ramona Outdoor Community Center selling food, drinks and merchandise.

The smells of livestock and hay commingled with the scent of hot dogs and fried food.

Rodeo attendees donned their best Western attire, many in pink for the night’s theme “tough enough to wear pink.” Friends and family chatted over a plate of funnel cake as they watched the cattle in their pen adjacent to the arena.

The gates at the 42nd Ramona Rodeo opened Aug. 24 at 5:30 p.m. to Ramona locals and visitors, the first to attend the three-day event.

Amy Pippenger, owner of Pips Stop Western Wear, said she started working rodeos when her daughter was a barrel racer 10 years ago. Her business has seen a lot of growth, she said, from a 10x10 booth to the trailer she was using as a vendor at the rodeo. And now she has the help of her daughter, who is taking a break from barrel racing while she attends nursing school.

For Pippenger, a day at the rodeo is the backbone of America, with farmers and ranchers experiencing one of the bonuses of their career.

“It’s all about God, family and country,” she said. “Everyone has that feel-good kind of message and it prioritizes those three [aspects]. It’s a good culture.”

Finnbar Mulvey, a chiropractor at Olde Mission Chiropractic, was in his 26th year of providing services at the Ramona Rodeo. Those participating in the rodeo will typically come in an hour and a half to two hours before heading into the arena to get loosened up, he said.

“It’s a lot of volunteering but nobody needs it more and nobody can afford it less,” Mulvey said.

Dislocated shoulders and other joint issues are Mulvey’s expertise, and he said that the quality of ground determines how busy he is that night. The harder the ground is, the more competitors are likely to get injured, he said. Hard ground is not typically an issue at this rodeo, he noted.

AJ Neil, one of the bull fighters, was getting loosened up by Mulvey before the start of the rodeo. He started in bull fighting three years ago and worked pro rodeos two years ago. His job is to protect the bull rider at any cost, sometimes grabbing the bull’s head and taking it down, other times getting thrown in the air.

“It’s more or less watching the bull rider, watching his hips, watching if he’s riding correct,” Neil said. “If he gets out of shape it lets me know when I need to start moving in and start preparing myself for the job.”

At nearby tables sisters Karly and Madison Camozzi and Maren Powers chatted several hours before they would compete.

Karly and Madison, who have been barrel racing their whole lives, grew up in the rodeo. Their mom competed before them. It was Powers’ first year competing professionally.

“Hopefully both you and your horse can find the first barrel,” Powers said. “If your horse can see them and you can see them it’s pretty smooth.”

It’s a race against the clock, Karly Camozzi said. The only thing going through their mind is to go as fast as possible, smooth and straight, she said.

Wyatt Denny began warming up at least an hour before his performance in the bareback bronco category — the first competitor of the night. Denny, who’s been competing professionally for 10 years, said he landed here after growing up in rodeos doing barrel racing and cattle roping.

He felt good going into the event, he said, coming off a two-week break from a back injury.

“It’s just being able to take this animal and become one with it and get in time with it,” Denny said. “It’s just such a feeling, you can’t beat it.”

Grandstands in the Fred Grand Arena started to fill around 7:30, just before the start of the show. Jerry Honeycutt, grandson of Walt Alsbaugh, who founded Honeycutt Rodeo Co., started off the event with a prayer.

Denny was the first cowboy out of the gate in what he described as “chaos under control.”

He took each buck smoothly, moving with the horse, his body almost completely horizontal on the horse’s back. After eight seconds of holding on with just one hand, Denny sat up and dismounted the horse. He was greeted with a score of 83.5 points out of 100.

The night continued from there with tie-down roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, mutton busting, team roping, barrel racing and bull riding.

Rider Kiesner and Bethany Iles performed their team specialty act.

Kiesner showed off his talent with trick roping, spinning the rope in various styles, even jumping through the spinning circle of his rope while standing on his horse. Iles raced around the side of the arena trick riding on her horse. She kept her body straight and rigid with complete control as she positioned herself horizontally and vertically over the side of the horse.

“It’s awesome, you don’t find this atmosphere anywhere else,” Denny said. “People of like mindedness come to these events. Everyone’s always about family, faith and it’s something to bring your kids to.”