Exceptional kids
Exceptional Rodeo plans big for next year

By Karen Francis
Staff writer

WINDOW ROCK — Though the people who volunteered for the Third Annual Exceptional Children’s Rodeo are still recovering from putting together this year’s rodeo in just a few weeks’ timespan, they are already beginning to look forward to next year.

“The number four is sacred to Navajo,” explained George Arthur, the group’s leader. He said that the fourth annual rodeo next year will solidify its importance as a permanent part of the Navajo Nation Fair.

It was more than three years ago that rodeo enthusiasts and other volunteers came together under Arthur’s leadership to organize an event that would honor the nation’s special-needs children, whom had never before been acknowledged during the largest American Indian fair.

Each year the rodeo gets bigger as more people learn about the special event, which KTNN radio announcer L.A. Williams calls “the granddaddy of exceptional rodeos.”

Williams has been involved in such rodeos throughout the Navajo Nation for more than 10 years. During this year’s rodeo, she volunteered with the Scoot and Scram Pole Bending station, leading kids through the course with stick horses donated by Tohatchi High School .

Students from Lucinda Bitsoi’s Navajo language and culture class at Tohatchi High School made the stick horses with the help of the school’s wood shop teacher.

“They were excited as they were painting the faces,” Bistoi said. “They had all kinds of ideas. They were happy to do it.”

Another school that participated was Wingate High School. Nine members of its rodeo club, including the rodeo queen, volunteered the day of the event.

“Thank God the Wingate boys were there!” Ella Jackson, from Gallup-McKinley County Schools, said after the event. Dressed in black Rodeo Club T-shirts and black cowboy hats, the students helped Jackson with the horse grooming station, lifting little kids to pet the horse and helping them to use the tools to brush the horse’s coat.

“We want kids to get used to being around livestock and other values of Navajo culture,” Shirley Francis, one of the Rodeo Club’s sponsors who accompanied the Wingate High School group, said.

Louise Bitsui, the coordinator for this year’s exceptional rodeo, said that the volunteers began lining up before the kids even started coming.

“People just popped out of the woods and asked ‘Where can I help?’” Jackson said.

Arthur also noted that more sponsorship opportunities came up on the day of the event as potential sponsors saw the smiles on the children’s faces as they made their way through the courses.

It is the voluntary spirit of so many people that makes the annual Navajo Nation Fair Exceptional Children’s Rodeo possible. A core group of planning team members volunteer each year to make the preparations and make sure that children who are mentally and physically challenged are not forgotten at the nation’s fair. On the day of the event, the planning team counts on volunteers to show up to help set up the stations and guide children through the different activities.

In addition to the scoot and scram pole bending and horse grooming stations, activities include the mighty bucky bull-o-rama, the Pony Express ride, lickity split barrel racing, kidz kowboy roping and the new horse race event.

Nearly 250 special needs children from across the Navajo Nation are treated with T-shirts and goody bags upon arrival. After registering, they line up for a Grand Entry and are then led through the various stations with the help of volunteers.

Many of the volunteers are famous around the Navajo Nation, but the focus is entirely on the children.

“Seeing the kids smiling, having a good time, that’s what this is all about,” Williams said.

The Exceptional Children’s Rodeo represents the Navajo Nation’s commitment to bring attention to the special needs of mentally and physically challenged Navajos.

“This is a learning experience about getting involved,” Williams said. “I would like to see more people involved to carry it across the Navajo Nation.”

Jackson echoed the same thought.

“Every fair should sponsor something like this,” she said.

Jackson said the Gallup-McKinley County School District has been sending pupils to the exceptional rodeo each year it has been held. Though she wasn’t able to bring in student volunteers this year, she remembered how a student from Navajo told her she wanted to become a special education teacher after volunteering at last year’s rodeo.

To promote the idea that mentally and physically challenged people should no longer be hidden but should be welcomed participants in Navajo society is the legacy that the planning team hopes to accomplish by putting on this exceptional rodeo every year.

“We’re very proud of this. It’s a symbol of completing the circle” Arthur said. “We honor these people who are challenged. They are certainly a part of Navajo society.”

Planning team members are already thinking about next year’s event and how to make it the biggest and best exceptional children’s rodeo yet. They are planning an appreciation ceremony for the rodeo’s major sponsors in November.