Emily Miller Beisel knows how to compensate to help her horse when it’s needed. The Kansas native-turned Oklahoman barrel racer used her hand to keep up the second barrel as she rounded it on the final night of the Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo.
And she turned in a time of 17.41 seconds to win the rodeo.
Her horse Ivory on Fire, “Liza,” gets a little close to barrel number two, and Beisel had to rectify the situation in Abilene. The mare “has been getting a little bit tight on me, with that barrel,” and she hasn’t been home to spend time re-teaching Liza.
When the barrel tottered after Beisel reached out to keep it up, the crowd cheered as it stayed up. “It was pretty wild,” she said. “I was glad (the crowd) let me know it was up so I could keep going to the third (barrel.)”
Ranked number one in the Women’s Pro Rodeo Association world standings, Beisel has qualified for five Wrangler National Finals Rodeos (NFR) (2019-2023), and is headed to her sixth.
She rode Liza for most of the ten rounds of the 2023 Wrangler NFR and at most of the winter rodeos as well. “She’s pretty much been my main horse all winter, and a big player this summer, too.”
The eight-year-old had a bit of an attitude tonight, Beisel said. “She’s a little spicy tonight, and I was surprised. I didn’t anticipate that with the temperature and humidity. She really dialed in once we went into the arena.”
A Kansan won the bull riding. Coy Pollmeier, Fort Scott, bested the field of bull riders with a score of 84.5 points on the New Frontier bull Sun Up. He competed on July 31, the night it rained.
Keeping his equipment dry is the biggest challenge for wet weather, Pollmeier said. "Once the rain and wind started, we put our ropes back in our bags and put them in the hospitality tent.”
Pollmeier and other bull riders put athletic tape over the tail of their rope and don’t remove it until they’re on their bull, putting their hand in their rope.
Even then, it gets wet, and the bulls are wet as well, which makes it more difficult. When the animal is wet, “You may want to pull your rope tighter than you normally do, and be a little bit more aware of where you’re putting your hand.”
Pollmeier, who turned 24 years old on August 3, rodeos full time, going nationwide but hitting as many of the rodeos in the Prairie Circuit (the pro rodeos in Kansas, Nebraska and Oklahoma) as he can.
“I know a lot of guys will go out west or south in the summer, and look past the circuit rodeos, but there are so many good circuit rodeos, and even if they’re on the other side of the state, they feel like home to me.”
Pollmeier competed in Hill City on July 29, in Dodge City for the Xtreme Bulls on July 30, Phillipsburg on August 2, and was on to Dalhart, Texas and back to Dodge City to round out the weekend.
He is ranked second in the Prairie Circuit standings.
In the tie-down roping, it was a Missouri man who took the title. Fenton Nelson, Warrensburg, Mo., had a time of 8.5 seconds. When he threw his loop, he threw a figure eight, which caught not only around the calf’s head but the front leg as well.
A “figure eight” does not disqualify a cowboy, but it usually slows him down enough to make it difficult to be fast. But since this loop caught the calf’s front left leg, it helped Nelson.
“ It doesn’t affect your tie,” he said. “For me, it helped me flank because it gets a leg out of the way. “I made the best run I could on the calf I had.”
Nelson is also a steer wrestler; he did not turn in a qualified time in that event. His wife Alyssa Nelson competed in the breakaway roping, turning in a time of 2.9 seconds.
During the rodeo, a big check presentation was held for Tough Enough to Wear Pink night, with $4,100 raised through voluntary donations for the Elsie Brooks Memorial Cancer Fund of Dickinson County. The rodeo has partnered with the Brooks fund since 2008 and has raised, with this year’s donation, over $49,000 for financial help for people undergoing cancer treatment in Dickinson County.
Other 2024 champions include bareback rider Bodee Lammers, Tolar, Texas (85 points); steer wrestlers Trisyn Kalawaia, Hilo, Hawaii and Heath Thomas, Hemphill, Texas (3.8 seconds each); breakaway ropers Jordan Jo Hollabaugh, Springtown, Texas and Taylor Munsell, Alva, Okla. (2.0 seconds each); saddle bronc rider Parker Kempker, Deer Park, Fla. (87.5 points); team ropers Marcus Theriot, Lumberton, Miss. and Cole Curry, Liberty, Mo. (4.2 seconds); and steer roper Slade Wood, New Ulm, Texas.
Next year’s Wild Bill Hickok Rodeo is tentatively set for July 29-August 1, 2025.