Cowboy Christmas Wrapped Up

Cowboy Christmas across the Dakotas presented countless rodeos from Mandan Pro Rodeo Days, to the 100th Killdeer Mountain Roundup Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) rodeo, to Jamestown Rough Rider Rodeo Association (RRA) and Sheyenne and Towner North Dakota Rodeo Association (NDRA) rodeos.

The horses, stock, competitors, and fans were the best fireworks happening across the country.

An unbelievably fast 3.8 second team roping run brought fans to their feet when they witnessed Levi Lord, originally from Sturgis, South Dakota, and his partner, Dustin Eguisquiza, Marianna, Florida, set the arena record at the Mandan Pro Rodeo Days. The electric duo won the Livingston (Montana) Rodeo Roundup this past Independence Day rodeo week, earning more than $25 thousand and adding to their world standing status.

Dustin Egusquiza and Levi Lord, 3.8 seconds. [Jackie Jenson Photography]

“Growing up in Sturgis, I went to all these rodeos with my dad. To come here and do good was awesome. I remember as a kid how great this rodeo was, and Mandan has always been one of my favorites and now with this beautiful new facility, it’s great.” Currently, Lord is based in Stephenville, Texas where he ropes and rodeos full time.

There is more to life on the road rodeoing than just what the crowd sees. “People see this small part of us competing in the arena like the runs… You need to keep a rig together going down the road thousands of miles, horses, and yourself. It is definitely a business, and you have to keep it running,” explained Lord on the ins and outs of the rodeo business.

Lord is on track to attend his 3rd National Finals Rodeo. He competed with his dad, JB Lord, in the Badlands Circuit as soon as he was 18. “I roped with my dad for 3-4 years up here, and that experience was the best I could ask for starting my rodeo career,” said the champion heeler. His brother, Eli, also grew up turning countless steers for him and running the chutes for endless hours.

When Levi was little, he said he saw the kids down south and the big rigs and envied it like some of the kids that rope up here. “I made it from here, rode the horses we had, which my parents did great mounting us. You can do it, I am proof. It doesn’t matter where you came from,” affirmed Lord.

Britany Diaz doing what she does best. [Photo: Jackie Jenson Photography]

Also at Mandan Rodeo Days was hometown favorite, Britany (Fleck) Diaz and her saddle bronc riding husband, Isaac Diaz. Both National Finals Rodeo athletes were in action and live in Texas. Diaz grew up 25 miles south of Mandan in Solen and currently has some mares and foals living their best life at her parents homeplace in North Dakota.

“We love coming up here. The crowd in Mandan is like no other rodeo. It’s incredible. These Badlands Circuit rodeos are just plain good,” said the veteran professional barrel racer.

Diaz ran a horse in Mandan during the July 3rd performance that is owned by Driver Cattle Company. “I just got him back a couple of weeks ago. I have been really focused on the futurities and getting the colts out of ‘Rootie’ (the mare that took Diaz to the NFR) futurity and rodeo ready.

Diaz at the Mandan Rodeo Days. [Photo: Jackie Jenson Photography]

Amidst raising their two young children, Whitlee (4) and Reese (2), Diaz and her husband raise, train, futurity, and rodeo on a remuda of horses that they are building for the next generation.

Rodeo Veterans—

“All I know is rodeo,” laughed Mac Ladue, a longtime North Dakota Rodeo Association (NDRA) cowboy of Trenton. “I used to rodeo all over the country as a bull rider and lived out of my truck.  As a kid, my dad didn’t want me riding bulls, so I bull dogged, team roped, and tie down roped.” LaDue won his first youth buckle in tie down roping, not bull riding.

The ‘Cowboy Christmas’ present LaDue received was roping a steer in 1.9 seconds at the Towner NDRA rodeo. “For a 75-year-old cowboy, it was pretty awesome,” said the champ. LaDue has not missed an NDRA rodeo in countless years and has been competing at them since the early 1970s, even winning a cow riding buckle at the same Towner arena six decades ago. He now competes in the Senior Men’s Breakaway roping and roped many a steer under the two second mark.

Mac LaDue on ‘Jet’. [Photo: About You Photography]

Roping on a gelding named Jet that is 17 years old, LaDue explained that in Native American tradition when a man marries a woman, he must gift her father with a horse. “Dale Kling bought me this horse as a 3-year-old at a bucking horse sale in Oklahoma and said, ‘Here’s that horse I owe you,’” smiled LaDue. The rest is history, and Jet is LaDue’s main mount.

“After my bull riding career, I went to being a pickup man, then retired from that and went to judging. One July, my wife tallied up that I judged 23 performances,” said the rodeo veteran.

Mac Ladue, a rodeo legend. [Photo: About You Photography]

While LaDue was judging, he was a director in the NDRA for more than 20 years. He managed to get Senior Men’s Breakaway approved as a standard event in the association.

LaDue is the proud grandfather to 8 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren who are following in his footsteps. His great-grandson, Bently Gay (9), Mandaree, recently won the Chris Shivers Mini Bull Riding Pee Wee World Championship.

“The NDRA overall is really a competitive association, that’s the part I like. It’s impressive on how the competitors involved are all out there trying to be winners,” said the cowboy.

Once a winner, always a winner—

‘Cowboy Christmas’ in the barrel racing was about comebacks. Julie Voight, of Beulah/Zap, took home the win at the Towner NDRA rodeo and placed 4th at Sheyenne in a wolf-pack of barrel racers.

Voight is a barrel racing legend when it comes to NDRA rodeo and associations across the region. Voight had been on a hiatus from competing at rodeos since 2004, while she made her children, Leah and Casey, her priority.

Julie Voight and ‘Croc’. [About You Photography]

“I entered these rodeos for my horse. ‘Croc’ is at the stage where he needed something more than jackpots, so I picked these two pens. Sheyenne and Towner are nice rodeos, and I really wasn’t ready, but entered up,” said the cowgirl.

‘Whatta Croc’, also known as ‘Croc’, is a 10-year-old gelding by Knud with Wings, a stallion by First Down Dash that stands by New England, N.D. “I liked Croc as a colt and sought him out, because he was related to the two bays I used to run. He has a big personality (and) is extremely athletic and strong,” said Voight.

When it comes to promoting the next generation of competitors, Voight said, “Just keep at it. There is always time to improve. It’s a game that you never get perfected. Treat it like a puzzle and keep piecing it together.”

For more information and results, visit prorodeo.com, ndrarodeo.com, and roughriderrodeo.com. To see more interviews from these contestants in August, follow Dakota Cowboy on BEK TV.