Teenage trick riders Kylee Dixon of Arcola and Ciera Romanow of Corning are still in high school, but the pair are fast becoming entertainment mainstays at area rodeos. As trick riders, the pair perform specialized stunts on horseback, as a pair and individually.
Although trick riding is a popular and much-anticipated event at many rodeos, it's almost never a competitive event – simply because the sport is viewed as - potentially - too dangerous.
As a specialty act, trick riding stunts vary from those which riders can perform solo, as well as synchronized stunts which can be performed by two or more riders.
Tricks include the “hippodrome” - where a rider stands upright on a horse - to more complex moves such as the “spin the horn vault.”
“The hippodrome is actually easier than than the other tricks,” explains Dixon.
“And it's a real crowd-pleaser,” adds Romanow.
“But my favourite is spin the horn vault,” says Dixon. “You spin around the (saddle) horn, until your back's facing the horse's head. Then you turn and your feet hit the ground and you stand back up. It's pretty hard.”
The girls' dedication and commitment to the sport means juggling school with trick riding as well as sacrificing participation in other activities so they can commit to an intense training regime which requires both physical and mental discipline.
Along with physical strength and agility, trick riders and their horses perform accompanied by loud music for appreciative but noisy audiences, which can be a challenge. Rider and horse work together, because the girls are strapped to their horses.
“You and your horse really have to have trust and be a team,” says Dixon. “And we always have to remember to smile and after every trick, you can't forget to wave.”
“It was definitely scary at the beginning, but as you learn and do more and more, it gets easier,” she adds.
Fifteen-year-old Romanow - who attends high school in Kipling and lives with her family on an acreage near Corning - says: “I've been doing rodeo since grade five or six and this is my third year trick riding and my second year performing. When I perform by myself, it's fun. You only worry about yourself, but all of the attention - and the pressure - is on you. Everybody's there watching you and no one else. With a partner, it's more relaxing.”
“I do (rodeo events) barrel-racing, pole-racing, goat-tying, team roping and breakaway roping,” she adds. “When I started doing rodeos, I never sat in my saddle right, so I started doing trick riding more and more.”
“I used to do gymnastics and dance,” adds Romanow. “But not anymore - now I do full-time trick riding and rodeo.”
Dixon - who lives on an Arcola area farm - dropped volleyball and gymnastics to devote herself to trick riding.
“I've been riding my whole life,” she says. “I just did my own thing, but I watched trick riding at a rodeo and I just really loved the idea of doing it. I went to a trick riding clinic and Ciera was there.
We'd met each other before, but we got together at that clinic.”
“I knew right away I wanted to do it,” adds Dixon. “It was pretty automatic.”
“I started off riding for pleasure,” says Romanow. “But then I wanted to something more. We've both had Niki Flungara as an instructor at a clinic. She's ridden at the Calgary Stampede. With rodeos, I was never in my saddle right,” adds Romanow. “Trick riding became more and more popular and the saddles are completely different. I still do both, but trick riding was something I really wanted to try and now I ride with Kylee and on my own.”
Both girls emphasize the importance of the right horse for the right sport.
“I have two horses,” says Romanow. “Yankee is my trick riding horse and T-Bone is my rodeo horse. They're like brothers, but they're two different horses for two different events.”
“Your (trick riding) horse needs to be 100 per cent bomb-proof,” says Dixon, who rides Penny. “They can't be spooked by anything and they need to have a smooth lope and be able to run fast.”
The riders' horses are also outfitted with saddles that have a high, thin saddle horn, as well as specialized stirrups and straps. And unlike other rodeo participants, the girls don't wear cowboy hats or cowboy boots.
“Definitely no cowboy boots,” says Dixon. “We wear wrestling shoes. They have thin soles and they allow us to get our feet in and out of the straps easily. And we usually wear headbands to match our outfits - which are usually a full-body one-piece made out a a stretch material. For performances, we add fringe and glitter and all that stuff.”
“The outfits are a really fun part of trick riding, but they're also designed so we can ride and perform,” she explains.
“We go to rodeos,” says Romanow. “And we're basically the half-time show. We have over 10 different tricks and we wear very fancy, blingy costumes, big hair and full makeup.”
“I've done rodeos twice in Saskatoon and once each in Kennedy, Stoughton, Creelman and Glenavon and I'll be in Arcola this year,” ads Romanow. “Together, Kylee and I were both recently in Brandon and it was great.”
“We perform to fast, upbeat songs, which my mom picks. We make sure the songs flow smoothly together. Our performances are usually about 10 minutes long for a performance with more than two riders and when I'm by myself, it's less than two minutes.”
“My first performance was last year in Saskatoon,” says Dixon. “It was very nerve-wracking, but the second time – which was this year in Brandon - not as much.”
“The music and choreography is really upbeat and of course, everything's really loud, so the crowd gets going.”
“I do get a bit nervous right before I go in the arena and then seeing the crowd,” continues Dixon. “But once I'm in there, that goes away. Trick riding is perfect for me and once you practice the tricks as much as we do, you're not worried about messing up.”
“We each do about four or five tricks each and we finish with the hippodrome, because the crowds love it,” says Dixon. “They're all definitely really hard to learn, but the feeling you get once you work hard and master a trick is a great feeling.”
“I love the adrenaline rush,” says Romanow. “I love getting dressed up and going to the music. It's like being onstage, except you're in an arena on a horse.”
“And it's really nice to have a partner,” says Dixon.
“We're a good team.”
