Young rodeo stars shine at Stock Show’s ‘Mutton Bustin’

RAPID CITY, S.D. (KEVN) - Your typical rodeo features cowboys and cowgirls riding bulls, horses, and other large animals. But how can children get to be the stars of their own rodeo events?

Each year, the Black Hills Stock Show and Rodeo feature what’s known as ‘Mutton Bustin’, also known as wool riding.

It’s an event that allows children between the ages of 3 and 6 to ride a sheep for up to eight seconds.

It was a good ride for first-time competitor Kennedy, who came in second.

She says she got a lot of help from her dad in prepping for the competition.

“I went on my dad’s back, and he was like a sheep. It was not that fast, but it was pretty fast.”

Kennedy’s mom Cassidy Downen says her daughter expressed interest in working up to the big animals.

“We were in the car waiting for her sister and she said, ‘I want to ride bulls!’ I said that you have to ride a sheep first. So, we waited for the stock show to come around, and that’s how she started.”

On Monday night, Kennedy was among 15 riders that wowed the crowd at the Kjerstad Event Center.