If 10-year-old Decker Passey plays his cards right and rides wild ponies like he did Sunday at the BCNE rodeo grounds, he just might get a chance to compete in the National Finals Rodeo this December in Las Vegas.
Without the benefit of a saddle, with nothing else to grab onto but a rawhide suitcase handle, the young Prince George cowboy hung on to the haunches of Shrek for 37-point ride Sunday afternoon. Combined with his 29-point score on Saturday, Passey had a two-day total of 66, which left him tied with Chase Semans of Chetwynd.
But there was only one championship belt buckle available for the mini bronc event winner and Semans won a coin flip to take home the $300 buckle.
"It's pretty cool to tie for first, Chase and I have been friends for a little bit," said Passey, who was wearing the first-place buckle he won mini barebacking this summer in Brule, Alta.
"There was a bit of pressure on me, I didn't want to fall off. I was sitting kind of sideways on my rigging, but then I got back straight. Today I had a lot better horse. Shrek's just a nice even bucker. On Saturday I had a horse (Plumba) that went two feet out of the chute and stopped. I spurred it and it went two feet and stopped."
Riding bucking ponies without a saddle is not easy but Passey likes the challenge.
"It's pretty fun, I'm hoping to do real bareback when I'm older," said Passey, a Grade 5 student at Beverly elementary school.
"My dad used to do it. When it's your first time it's pretty scary, but they're not going to come at you so you're not real nervous. The horse I rode today, Shrek, he's a veteran, he's been here for a long time.
"When you fall off you just have to get back on. I'm not really a good bronc rider and I wouldn't say anybody knows me really well. I thought I would go out and spur and probably get tipped out and fall off, but I didn't."
Eight boys and two girls competed in mini bronc, a new event that started up last year on the amateur rodeo circuit. The event is called mini bronc, rather than mini bareback, because riders have the option of using saddles if they choose to.
Now that he's qualified, having posted three mini bronc results this year, Passey - who placed third in Peers, Alta. - plans to go to the Canadian amateur finals in Edson, Alta., in September. He'll need a top-two finish in the 10- to 13-year-old age category to make the grade for the NFR.
The Passeys live on a ranch 45 minutes west of Prince George and Decker practices his spurring at home while his dad walks their pony around the rodeo ring. He took up gymnastics for one year and hated it, but it helped him develop balance and body awareness skills that are helping him now at rodeos.
On his ride on Shrek, Passey got tipped over to the right and the horse didn't help him recover his balance because he wanted to go to the left. Near the end of his ride, Shrek made a big leap which flipped Passey's leg over the horse's neck and Passey got hung up a bit, but made the eight-second whistle.
Derrick Passey, Decker's dad and the BCNE rodeo director, said the mini bronc event is helping introduce kids into rough stock events so they can develop their skills gradually, rather than having to ride fill-sized horses.
"There's not as many rough stock riders as there used to be and this is a great event for kids who are just a bit too small to ride steers, so they came up with this," said Derrick. "The horses they get on aren't too rank and they learn basics and learn how to deal with adversity. They do it in the States and those kids who are 10- or 13-years-old down there look like professional bareback riders already, so it's really taking off."
