Ranch and
Rodeo Roundup
By Kim Dillon
W
hile the mercury continues to rise throughout our desert,
Arizona riders are finding relief by heading to the higher
country or even out of State.
The Ranch Sorting World Finals were held June 9th-14th in Fort
Worth, Texas. This relatively new sport is growing rapidly throughout
Arizona and the nation. “Sorting” gets its origins from ranch work
where cowboys and cowgirls have to separate cattle into pens for
doctoring, branding or transport. Today’s event requires a team of
two riders to cut out cattle in numerical order while holding the
other cattle back. Riders must work together to ideally sort all 10
livestock in the proper order within 60 seconds. The sport gets its real
challenge from the cattle and their herd instinct to stay together and
run through the gate! If a wrong-numbered cow slips through, the
judge shakes the flag and the team is disqualified. While the event can
be frustrating with fresh cattle, it proves to be exhilarating and yes,
even addicting! One element that makes ranch sorting particularly
welcoming to newbies is a handicapping system similar to the sport
of team roping. All riders are
rated between a #1 (beginner)
to #9 (professional or open-level
rider) and can compete with
riders of similar abilities.
Now back to the Lone Star State:
Arizona had 16 competitors
make the road trip to Fort
Worth, Texas and compete in
the Ranch Sorting World Championships. For 6 days, hundreds
of teams sorted countless combinations of cattle inside of the Will
Rogers Memorial Coliseum.
The competitive classes were based on various combinations of
rider levels.
Here are the Arizona placings for
the World Championships:
• Morgan Flint-5th in the
highly competitive Open Division
• S [