22 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY july 20-26, 2023 www.montereycountyweekly.com those who really want it. “If you want something, you work to make it happen—a lot of these girls raise money with fundraisers,” she says. “Sometimes, you just have to get creative in life.” What’s clear in talking to both Erickson and Gularte is their enduring love for the event, and their joy in remembering their own experiences being a part of it, something they’ll carry with them for the rest of their years. Later in the day there’s a scholastic test of sorts—worth 10 percent of the scoring—that challenges knowledge beyond the arena. As an ambassador for a year, Miss Rodeo must be able to converse and make presentations. There are also one-onone interviews with six other judges—different than those overseeing the horse riding competition—and those will help determine the results of the two remaining categories: personality (30 percent) and appearance (20 percent). Gularte says the “appearance” category is interpreted as a presentation of Western style. In the evening, the Rodeo room at the Salinas Sports Complex is packed to capacity with dozens in attendance, and one-by-one, the contestants come out, do a red carpet walk and several twirls, before being asked five questions—some of them different for each contestant—by KSBW’s Brittany Nielsen. Nielsen asks them what they like do outside of the rodeo, what the last year has been like in preparing for the event and about the life lessons they’ve learned during the process. There is a question about social media and also about how solve homelessness (that seems like a big ask of young women when generations older than them still haven’t cracked that code). Then there is a question about a piece of tack—horse equipment—that they have to name and describe its purpose. More questions come about horses and how to care for them. The contestants are dressed up in fancy Western garb and wearing white cowboy hats. As in the horse-riding competition, they all perform well. It’s hard to say who’s got the upper hand. The winner won’t be announced until an awards banquet the next morning, but all of the contestants are glowing, beautiful, and soaking up the moment. “It’s a tough cowgirl contest—a cowgirl that has good poise, and is well spoken and that can go out in front of 1,000 people and speak,” Escobar says. “You’ve got to have good hair, but that goes along with having good poise and being a lady.” The California Rodeo Salinas is both a local rodeo and a statewide one—it’s the biggest, the best—and women from all over the state compete to be Miss Rodeo. This year there were two local participants, Karina Leyva from Soledad and Escobar from Greenfield. The next morning, July 8, Escobar is crowned for the 2023-24 year. Speaking about the whole journey a few days later, she says, “I’m so excited, I am so blessed to do it,” adding that when she was 7 years old, she did a project while attending Spreckels Elementary about what she wanted to do when she grows up. She made a buckle. Escobar, 20, now works in Monterey for Merrill Lynch as a client associate, and was never able to attend college. She grew up in the Alisal neighborhood of Salinas without much money for more than what was needed. Every time she wanted to go to rodeo, she had to save up for it. She’s been working since she was 15. Both of her parents lost their jobs when Covid hit and she had to help make up the slack. Some of the money her parents had put away for her to attend college she instead put toward a barrel-racing horse, which has paid off; she’s won a number of competitions. Escobar credits her parents for making this whole dream come true—and also Gularte, who’s been her coach in the run-up to the competition. “She’s helped four girls win this title,” Escobar says. “I couldn’t have done it without her.” Rodeo starts on the road—in this case, the highways leading to I-5 from Moses Lake, Washington. That’s where Leslie Lange and Mike Corey have a ranch. Lange and Corey’s operation is one of eight stock contractors for California Rodeo Salinas. They have been in the rodeo business for over three decades, raising horses and bulls used in saddle bronc, bareback and bull riding competitions across the West. Each year from a selection of some 200 animals, they bring about two dozen horses and bulls to Salinas. Stock ranching for rodeo requires the sort of labor one would expect on a farm, plus some science. “The horses and the bulls that we raise all have bloodlines that give them that natural desire to buck,” Lange explains. And the list is carefully curated. “The rodeo in Salinas is a top-tier event. So for us as a stock contractor, we want to bring our top-tier animals.” For example, two of the animals arriving in Salinas are Diamond Fever and Monster—fiery horses that made it to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas last year. The NFR is the Super Bowl for Rodeo, for both cowboys and livestock. Only the best of the best compete. The California Salinas Rodeo works with two contractors from Washington and six from California. The event draws over 700 contestants and 1,200 stock animals. Many of these specialized animals are quite expensive. According to Scott Dorenkamp of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, a good bucking, roping or barrel racing horse can cost five to six figures. Then there is feeding, care and transportation. The animals spend hours on the road to compete for a few seconds— bucking animals lose when a cowboy hangs on for eight seconds. Each animal competes in about 10 rodeos, so the burden is waiting. “The rest of the time, they’re standing in the corral with fresh water and hay and grain,” Lange says. About two days before the Salinas competition, caravans of semi-trucks and trailers arrive in the city. Driving to Salinas from Washington takes about 20 hours. Loading the stock is routine, but a smooth trip takes a bit of practice. “We’ll mix some of our youngsters in with our old, seasoned veterans and the veterans kind of show the youngsters the way,” Lange says. When horses are reluctant, the team allows a bigger space for the animals and give them some time to investigate their surroundings and get comfortable before the ride. Four or five days before the rodeo begins, Corey and Lange’s caravan of a semi-truck and trailers begins its journey. They bring bales of hay and other feed for the animals, traveling by night as much as possible, when the air is cooler. Halfway through, they stop to take a break. “They’re not on the trucks and trailers very long,” Lange points out. “We’d like to keep them maybe eight to 10 hours [a day].” When they travel to Salinas, the trucks pause in Red Bluff, California to give the animals—and drivers—a break. Lange says coming to Salinas is pretty smooth. “We plan our routes and our travel times to keep continuous motion for our trucks for the comfort of our animals,” she says. Lange smiles as she describes the best part of the trip— when heading home and they get within about a mile from the gate. “You can feel the truck and trailer kind of moving around a little bit,” she says. The animals know they are close to home, and they express excitement about returning. “They can smell their own ground.” Although these horses are friendly while at the Washington ranch of Leslie Lange and Mike Corey, in a rodeo arena, they want nothing more than to throw a cowboy to the dirt. Mayson Bothwell, who won 2022’s Miss California Rodeo Salinas competition. Nik Blaskovich Phil Doyle Road Trip The animals that compete in the rodeo are hand selected for a few moments of work. By Celia Jiménez
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