 Four-year-old Logan Eskridge enjoyed petting a pony at the petting zoo, which was part of the rodeo that was held at Saylor's Arena on Saturday, Sept. 20. Pilot Photo/Justine Ciboch By Justine Ciboch Correspondent
GROVERTOWN — Karen Enke, a resident from LaPorte, was excited about this year’s rodeo at Saylor’s Arena because her son was participating in one of the five events.
“This is the first year that we’ve attended the rodeo,” said Enke. “We have a farm and are familiar with horses, sheep and farm life, but it’s something new for us to do. My little boy participated in mutton busting, which is where children attempt to ride a sheep, and he absolutely loved it,” she said.
The annual rodeo, which was held on Saturday, Sept. 20 and Sunday, Sept. 21 in Grovertown, attracted people from all over Indiana, and even Illinois, to participate and/or watch the bull riding, mutton busting, team roping, barrel racing and flag racing events. For those not participating in the rodeo’s events, there was a petting zoo, pony rides, moon bounce and concessions stand.
Laura and Eurrat Saylor have hosted the rodeo for 11 years and hope to continue running it for quite some time. “Rodeo has always been a big part of our lives,” said Saylor. “My husband rode in Indiana High School Rodeo and went to college on a rodeo scholarship. We hold rodeos and horse shows once a month at Saylor’s Arena, starting April thru November, with the exception of July due to the fact that we are so busy with county fairs,” she said.
The annual event is non-profit and all proceeds go to help maintain the arena so that the rodeo can continue to exist and so that the Saylor’s can pay the stock contract. “Rodeos are found down south and it’s hard for people to attend rodeos due to how far away they are, driving, and time issues,” said Saylor. “We wanted to create a local event so that community members would be able to enjoy themselves and continue their enthusiasm for bull riding and horses. Our county has a lot of farmers and horse lovers so it works out perfectly for them to practice or compete in an actual arena with other people and with an audience,” she said.
The Saylor’s make rodeo a big part of their lives outside of their own arena. Their daughter, Shanena, participated in the barrel racing event this weekend on a horse that her brother, Eurrat Jr., rode in the 2007 National Barrel Horse Association Youth World Championships. “He placed 15 out of 1,050 contestants at the championship and now Shanena struck a claim on his horse, but luckily he’s okay with it,” said Saylor.
For the icing on the cake, with an already successful rodeo, the Saylor’s have a local horse business, located in Walkerton, that’s called “Saylor’s End of the Trail.” They offer hourly horseback riding, state park rides, weekend camp trips, ponies for children’s parties, horse drawn sleigh rides, carriage rides and much more. “We love horses and everything to do with them,” said Saylor. “We want everyone else to share their love and be able to participate and continue their affection for horses. We have something for everyone and for all ages, including a petting zoo with llamas.”
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