Not your typical school sport

Now Paige Stewart can claim she does a school sport, albeit not in the traditional sense. Her gymnasium is a horse arena. Like many high school sports, she commits at least 2 1/2 hours a day after school honing her skills. Her workouts involve lugging feed from the barn, heaving saddles onto horses and repetitive mounting and dismounting. And as with other sports Stewart admits to her share of bumps and bruises. Thankfully, up to this point she has escaped any serious injuries. Her game days are Saturdays and Sundays and the season stretches to include 10 weekends a year.

This is Stewart’s first year participating in Iowa High School Rodeo. Stewart, a sophomore at Ogden High School, has been involved in horse shows since the age of eight. 

“I went to a lot of smaller shows that were low key, and just for fun,” says Stewart who traveled weekends throughout the spring, summer and fall months.

“Back then I just wanted to do the Pleasure Class where you are judged on walk, trot and lope around the outside of the arena. I would do barrel and pole events just for fun.” 

“High school rodeo was Paige’s goal,” said her step mom Jess Haht who introduced her to horses and helps with the shows.  But she set bench marks of what she wanted to achieve before she could start.” 

Stewart’s determination is paying off. She currently is in the top 10 (of 40 riders) in the breakaway class and 12th in goat tying.”

For the complete story, see this week's issue of The Ogden Reporter.

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