Roping camp blends skill, culture, history
Hey savvy news reader! Thanks for choosing local.
You are now reading
1 of 3 free articles.
POLSON — A patient, caramel-colored pony stood facing a roping dummy, with Sage Nicolai of Arlee on his back. Sage was roping the dummy under the tutelage of Zanen Pitts of Dixon.
“You’re swinging that rope pretty good, Sage,” Pitts said.
Around the area, other cowboys and cowgirls, big and small, roped dummies with one-on-one instruction.
“It’s an introduction to roping with a cultural aspect,” Pitts said, and when everybody was present, 16 kids attended.
Pitts knows what he’s doing; he’s a calf roper and has made it to the Indian National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas several times.
“A rope is a part of our culture. Horses in general have been really lost on this reservation, and we’re trying to bring them back,” Pitts said.
He jerked a thumb at high school student Patrick Big Sam.
“He’s an amazing role model and has a passion for a rope,” Pitts said.
One of the youngest ropers was Quinton Rage Wabaunsee, 5, who’s been roping since he was 6 months old.
Another roping camper, Mitchell Parker, 12, said it’s a great camp. The kids also do arts and crafts, Parker said, painting a wooden horse shape and adding a horsehair mane and tail.
Allen Pierre worked with the kids on the wooden horses and the cultural aspects, and Vance Home Gun taught them some Salish language and history.
“We were talking about the importance of the horse culture for the Salish people,” he said.
Shoni Matt, 4, named her horse Cole, just like her horse at home.
Shoni’s smile as she trotted off, using Cole as a stickhorse, and the other kids’ smiles are “what makes it all worthwhile,” Pierre said. “Just that little smile. I love working with the kids. I use this for my sobriety. It’s fulfilling for the kids because they made it themselves.”
Patty Stevens, a Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribal Council member, Pitts and his dad Terry Pitts, also a councilman and a roper, put the camp together with the Salish Institute and Circle of Trust.
Stevens wanted to keep the camp small so there could be one-on-one instruction. As with everything she does, she made sure there was a cultural and a historical component.
“It’s amazing what they learned in two days,” Stevens said.
