Rascal Rodeo Gives Those With Special Needs a Chance to Experience Rodeo Thrills in Adna

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Volunteers from Lewis County Parent to Parent of Reliable Enterprises and the Rascal Rodeo nonprofit gathered at the Triple H Arena south of Adna on Saturday morning to hold Lewis County’s first ever Rascal Rodeo.

The Rascal Rodeo provided youths and adults with special needs the ability to experience a rodeo. It included mock cow milking, bull riding, steer roping and barrel racing events and even gave participants the opportunity to ride a horse.

Ann-Erica Whitemarsh, founder and executive director of Rascal Rodeo, explained just some of the benefits the event — and others like it — offered for attendees.

“It’s just such a different situation and setup than they’re used to,” she said. “Animals are very therapeutic, whether it’s a horse or a dog or a cat, and a horse that is full sized, the participants get to get up on those horses and it’s just a whole new experience for them. We’ve had one guy with tourette’s (syndrome), he stopped his ticks completely when he was up on that horse. Within three strides of that horse moving the ticks were gone. Sadly they started back up when he got off but it’s still therapy.”

Rascal Rodeo has been operating since 2010 but this is its first time in the Twin Cities area.

“The main reason why I started this was so they (those with special needs) could have the opportunity to be cowboys and cowgirls, but we’ve discovered it’s more than that,” Whitemarsh said. “There are participants that have said their first words after coming and participating with us.”

She added that horse riding is an activity that most of the general population never gets to experience. Making it available to people who usually get told “no” for these types of events all of their lives, provides even more of a special experience for them.

Lewis County Parent to Parent Coordinator Shawna Haller said she had been trying to get a Rascal Rodeo in Lewis County for over two years after hearing about one at the Clark County Fair.



“I started talking with Ann-Erica a couple of years ago and tried to work it out with the Lewis County Fairgrounds and it just ended up not working out with timing and their rodeo and all of the other things going on there,” Haller said.

She then reached out to Cindy Harris, who along with her husband, Hy, own the Triple H Arena and agreed to let Harris and Whitemarsh use it for the Rascal Rodeo. Haller was also able to receive funding for the event from the developmental disabilities program of Lewis County Public Health & Social Services.

Haller also said she puts on events such as the Rascal Rodeo to help parents create a support network for themselves and their children.

“A lot of it is just being able to come to a place where you don’t feel judged. We feel safe and nobody is judging if your kid is having a hard time,” Haller said.

While it is not set in stone yet, Haller hopes to hold the Rascal Rodeo again next year. Reliable Enterprises is accepting donations at its website https://reliableenterprises.org/. Whitemarsh added that anyone interested in donating to Rascal Rodeo can do so at their website, https://www.rascalrodeo.org/, and anyone interested in volunteering can contact her at info@rascalrodeo.org.

“People don’t have to have horse or rodeo experience to participate or volunteer. I always say you have to have a heart, and everybody has a heart. We have volunteers that have never been around horses and volunteers that have been around them their whole lives. Anybody and everybody can volunteer,” Whitemarsh said.