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The hardest part about rodeo riding? Everything

Sitting in the bleachers Sunday at the Golden Oaks Equestrian Center in Wauconda, Jeremy Johnson followed closely as Shawn Minor clung to his saddle bronc while it plunged, kicked and did whatever else it could to throw him off.

As Minor hung on to the bronco, Johnson, of Round Lake Beach, held onto his 3-year-old daughter, Olivia, who was enjoying her first rodeo.

Olivia is about the same age as Johnson was when his parents, Karen and Richard, seated nearby, took him to see horses for the first time.

The Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce's 53rd annual IPRA Championship Rodeo provided abundant opportunities for family bonding.

Just minutes before, Minor had been sitting by his trailer behind the bleachers, putting rosin on his saddle and pulling on his chaps, accompanied by his 8-year-old son, Tate, and his wife, Tara.

Minor summed up the hardest part of riding in one word - "everything."

"There ain't nothing easy about it," he said.

Even though the ride lasts eight seconds, he said sometimes it seems like an eternity. Sometimes you're getting jerked on and yanked on and it rattles your teeth.

But Minor, who has been riding professionally since 1994, said it's also addictive.

"It's like a drug," he said. "It's an adrenaline rush."

As Minor was preparing for his ride, another saddle bronc rider, Shane Hand of Weatherford, Oklahoma, was packing up his gear to go to another rodeo Sunday evening in Indiana.

"This rodeo is the only rodeo in our circuit on a Sunday. The goal is to go to as many rodeos as you can in a year," he said.

While the rodeo offered competition for most of the riders, for others it was a chance to entertain. Such was the case for members of the MidWest Renegades Equestrian Drill Team from Woodstock, which offered some breathtaking tricks for the crowd.

One of the team's members, Emily Barrett, 24, from Woodstock, said she has been engaged in trick riding for nine years. Her favorite is called the "suicide drag," which she demonstrated by hanging off the side of her horse from one leg and dangling her head just inches from the ground.

"To me, it's easy and it's one of the more impressive ones," she said.

"The louder the crowd is, the more fun it is for us," Barrett added. "It's just a big adrenaline rush and it's really fun to show off and show them what we can do."

For Wauconda residents, the rodeo is a treasured tradition. Jill Ryan, president of the Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce, said she has been attending since she was a kid.

"Growing up here, there wasn't as much stuff going on," she said. "I love it, because in this area, this might be the only chance people really get to see a live cowboy. This might be their only chance they get to see beautiful horses and barrel racing."

  Shawn Minor, of Camden, Ohio, gets back on his feet following a bareback ride Sunday during the Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce's 53rd annual IPRA Championship Rodeo. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Shelton Murphy of Headland, Alabama, rides bareback Sunday during the Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce's 53rd annual IPRA Championship Rodeo at the Golden Oaks Equestrian Center. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Joseph Courville of Bourbonnais rides bareback during the Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce's 53rd annual IPRA Championship Rodeo. The event is held at the Golden Oaks Equestrian Center. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
  Joseph Courville of Bourbonnais reacts to his bareback ride during the Wauconda Area Chamber of Commerce's 53rd annual IPRA Championship Rodeo on Sunday at the Golden Oaks Equestrian Center. Joe Lewnard/jlewnard@dailyherald.com
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