Buffalo Bill Rodeo kicks off with 500-plus cowboys and cowgirls

Story by Buffalo Bill Rodeo Communications

North Platte, Neb. –June 10, 2024 – The excitement of pro rodeo returns to North Platte with this year’s Buffalo Bill Rodeo.

Over 500 professional cowboys and cowgirls will be making North Platte one of their stops this weekend as they pursue the dream of a gold buckle and winnings.

They come from near and far; a few will travel across town, while some call Hawaii and Australia home.

North Platte cowgirl Stacey Hansen doesn’t have many miles to travel to run barrels this weekend.

The 43-year-old woman grew up in Smolan, Kansas and moved to North Platte in 2007 when she married her husband, Trent Hansen.

She’s barrel raced since she was a young girl, competing mostly at barrel racing events and a few rodeos.

This year will be her first time to compete at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo, mostly because she has a horse with the skills to do well at the professional level.

Slingshot, a ten-year-old bay gelding, was purchased by Hansen five years ago. He was taught the barrel pattern, but she’s getting him accustomed to the rodeo world, seasoning him, “getting him comfortable in the atmosphere so he can do his job and not be nervous.”

Rodeos have a different ambience than jackpot events: they can be loud, with lots of people around.

Slingshot’s personality is “a bit watchy,” she said. “He shies at things.” Hansen will ride him to the arena before the show starts, letting him look around so he will feel more comfortable during barrel racing time.

She and Trent have two daughters: Haidyn, who is fourteen, and Harper, age eight. Haidyn races sprint cars while Harper likes the horse activities. She and her husband “split forces” on the weekends; Trent takes Haidyn to her races, while Harper goes with her mom.

The girls’ different interests require lots of fuel, as each parent takes them to their activities. “We need a fuel sponsor,” Hansen laughed.

Hansen teaches at Adams Middle School in North Platte.  She will compete during slack on Thurs., June 13.

For Merriman, Neb. bareback rider Garrett Shadbolt, last year didn’t go as planned.

After having competed at the Wrangler National Finals the previous two years, he broke his leg in June of 2023, while rafting down the Niobrara River, just a week before the Buffalo Bill Rodeo.

By the time it was healed, the heaviest part of the rodeo season was over and it would have taken a lot to catch up with the top fifteen riders, so he stayed home.

Now he’s back. Shadbolt did well at the winter rodeos, winning the National Western Rodeo in Denver and finishing as reserve champ at Rodeo Houston. The spring has been slow, but rodeo season is about to kick off in earnest.

“I’m entered pretty seriously over the Fourth of July,” he said. “I’m just going to have to go do the thing, and be gone a while.”

Being gone from home is getting harder for him, who, with wife Katie, has three kids, a son and two daughters, under the age of four.

Leaving the ranch, where he is the fifth generation of Shadbolts, is hard, but once he gets on the road, it gets easier.

“Once I get going and stay out (on the road), it’s easier than coming back and forth.”

The 28-year-old has won the Buffalo Bill Rodeo twice (2021-22) and is ranked seventh in the world standings.

Like barrel racer Hansen, Sam Daly will take his first stab at competition at the Buffalo Bill Rodeo.

The nineteen-year-old cowboy grew up in Tabor, Iowa, with his mom, Elizabeth Shirley, but spent holidays and summers with his dad, Mike Daly, on the family ranch near Tryon.

A steer wrestler, Daly competed in high school rodeo in Iowa and qualified for the National High School Finals Rodeo all four years of high school.

Competing in the pro ranks is different than high school and college, Daly said. For one, it’s tougher competition.

“It’s a jump from the small-town guys up to the big (name) guys,” he said. But it’s also motivating.

“When you see a steer wrestler go out there and be four (seconds) flat, you’re cheering for him, but at the same time, you’re wanting to out there and be a 3.9. You want to work all the harder to match him.”

Daly is a student at Pratt (Kan.) Community College, rodeoing collegiately and majoring in animal science. He is the grandson of Art Daly, a rancher, rodeo announcer and musician who passed away in 2014.

Rodeo competition kicks off Wed., June 12 and runs each night through June 15. Shows begin at 8 pm. Slack, the extra competition that doesn’t fit into the evening performances, is June 12- 13 at 8 am each day.

The rodeo is held at the Wild West Arena in North Platte.

Tickets range in price from $11-$24 and can be purchased online at NebraskalandDays.com, at the NebraskalandDays office, and at the gate.

For more information and a complete schedule of NebraskalandDays events, visit the website or call the office at 308.532.7939.