Contestants cater to kids at Exceptional Rodeo

You might think the most important thing to the 115 contestants in the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo is competing well enough to cash a few checks over the course of the 10-day event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Well, that's certainly significant, as these riders, ropers, wrestlers and racers don't get paid unless they perform well. But they understand there's much more to life than rodeo, which is why so many of them have volunteered their time over the years to the Exceptional Rodeo.

This year's event was no exception. On Monday morning, in the arena at Cowboy Christmas and the Hunter & Outdoor Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center, a couple dozen WNFR contestants guided a similar-sized group of Las Vegas-area special needs children through simulations of various rodeo events.

"This is one of my big deals at every Finals," said K.C. Jones, a steer wrestler competing in his ninth WNFR. "I really like helping these kids out. If we can do anything to inspire them or help them out, it means the world to me."

Jones, who was paired with a very exuberant boy named Tony, said the Exceptional Rodeo is one of the first things he tends to once he's qualified for the WNFR.

"That goes on my schedule first," he said. "It means so much to these kids. We can only imagine the challenges they face every day. We take it for granted."

Fallon Taylor, the reigning world champion in barrel racing, is competing in her seventh WNFR, and she's joined in the Exceptional Rodeo festivities all seven years.

"This is the most incredible part of our trip to the NFR," said Taylor, who lives in Collinsville, Texas, and first experienced the Exceptional Rodeo in 1995, when she qualified for the WNFR as just a 13-year-old. "This is what we all put on our calendar. It means the world to us, because these kids don't get to see things like this much."

Taylor was helping a young boy named Isai, who was able to enjoy the atmosphere and just seemed eager to use his sense of touch as much as anything — particularly with Taylor's long, flowing hair.

"This guy's a hair guy," she said.. "So I'm perfect for the job."

Taylor said all the WNFR contestants who get out to this each year have the same emotions.

"It's an amazing time," she said. "To help the people who care for these kids, give those people a little break, and help the kids see a little of this lifestyle, we get as much out of this as the kids do."

The Exceptional Rodeo — here at the WNFR and at many other major rodeos — has been taking place for 33 years, and Ruth Dismuke-Blakely has been a big reason why. In 1982, Dismuke-Blakely was approached by the PRCA about putting together a program that would pair contestants with special needs children.

It didn't take her long to come up with a moniker, and the event was off and running from there.

"We call it the Exceptional Rodeo because these are exceptional children," said Dismuke-Blakely, the PRCA's executive director of Exceptional Rodeo.

And though it takes a tremendous amount of work, Dismuke-Blakely said it's always rewarding to see the kids' faces light up — and the contestants' faces, too.

"I'm amazed," she said. "I love to see the kids and experience it through everybody else's eyes. It's heart-warming to see the friendship and interaction between the kids and the contestants. It never gets old.

"It's just magic between the kids and the contestants."

Jones has had a great rodeo career by most any standards, with earnings of more than $1.2 million and wins in rodeos all over the place. He's even pocketed about $52,500 so far in this year's WNFR, winning Thursday's first go-round, then taking top honors in the fifth go-round Monday night.

But it's things like Monday morning's event that really make him tick, turning a stocky steer wrestler into a teddy bear.

"All the buckles, all the money doesn't mean nothing," he said. "Helping people is what really matters to me."