‘The smiles get bigger every year’: Exceptional Rodeo brings kids, pros together annually

For 17 years now, Wrangler NFR bullfighter Dusty Tuckness has made it a point to give some of his time to the Exceptional Rodeo. This year, that time came Thursday morning at the Thomas &Mack Center.

“They always say it brightens the kids’ day. I say it brightens my day,” Tuckness said. “We do have a lot going on this week. It’s a long 10 days. But this kind of gives you a reset.

“To be out here with these kids, seeing those smiles, it just fills my heart.”

From the looks of it, there was a lot of heart-filling going on, as more than three dozen special needs students from here in Clark County got a taste of the rodeo world. The children got paired up with top cowboys and cowgirls, bullfighters and members of the NFR flag team, who helped the youngsters engage in rodeo-style events.

Whether it was stick-horse barrel racing, riding rocking bulls/broncs or roping faux hay-stuffed practice steers, there were smiles everywhere you looked — from the kids and the cowboys/cowgirls giving the students a helping hand.

Even newcomers to this event immediately embrace it. Barrel racer Katelyn Scott, competing in her first Wrangler NFR, got paired with an exuberant Addysen Agasi, a veteran of this Exceptional Rodeo, coming out for a third straight year.

“This is us giving back. I am so glad the NFR does this,” Scott said. “This really brings a light to the rodeo. This is what it’s all about.

“Everyone is so busy this week. But us being out here means more to these kids than we will ever know.”

It means a lot to the parents, too. Michelle Agasi, Addysen’s mother, said this day is circled on the calendar.

“She looks forward to it all year long. She thinks she’s a star, and she’s loving it,” Michelle said. “We watch the rodeo at home, so this just brings it to life for her.”

That’s the goal of Adam Daurio, nationwide principal of Exceptional Rodeo. Daurio’s organization holds Exceptional Rodeos at a dozen or so PRCA events each year, including big rodeos in San Antonio, Fort Worth and Denver. And of course, the NFR.

“Every Exceptional Rodeo has a unique twist,” Daurio said. “But being at the NFR, you’re with the celebrities of rodeo, on the dirt of the Thomas &Mack. These kids get to be where the Super Bowl of Rodeo happens.

“It never gets old, because no event is the same. There are different kids, different cowboys and cowgirls. And the smiles get bigger every year.”

Team roper Colter Todd has been at the NFR’s Exceptional Rodeo a couple of times. On this day, he’s tutoring Enrique Estrada Alonzo on the finer points of roping and riding.

Todd said the event makes you remember that the simplest things in life are often the best.

“We were having a good time just looking for dirt clods to stomp,” Todd said. “These kids are just here to enjoy the day. The teachers and parents, the people taking care of them, they give the kids a chance to do something out of the ordinary.

“It makes you want to not take so much for granted.”

Todd then took an extra moment to think about it, and put a proper bow on this gift of a day.

“It’s just good.”