SOUTH SHORE — Cowboys across Chicago and beyond will compete for prizes and bragging rights at a South Side horse rodeo this weekend — and if you have a horse, you can still register to show off your skills.
The Broken Arrow Riding Club will host the Speed and Action Rodeo Horse Show 2 p.m. Sunday at the South Shore Cultural Center, 7059 S. South Shore Drive.
The event will take place in the horse arena behind the cultural center, northwest of the beach.
Entry is $13 for attendees 13 and older, $8 for older people and kids 6-12, and free for kids 5 and younger. Tickets can be bought online or at the event.
The events on display include plug racing, flag racing and Texas flag racing, poles, barrels and a relay race. All events are intended to showcase the horses’ agility, said Broken Arrow founder Murdock, The Man with No First Name.
Riders interested in participating in the events should bring their horses and register on site in the morning, as registration closes at 1 p.m.
The Speed and Action show is intended to expose kids and other residents to a cowboy culture that runs deep in Chicago, but may still be unknown to those outside the culture, Murdock said.
“I especially want to be able to bring that cowboy lifestyle to the inner city so that people like myself … feel like they have an opportunity to learn and do the same thing,” he said.
The horse rodeo differs from a “true rodeo,” which features “roughstock” events like bull riding, bronc riding and steer wrestling, Murdock said.
The event has been held for the past 32 years — with the exception of last year, no thanks to the pandemic — and at the cultural center’s horse arena for more than two decades. It’ll be held rain or shine.
“Throughout all the years that we’ve done this, we’ve been rained on a few times, but never rained out,” Murdock said.
The Broken Arrow club’s annual High Noon ride, where riders meet up in Washington Park before setting off to traverse the South Side’s horse paths, also returns this year after a pandemic hiatus. It will be held July 31.
For more information on participating in the Speed and Action show, or to donate to the Broken Arrow Riding Club, call Murdock at 773-814-0545 or email murdock47@att.net.
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