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Star Spangled Shenandoah Pro Rodeo

July 3rd and 4th 2009 click here for more info.

Shenandoah, horse back trail riding for everyone in Galena Illinois. Shenandoah offers horseback riding for novice to experienced riders. Our guided trail rides can be reserved for those who would like to take a short ride through the countryside or for the more experienced who would like a bit more. Either way the riding experience is at the finest quality ; the guides are knowledgeable and the horses are well trained. Tel. 815 7772373 or e-mail shenandoahriding@yahoo.com Shenandoah Riding Center's instructors offer riding lessons for beginners to advanced and are available for adults and children starting at age five. Instruction in varying disciplines english or western on a school horse or your own horse. Shenandoah Riding Center is an equestrian facility that encompasses everything (or almost ) to do with horses. This multi-faceted facility is set in the picturesque rolling hills of the Galena Territory. It is the only facility with access to the forty miles of groomed trails in the Galena Territory, making  it the ideal   Get-away with your horse vacation.  Other activities and services available at Shenandoah : horse training, natural horsemanship training, correcting problem horses, horse boarding both pasture and stall, horse riding packages, private rides for groups and outings, horse shows and events. Trail Rides Lessons Large Pastures and Happy Horses 25 Livery Horses 48 Parmement Stalls Western and English Riding Horses Dressage Barrel racing Bull Riding Hunter Pace

UP COMING EVENTS 2009 May 9  Dressage and CT Schooling Show. Show Bill, Entry  Form, Dressage Times ,and GAC Tests 1,2,3,4 are available by clicking on the appropriate hyperlink. Photos are also available . Dressage is occasionally referred to as "Horse Ballet." Although the discipline has its roots in classical Greek horsemanship, mainly through the influence of Xenophon; dressage was first recognized as an important equestrian pursuit during the Renaissance in Western Europe. June 22 -26  Beginner Riding Camp July : 6 - 10 Advanced Beginner Riding Camp July 13 - 17 Intermediate/Advanced Riding Camp "Part of my summer at Shenandoah is dedicated to teaching at the Riding Center. For as many as seven to eight weeks we have summer day camps for children to have hands-on horse and riding experience." - Lindley Leahy Camp riding Instructor. July 3 & 4  4th of July Rodeo Starting  at  7:30 each night  and the ticket prices includes not only the rodeo, but fireworks and a dance.  As one of the sponsors for this exciting event, Eagle Ridge Resort & Spa is also giving away free cowboy hats to all the kids in attendance Friday night.  $15 for Adults, $10 for Children  6 - 12 , 6 and under free. Today's professional rodeo holds a distinct position in the world of modern sports having come directly from a working-lifestyle. Early rodeo began as the everyday chores of working ranches on the great plains of the American West. These chores would eventually evolve into the unique rodeo events that we enjoy today. Rodeo is also unique in that it is a sport made up of several different events, each with their own style of competition, rules, and rewards. While there are many events that are specific to different regions of the U.S.. and world, seven are recognized as standard events in most professional rodeo. The seven main events are : bareback riding steer wrestling team roping saddle bronc tie-down roping barrel racing bull riding Bull Riding is the most recognized and popular of all the rodeo events. It is also the most dangerous. As with bareback riding, and saddle bronc, bull riders ride with one hand and cannot touch themselves or their bull with the free hand. Doing so results in a no score. Scoring is the same as in the other roughstock events. Two judges give 1-25 points for the cowboys performance and 1-25 points for the animals performance. 100 points being the maximum, and is considered a perfect ride. To ride, bull riders use a bullrope and rosin. The bullrope is a thickly braided rope with a cowbell attached. The cowbell acts as a weight, allowing the rope to safely fall off the bull when the ride is over. The resin is a sticky substance that increases the grip on their ropes. Bull riders wrap their bullrope around the bull and use the remainder to wrap around their hand tightly, trying to secure themselves to the bull. Barrel racing, is a rodeo event that features a horse and one rider, running a cloverleaf pattern around three barrels in a triangular arrangement. The racer may go to the right barrel first and turn it to the right and the second and third barrel to the left, or he/she can choose to go to the left barrel first in the triangular shaped pattern and turn it to the left and the other two to the right. The choice of which barrel to go to first is usually made by the racer based on the specific abilities of his/her horse and if they turn better to the right or to the left. The racers will pass through an electronic timer entering and leaving the barrel pattern and the elapsed time is the time for the event. However, if the racer tips a barrel over, he/she will be penalized with an extra five seconds being added to the time and in this competition where thousandths of seconds make the difference between first and second place, the extra five seconds will entirely take the racer out of the competition.   November 21 : Hunter Pace Hunter Pace Hunter pace were originally organized in the off-season of hunting and served (as they still do) as a reason for members of the hunt to  come together to ride.  Before the event the Master of Fox Hounds rides an imaginary hunting scenario, describing the path and events that occur.  The time that he rides it in is kept a secret from the participants.  Participants ride the same scenario attempting to make the same time as the MFH.  The rider who finished closest to the MFH's time is the winner of the event. The Pair Pace developed from the Hunter Pace.  It is a  team event in which you and a friend ride cross country . The winner of the Pair Pace is not the fastest, rather the winning team is the pair or treo that is closest to the secret official time.  This secret official time is determined by having several riders take the course before the show and average their times.   The Hunter Pace is not a race!  It is just a great opportunity to have some fun outdoors for a change.