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American Pro Rodeo Association (APRA)
Phone: (610) 413-5010
Fax: (610) 869-4218
Mailing Address: P.O. Box 362,
Cochranville, PA 193330
Email: renee.kenny@aprarodeo.com
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Members
Rodeo Spotlight Benton Rodeo
story by Lily Weinacht The Benton Championship Rodeo celebrates its 35th year this summer, drawing in contestants from all over the East Coast and as far as Canada for a three-day rodeo July 18–20. Produced wholly by volunteers, the Benton Rodeo features the standard eight APRA events and is co-sanctioned IPRA, while also carrying on rodeo traditions such as mutton busting and a calf scramble. “We have three nights of rodeo, and Tuesday night, we…
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Meet the Member Rafter Z Rodeo
story by Lily Weinacht Rafter Z Rodeo based in Millmont, Pennsylvania, supports the western lifestyle all over the Northeast. Started by Shawn Zrowka, Rafter Z Rodeo puts on 45–50 rodeos a year, along with providing stock for the AFR the last three years, the International Bull Riders Finals, IPRA, and PBR events. “I went to a lot of rodeos and had a lot of ideas of what to make better for the spectators and contestants.…
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Meet the Member Eli Hershberger
story by Lily Weinacht Eli Hershberger capped off his rookie year in the APRA by qualifying for AFR 41 in the bareback and saddle bronc riding, winning money in both events. The 23-year-old, currently of Piffard, New York, climbed over the back of the chutes for the first time in 2016 at a bronc riding school in Wyoming. A year later at a bronc riding school in Pennsylvania instructed by Heith DeMoss and Clint Cory,…
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Meet the Member Kurt Warner
story by Lily Weinacht Kurt Warner of Montour Falls, New York, is announcing the APRA finals rodeo for the second time in a row this November. The 43-year-old educator, husband, and father of two has been on the other side of the arena as well, having qualified for the AFR several times in the team roping, along with the PRCA Frontier Circuit Finals. But in 2010, after inadvertently walking into an announcing job, Kurt found…
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Meet the Member Jennifer Werner
story by Lily Weinacht Jennifer Werner is competing in the APRA finals for the first time this winter, going into AFR 41 sitting 9th in the barrel racing standings. “It’s exciting, because I did have to work really hard on getting with my horse. It wasn’t an easy road, and I really had to devote a lot of time and work and effort into learning how to ride her,” says Jennifer, who hails from Ballston…
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Meet the Member Jessie Calkins
story by Lily Weinacht “I grew up around rodeo, and it’s just what I live and breathe. I budget my money around wanting to go rope, and that’s what we managed to do this summer,” says Jessie Calkins. The 25-year-old breakaway and team roper is originally from Fort Collins, Colorado, and lately of Canyon, Texas, but she’s spent the summer rodeoing in the Northeast and loved every moment of it. Jessie’s boyfriend, Kyle Letzelter, is…
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Meet the Member Doreen Ulery
story by Lily Weinacht Summertimes spent with her Uncle Bill and Aunt Jean Minick on their farm introduced Doreen Ulery to horses as a child, a passion that has persisted through all seasons of her life. She and her sister, Denise Gorinski, took the horse bug even further in their late 20s and early 30s when they started showing horses. “We had these crazy homemade horse trailers, and we went to our first horse show.…
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Meet the Member Chelsie McDade
story by Lily Weinacht “I know there’s so much that goes into rodeo, and life would be a lot simpler without the animals, but I know I could never actually be happy without horses and rodeo in my life.” Chelsie McDade, a member of the APRA for six years and counting, found her passion in grade school, taking riding lessons from a family friend. That rapidly expanded into rodeoing, first in youth rodeo associations, followed…
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Meet the Member Jessica Green
story by Lily Weinacht “Barrel racing is something I’ve always liked to do, and I feel like the sport is something you can always get better at. There’s no peaking—there’s always somebody who’s going to be better than you and something you can strive to improve with,” says Jessica Green. The 21-year-old barrel racer from Greenwood, Delaware, started chasing cans in elementary school, entering NBHA and IBRA barrel races. Two years ago, she bought her…
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Meet the Member Carli Cavin
story by Lily Weinacht Carli Cavin started her rodeo career with barrel racing, but she wanted to beat the clock by an even narrower margin and started breakaway roping in high school. Now 21, Carli competes in the APRA in breakaway—and barrels on occasion—and runs sound for her boyfriend, Ty Miller, who is an APRA and PRCA rodeo announcer. “I’ve always ridden, ever since I was little, and I started out doing some western pleasure…
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Meet the Member Colby Clement
story by Lily Weinacht Tie-down and team roper Colby Clement hails from Pedricktown, New Jersey, elevation 10 feet above sea level. While the Garden State isn’t well known for rodeo, Colby and his family have cultivated a rodeo tradition nonetheless. The 24-year-old roper is the third generation to compete in the sport but one of the first to hold a card with the APRA. He’s currently sitting ninth in the team roping heeler standings—roping with…
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Meet the Member Taylor Feldeisen
story by Lily Weinacht “Rodeo is something I really can’t imagine my life without. A lot of what I do revolves around rodeo,” says Taylor Feldeisen. “I guess you could say it’s like a habit—it’s something I really enjoy and have a big passion for.” The 21-year-old breakaway roper from Olmstedville, New York, joined the APRA in 2013, and she qualified for the finals for the first time last year, placing third in the first…
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