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Stars of The Rodeo
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Steve Daigle |
If truth be told, IGRA Rodeo Star Steve Daigle came to Dallas
with a heavy burden. Because Steve lives in the French Quarter
in New Orleans - or he did until Hurricane Katrina swept into
the city. Now he's one of the thousands who are without a
home and without a job. He's been living in Dallas since then
and has been lucky that his employer in New Orleans has work
outside the city.
Like many others who fled New Orleans in advance of the killer
storm, Steve is wondering whether he'll ever return to his
home there. Everything has changed.
In spite of all that, Steve came to Finals Rodeo to defend
his top rankings earned throughout the year. But the results
were not what he had hoped. He came away with a 4th in Bull
Riding and 5th in Steer Riding. The best he did all weekend
was a 2nd place score in Sunday's Bull Riding Go-Around. But
no buckles.
Nevertheless, he's happy to have had the opportunity and
is looking forward to making another run at it next year.
Steve began rodeoing in 2001 - doing mostly camp events
like Goat dressing, Steer Deco and Wild Drag. He found
that he was very successful and won a buckle at each of his
first four rodeos. By the end of that first year he
was doing the three camp events as well as calf roping on
foot, chute dogging and steer riding. He was lucky
enough to be invited to finals in goat dressing, wild drag
and steer riding. During his first year he also won
the Triple Crown All Around Amateur Cowboy title. His
second year he added Barrel Racing and Pole Bending to his
list of events. Again he won several buckles and once
again was invited to the finals rodeo to compete in Goat Dressing,
Wild Drag and Steer Riding. This past year Steve added
Bull Riding to his line up. He says he's very happy with
his performance this year, winning several camp event buckles
and three consecutive steer riding buckles. He finished
off 2004 at Finals Rodeo in Omaha in his usual 3 events as
well as Bull Riding. |
