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12:00 AM CST on Saturday, December 3, 2005
By RICHARD ABSHIRE / The Dallas Morning News
It's not easy to have the best rodeo dirt in
Texas.
RANDY ELI GROTHE/DMN
Jeff Ritchie (left) is maintenance coordinator and Gary
'Radar' Jordan is building manager at Resistol, honored
for its dirt by professional rodeo women. Mounted on
the Ford New Holland tractor he calls his Cowboy Zamboni,
former bull rider Jeff Ritchie waters, plows, levels
and drags the dirt – a 60-40 mix of sand and clay
– in Resistol Arena, home of the Mesquite Championship
Rodeo.
"I walk a fine line," he said.
If the arena floor is too soft, horses and bucking
stock bog down.
If it's too hard, they can't get their footing.
Mr. Ritchie and his son, Jeremy Ritchie, must be toeing
the line pretty well.
The Women's Professional Rodeo Association named their
dirt the best of any rodeo in Texas this year, awarding
it the Justin Best Footing Award.
The Mesquite Championship Rodeo has placed in the top
three in the dirt category in all but one of the five
years that Mr. Ritchie has been its maintenance coordinator.
The
complete story is available on the Dallas Morning News
web site. |
