a a Weber State College Comment, October 1989, Page Rodeo crown inevitable for WSC t was almost inevitable that Kristy Hughes would become Miss Rodeo Utah. What else, after all, is there to do in Coalville, Utah where the high school is flanked on two sides by horse pasture. “There’s not even a movie house in Coalville,” Hughes said. “We have to go to Park City.” The reigning Miss Rodeo Utah moved to the community of 1,300 when she was nine years old. Asthma kept her out of sports—‘she hated basketball anyway,” her mom said—so the only thing left was 4-H. And for Kristy that meant horses. Kristy Hughes shows off her new saddle. “IT remember sitting in the stands (of a rodeo), admiring the queens and thinking how much fun that would be. The next year I ran for Little Miss Buckaroo and won second attendant. The following year I was Buckaroo queen, and I was hooked,” Hughes said. After her stint as Little Miss Buckaroo, Kristy won the Summit County Queen contest. She was fifth runner up in the state high school rodeo queen competition in 1986, winning that title the following year. She was the 1988 Utah Quarterhorse Queen, the Lehi Roundup Queen, this year’s first runner-up to Miss Rodeo Ogden, and the current Wilderness Circuit Queen. “She has dedicated a lot of hours to her horses,” said Ramona Hughes, her mother. “She felt good about queening, and it made her feel good about herself. | thought, if the queen competition did that much for her I’d let her do it,” Mrs. Hughes said. ‘“Queening,” as Kristy referred to it, takes a great deal of time and finances. To get ready for Miss Rodeo Utah the Hughes’ spent $1,000 just on material for outfits, Mrs. Hughes said. But the competition is not without rewards. When Kristy won Miss Rodeo Utah she was given a new saddle, a horse trailer, chaps, a mink coat, silver platters, a silver punch bowl set, boots, hats, and cash awards. Plus, she will wear the Miss Rodeo Utah crown, valued at $8,000, and an accompanying buckle worth $2,000 for a year. “Pretty exciting, huh?” she said. To be selected Miss Rodeo Utah a contestant must have an excellent knowledge of the sport of rodeo--of the best cowboys currently in the rodeo circuit, of the clothing and equipment used--and she needs to be excellent at horsemanship. ‘When I first started riding I was just chasing cows, and no one cares how you ride when you chase cows, but for the queen contests how you ride is one of the most important things,” Hughes said. Judges, she said, look at the “hands, feet and seat” of a contestant—a proper hold on the reins, toes in and flat in the saddle. “Cowboys don’t even have to do that,” she said. In addition queens are judged on appearance and photogenics, knowledge of world affairs, and must give a speech. But the single most important aspect is the horsemanship, Hughes said. “Horsemanship has always been the hardest for me, and I spend a lot of time on that,” she said. It was a knowledge of rodeo that gave Kristy the edge in the recently completed Miss Rodeo Utah contest, she said. She held her own in horsemanship, but while others gave general knowledge to judges’ questions about rodeo equipment and cowboys her answers were in-depth and showed a significant amount of preparation. “It takes a lot of mental preparation as well as physical preparation, and I student Kristy Hughes, the reigning Miss Rodeo Utah, stands with her horse, Sister Babe, in front of a horse trailer given to her as part of her rodeo title. get very nervous before each contest. I usually drink a bottle of Pepto Bismol before to calm my stomach,” she said. Usually whoever wins Miss Rodeo Ogden wins the Utah contest, and Hughes, who was first runner-up in the Ogden event, said she was a little surprised when she was named Miss Rodeo Utah. “It’s so weird to hear that even now. It still hasn’t sunk in,” she said. “T didn’t even stop my horse when I got down to accept the crown. Gov. (Norman H.) Bangerter put it on my head and gave me a hug,” Hughes added. Now, after 11 years of rodeo queening, she said she has only one title left to win. In November Hughes will compete as Utah’s queen in the national contest in Oklahoma City. “T plan to ride at least 200 horses before then,” Hughes said. “Rodeo queens are ambassadors for the sport. They go to rodeos, to luncheons and talk to a lot of people, so they need to learn as much as they can about rodeo,” she said. As Miss Rodeo Utah, Hughes’ schedule has been hectic and has taken her throughout the state. Should she win Miss Rodeo America she would be gone most every week for the year, she said. “I’ve always wanted to be Miss Rodeo America. That would be... . I don’t even know how to explain it. It would be fun, and a lot of opportunities would open,” she said. But win, lose or draw this is the last contest. “It’s hard to think of that. I’ve been in it 11 years, but it will be a good opportunity to get my life together. I want to finish my education. I have another two years to go to get my business administration degree,” she said. The end of rodeo queen contests will also give her a chance to catch up on a number of things she’s had to put on the back burner the last little while— her boyfriend, for example. “He’s getting pretty sick of this.” “T enjoy promoting the state of Utah, that’s really important to me. I hope I can always be an ambassador of Utah and of Weber State,” Hughes said. But before any of that there’s the matter of this one last event. “T know that if I put my full effort into preparing for this contest that I'll not feel bad whatever happens. But if I lose and know I could have done more, that would be disappointing,” she said. 9