Outlaw Rodeo at the Fair Marred by Two Horse Deaths

Without horse racing for its second year in a row, the 130th annual Humboldt County Fair replaced the thunder of hooves on the track with Saturday’s Outlaw Rodeo College Invitational. While it attracted a strong crowd as the largest single-day event, the injury and subsequent deaths of two horses cast a pall over the festivities and led to an online backlash. 

Kelly and Gianna O’Day, coaches of College of the Redwoods’ recently established rodeo team, offered to put on the county’s first collegiate rodeo at the fair. The Humboldt County Fair Board only approved the rodeo in March, however. According to Kelly O’Day, the two had a short timeline to plan the logistics and gather sponsorships in their first run producing such an event, which they did with support from CR, the fair board, local volunteers, sponsors and an outside professional rodeo company.

The O’Days hired Flying U Rodeo Co. — a 60-year-old professional outfit of rodeo livestock wranglers, announcers, rodeo clowns and sound crew — to transform the racetrack area in front of the grandstands into a functioning rodeo arena. Six teams of student-athletes showed up from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Cuesta College, Feather River College, California State University at Bakersfield, California State University at Fresno and West Hills Community College along with the CR team.

 The rodeo opened at 2 p.m. with a large crowd of 4- to 8-year-olds who climbed onto lively sheep in the traditional mutton busting event. Next, after the low overcast ceiling prevented the plan to have a skydiver air drop an American flag, CR football players unfurled a large flag in the arena, followed by the singing of the national anthem. By the day’s end, Kelly O’Day estimated, “That crowd today was about the same as on the best day of horseracing.”

 But during the saddle bronc riding competition, a horse that had bucked its rider in the arena was injured near a gate and taken into an equine ambulance trailer for care. Shortly after, another horse injured its leg during competition. Witnesses said it bucked its rider and hit the ground with its body landing back down. With the specially outfitted trailer already in use, staff employed another horse to haul the injured animal into another trailer, causing delay. A veterinarian on site examined the two horses and both were euthanized, according to a statement by the Flying U Rodeo Co.

In 2024, the last time the fair hosted horseracing, two racehorses were euthanized after being injured on the track. It was a source of controversy even as racing supporters scrambled to secure dates for the circuit and keep what they considered a lucrative century-old tradition going at the fair.

In an email to the Journal accompanying a Humboldt County Fair Association press release, CEO Moira Kenny writes, “The rodeo producers engaged a highly regarded and experienced professional stock contractor and rodeo production team, with established animal welfare protocols and veterinary care in place.” The release states the association is “deeply saddened by the loss of two equine athletes following injuries sustained during Saturday evening’s rodeo at the Humboldt County Fair.” It continues, “We expect all event partners and contractors to maintain appropriate animal welfare practices and to have qualified veterinary care available when livestock are participating in events. Those protocols were in place and followed during Saturday evening’s rodeo, including the immediate response of the on-site veterinarian.” For more on that response, the release points to a statement put out by Flying U Rodeo Co.

A statement from CR expresses similar sentiment.

 “We recognize how difficult this was for everyone who witnessed the incidents and for those who care for and work with these animals,” it states, also directing further questions to Flying U Rodeo Co., noting, “CR is not in a position to speculate about what caused the injuries.”

Flying U Rodeo Co.’s statement also expressed sadness over the injury and deaths of the animals. 

“The rodeo producers and Flying U Rodeo Company take the treatment and care of all livestock athletes very seriously. Livestock welfare is of the highest priority to the Humboldt County Fair Association, the rodeo producers and Flying U Rodeo Company. There are numerous safeguards and provisions that are in place to ensure the safety of the human and animal athletes competing in the sport of professional rodeo.”

Jennifer Fumiko Cahill (she/her) is the managing editor at the Journal. Reach her at (707) 442-1400 ext. 106 or jennifer@northcoastjournal.com. Follow her on Bluesky and Instagram @JFumikoCahill.

Mark Larson (he/him) is a retired Cal Poly Humboldt journalism professor and active freelance photographer who likes to walk.

This article appears in Reports from the Grand Jury.