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The Guardian - US
The Guardian - US
World
Amanda Ulrich in Banning, California

‘I feel like a badass’: Native American rodeo thrives as a younger generation takes the reins

A rider climbs a pen to mount a bull.
A competitor in the youth division of the National Indian Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas prepares to ride a bull. Photograph: Zuma Press Inc/Alamy

Joya Taylor, an 18-year-old Los Coyotes tribal member, can weave a horse at breakneck speed around a narrow course of metal drums. Those brief, adrenaline-fueled moments of competition involved in a rodeo, when her horse is flying and a single wrong move could mean hitting a 55-gallon barrel, require Taylor and the animal to move as one entity.

“I want both of us to be thinking the same thing,” she said. “I want to move with his body when he moves.”

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