Family affair: Sinclair clan enjoying the rodeo circuit

For the Sinclair family rodeo is a way of life. Pictured above (left to right): Maggie, 4, Machaela, 9, and Payton, 7, Sinclair. AMY ALONZO ROZAK/UNION DEMOCRAT

“The whole family has to be involved,” said Erin Balaam, publicist for the Northern California Junior Rodeo Association. “It’s not like other sports where you can drop the kids off at practice and pick them up later.”

It’s not like sending a child off with a bat, a glove and a ball, either. In rodeo, there’s usually a horse, a trailer and all manner of related equipment — all of it expensive.

“For a lot of families with three, four or five kids, it’s a major expense,” Balaam said. “People are willing to do without a lot of things, but they still find a way to get their kids to the rodeo.”

So it is with the Sinclair family, of Chinese Camp. Father Sean and mother Katherine will be packing up daughters Machaela, 9, and Maggie, 4, and son Payton, 7, and heading to Oakdale for the final regular-season junior rodeo Saturday and Sunday. They’ll be doing it with a smile.

“This is our first year of rodeo,” Katherine said. “We’ve been to (all eight rodeos) and it’s been so much fun.”

While the kids compete, dad is in the stands keeping time and, said Katherine, “I get to be the sender-offer in the arena.”

Machaela competes in the 9-and-under age group — the Junior Junior designation — in barrel racing, pole bending, goat tying and single stake.

“She always wins at least one event,” Katherine said with justifiable pride.

Machaela’s favorite event?

“Probably barrel racing,” the well-spoken fourth-grader said. “That’s what I work on the most.”

She’s just enjoying the entire ride.

“I like rodeo because I can spend time with my friends and it’s fun,” Machaela said. “And I can ride my horse.”

That would be Molly.

How about all the travel to less-than-exotic locations such as La Grange, Clements, Merced, Turlock, Woodside, the fringes of the Bay Area and Livermore?

“It’s good experience for my horse,” she said, “and it’s good experience for me.”

Payton is having a ball, too.

“I just like riding, so (rodeo is) a really fun thing for me to do,” he said. “Every day we have lots of fun.”

His favorite event is goat tying.

Maggie competes in Pee Wee events like wild goat milking, with plenty of help from safety-conscious adults.

“It’s a hoot,” Katherine said.

The youngest Sinclair already is showing true rodeo grit. During a practice session at the family arena, she took a spill when Payton’s horse ventured too close to hers. She picked herself up, dusted herself off and started all over again.

“She has very little fear,” Sean said. “That’s good in rodeo. Usually you get hurt when you have the fear because you hesitate.”

The Sinclairs plan to be around junior rodeo for a long time.

“It’s a great organization,” Katherine said. “The families are just real supportive. It’s had a positive impact on our children.”

Other Tuolumne County hands of up to age 18 will be competing in Oakdale, too.

• Kelly McEwen, 15, a Sonora High School sophomore, is hoping to make the finals (Sept. 19 and 20 in Clements) in barrel racing, pole bending and goat tying.

Rodeo has been part of an extraordinarily full summer for McEwen, who practices at a friend’s home in Gilroy and also had to visit Morro Bay in her capacity as the Reporter for the Sonora chapter of the Future Farmers of America.

“Yeah, it’s been really busy,” she said from her Santa Clara County training base. “I’ve also been going to a lot of barrel races (in addition to junior rodeo). It’s been a lot of fun.”

McEwen is breaking in a new horse not only for run at junior points, but for the beginning of the California High School Rodeo Association season in September.

Her best junior finish so far was third place in barrel at the Rowell Ranch, a quirky little arena close to the maelstrom of traffic into and out of the Bay Area along Interstate 580 between Pleasanton and Castro Valley.

“If she does really well in Oakdale, she’ll make the finals,” said her father, Tim McEwen.

• Kelly’s older brother, 18-year-old Cecil McEwen, will compete in chute dogging at Oakdale. Chute dogging is like steer wrestling in that the object is for a cowboy to wrestle a steer to the ground. The difference is that chute doggers don’t have to hurtle onto the steer from horseback.

• Caitlen Amos, 15, of Groveland, is a barrel racer and pole bender who’s just getting started in rodeo.

“I’ve been trying to get around to it, but nothing ever worked out,” she said. “Now, I absolutely love it. It’s all I ever wanted to do. I’m hoping to go professional with it.”

She goes into Oakdale with only two rodeos — Turlock and Livermore — under her belt.

“A lot more goes into it than I thought — all the preparation and training,” said Amos, a sophomore at Tioga High School. “But it’s definitely worth it.”

Her best rodeo friend is a new competition horse, Ned.

“I’ve finally got a horse,” Amos said, “that could get me going.”