PRORODEO Sports News - March 21, 2025

RODEO SPOTLIGHT HOME OF THE

The Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo introduces the Navajo culture and tradition to rodeo goers in Window Rock, Ariz. ( PRCA photo by Jake Hodnett )

Rodeo Is Everything

Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo introduces culture, tradition

BY ZACH ALVIRA

RODEO IS A WAY of life in the Navajo Nation. The people widely live off the land, raising sheep, cattle and other livestock from a young age. Window Rock, Ariz., a small town near the Arizona-New Mexico border, serves as the capital of the Navajo Nation. It’s also where a staple in the community, the Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo, takes place three days out

of the year.

“Having a PRORODEO put an

“It’s special because it’s the hometown rodeo,” said Derrick Begay, an 11-time National Finals Rodeo qualifying team roper and native of the Navajo Nation. “The reason I do what I do today is because of Window Rock. That was the one that was closest to home where I could go and see all the big names … all the guys you would read about in magazines and see on TV.

interest in me to do that.” The Home of the Navajo PRCA Rodeo wasn’t to the scale it is today just two years ago. The rodeo went through some difficult times, where it saw a decrease in participants due to other rodeos increasing their purses and payouts. As Window Rock remained mostly stagnant, other rodeos began to expand, welcoming in cowboys who previously

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PRORODEO Sports News April 2025