Extreme Cowboy group seeks Mozingo events
FILE PHOTO
A group of local Western-style equestrian enthusiasts, including national champion Extreme Cowboy Chris Redden, pictured, want to bring a series of Extreme Cowboy Association events to Mozingo Lake Recreation Park this spring. Extreme Cowboy races incorporate the natural landscape into a course that demands of variety of horse-and-rider skills, including trail riding, ranch work, jumping, barrel racing, cutting, and reining.
Saddle up pardner. Pending approval by the Maryville City Council on Monday “Extreme Cowboy” horse racing is coming to Mozingo Lake Recreation Park.
The proposed events would take place April 2, April 30, and May 14-15 on a course already being prepared on the west side of Mozingo Lake.
Extreme Cowboy racing is a relatively new sport that hearkens back to the days of all-around ranch horses that could jump obstacles, work cattle, ford streams, and serve as reliable saddle mounts over long distances.
Craig Cameron of Texas, a noted professional rodeo cowboy, created Extreme Cowboy Racing about 12 years ago and subsequently founded the Extreme Cowboy Association — EXCA — as its governing organization.
Competitions incorporate the natural landscape into courses that demand a variety of horse-and-rider skills, including trail riding, ranch work, jumping, barrel racing, cutting, and reining.
The sanctioned Mozingo event, which has already gained approval from the Mozingo Lake Advisory Board, is being organized by a group of local riders, including Angie Jones, Chris Redden, Runt Rageth, and Denise Redden.
Chris Redden is already a noted fixture on the Extreme Cowboy circuit.
Last year Redden and his horse “Cisco” competed in Tennessee at the Extreme Cowboy Association Cowboy Racing National Finals and won the 2015 national championship in the Pro Division.
His victory earned him an invitation to the 2016 Calgary Stampede Cowboy Up Challenge.
Event approval by the council would allow EXCA events to take place in the vicinity of the equestrian RV campground on the west side of Mozingo Lake, a relatively little-used part of the 3,000-acre recreation area that city officials have been eager to publicize.
City Manager Greg McDanel said Friday that all 13 course obstacles are being installed and paid for by the applicants, who are also offering to maintain the course as a long-term equestrian venue.
In a written report to the council, Assistant City Manager Ryan Heiland said that municipal expenditures would be limited to staff time, portable toilets, a waste dumpster, and asphalt milling on a “step-up” obstacle in order to ensure good footing for the horses.
Heiland said the equestrian campground is sold out for the requested days, and that between 60 and 100 riders are expected for each event.
In other business during its final March session, the council is expected to consider a staff recommendation to demolish a derelict house located on a double lot at 202 S. Hester.
The Board of Code Appeals has upheld the structure’s “substandard building” classification, and municipal staff is recommending acceptance of Nodaway Contracting Co.’s demolition bid of $6,350.
Owned by the Burna Dean Milligan estate, the 126-by-264-foot lot was to be included in the 2015 Nodaway County tax sale, but no buyer emerged.
County Assessor Rex Wallace said Friday that his office has subsequently received a number of inquiries about the property’s status.
Other council agenda items include:
• A request to hold the inaugural April Lawyer Memorial 5K Run on Oct. 1, 2016. The evening event will honor a popular Maryville High School teacher who died Sept. 30, 2015, at age 52.
The run, sponsored by the MHS FACT Club, is to begin at the school and proceed northward along Munn Avenue.
• A request to hold a Country Showdown country music talent contest along the 300 block of North Market Street beginning at 6 p.m. June 11.
• Liquor license applications for a new Mexican restaurant, El Maguey, scheduled to open this year at 964 S. Main St., and the former Finish Line convenience store at 620 N. Main.
The El Maguey applicant is Hugo Sanchez, and the Finish Line applicant, doing business as AE&D Petroleum, is Ejaz Ahmed.
• An ordinance to execute a contract with Hochschild, Bloom, and Co. for the performance of audit services through 2020.
TONY BROWN/DAILY FORUM
This derelict house located at 202 S. Hester is slated for demolition pending action by the Maryville City Council. The current municipal budget includes $20,000 for removal of unsafe structures inside the city limits.
