From left, Mountain High Broncs and Bulls director Billi Jo Oberg, bull riding champion Tatyn Harper and Lee Daggett, the founder of the Mountain High rodeo, after 15-year-old Harper won the event on June 15, 2024.

JOSEPH — Lee Daggett was skeptical.

The founder of Joseph’s Mountain High Broncs and Bulls rodeo has been around plenty of rodeos and seen his share of competitors.

So he had reason to think the teenager who wanted to ride a bull in Saturday’s Mountain High event might be a tad too youthful.

“You know, you sound awfully young,” Daggett told the youth, Tatyn Harper of Mount Vernon, Oregon, during a call-in a few weeks before the rodeo. “How old are you?”

“Well, I’m 15 years old,” Harper said.

“Son, I don’t know whether this is the place you want to be right now at your age,” Daggett cautioned. “These bulls are not something you just mess with. These are high-powered.”

But Harper persisted. I’ve been riding, the teenager said. And I’ve been doing pretty good. “I really want to come.”

Daggett relented — “We’re an open show,” he said, and the youth had paid the entry fee. But he made sure Harper came to Mountain High with his parents.

And the youth had the last laugh Saturday night: Harper was the only competitor to log a qualifying eight-second ride and won the event.

“That kid stayed on,” Daggett said. “And he won the entire purse,” $4,300. And Mountain High will pay his entry fee to return to next year’s rodeo as the defending champion.

Harper’s ride was a highlight of Saturday’s Mountain High free rodeo, which drew a crowd of nearly 3,000 to the Harley Tucker Memorial Arena in Joseph.

The chilly weather Saturday night prompted some attendees to leave early, Daggett said, but otherwise the event was a success.

“Everything went great,” he said. “The contestants were really good.”

Other winners Saturday night included Ray Valdez of Winnemucca, Nevada, who made the most of a second opportunity to claim the ranch bronc event.

Daggett said that the horse fouled Valdez on the gate during the championship round, and Valdez “came off hard and he came down hard.” Because of the foul, though, Valdez was eligible for a re-ride.

Shaking off the effects of the tumble, Valdez won the event on the re-ride.

Other winners at Mountain High included:

Wild Horse Race: Jason Begay team (Begay, Howard Dave and Kaden Lair).

Youth Bronc Riding: Grady Johnson, 9, Weiser, Idaho.

Mutton Busting: Five-year-old Rowdy Lions of Pendleton won the event, followed by James Neely, 5, of Enterprise; Ray Reisenauer, 3, Pasco, Washington; Nathan Wilsey, 3, Flora; and Rebekah Neely, 7, Enterprise.