PENDLETON — “My job is to get in your head, figure out your strengths and weaknesses, pick apart every little thing that you’re doing wrong, and put it back together, so that you can have a fun and safe Grand Entry,” said riding instructor Toni Minthorn. “And so that you can cowboy up and ride through anything that happens once you’re through that gate because there’s a lot about this whole rodeo that we can’t practice.”

If there’s one person who embodies Round-Up week, it’s 2023’s Hall of Fame inductee Toni Minthorn.

Minthorn’s family has been participating in Round-Up since the inaugural event of 1910, and Minthorn made her own debut in the Happy Canyon Night Show when she was 9 months old. As a child, Minthorn camped in Indian Village with her family, dressed in regalia for the Westward Ho! and Dress Up parades, and pulled the travois for the Night Show, a role she’s continued throughout the years.

Minthorn was the first to be elected as both a Happy Canyon princess in 1978 and a Round-Up princess in 1982. Each year, two young women are chosen as ambassadors of the Happy Canyon Night Show and Native American heritage. The Round-Up Court’s princesses and queen are ambassadors of the Pendleton rodeo and are responsible for performing the Grand Entry each day of Round-Up, which involves jumping and galloping on horseback.

Although Minthorn remains involved with Happy Canyon and works in the enrollment office for the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation. her primary focus is on training horses and teaching the Round-Up queen and princesses to do the Grand Entry.

Minthorn grew up riding her family’s horses and competed in rodeo during high school. At the time, barrel racing was the only women’s event. Wanting to develop her skills further, Minthorn moved to the East Coast to study dressage and jumping. She was fascinated by the five-gaited saddle horses and triple combination jumps.

“I’m a horseman, and these days a lot of our Native Americans are not,” Minthorn said. “I wanted to be on the Round-Up court because I could ride.”

Minthorn returned to Pendleton in ’82 to serve on the Round-Up Court. At this point, her involvement in the Native American side grew smaller as she began to focus on promoting the rodeo.

A few years later, she moved to Southern California for almost six years, where she studied cutting, a Western event in which a cow is separated from a herd and prevented from rejoining.

“I got an opportunity to ride some of the best cutting horses God put on earth and study with legends of the industry,” Minthorn said. “I craved it.”

However, Southern California did not fit Minthorn’s tastes.

“I wanted to head north and not even look back, not even get my stuff,” she said.

Minthorn returned to Pendleton. That year, the queen was a former student of hers.

Since returning, Minthorn has trained the Happy Canyon and Round-Up princesses. Some Happy Canyon princesses don’t have prior riding experience, so Minthorn teaches them just enough of the basics to ride in parades.

The Round-Up princesses vary in skill background: Many have trained in Western riding but have limited experience with jumping. In June, Minthorn starts holding lessons once a week for jumping and learning the Grand Entry.

In August, Minthorn organizes ride nights at the arena, where anyone participating there during Round-Up can practice. Since many of them don’t ride regularly, it’s an important time to help minimize accidents.

During Round-Up week, Minthorn volunteers as an outrider for the Indian Relay Races in the arena. When less experienced riders need help with their horse, she’s there to guide them.

She also recruits outriders, including a special group that she calls “catchers.” When a horse becomes loose, their job is to ride up beside the wild horse and capture it safely and quickly without inciting other horses. If executed poorly, a catcher can actually worsen the situation.

Minthorn said one of her top priorities is to “make sure that the outrider doesn’t need an outrider because that has happened way more often than a person would realize.”

One variable that’s difficult to prepare for is the energy in the stadium.

“Especially on Day One,” she said. “I mean, it’s just in the air—you feel it. It’s like, oh my God, it’s right here, it’s right now. The excitement is over the top, and if a person doesn’t know how to process that correctly, they can transfer it to the horse.”

In 2019 Minthorn was selected as grand marshal of the Westward Ho! Parade, and this year she was inducted into the Hall of Fame for her years of contributions to Round-Up and Happy Canyon. She said seeing her name on the ballot for the Hall of Fame came as a surprise.

“I’m looking at it going, Holy cow that’s my name on the ballot, and then I got voted in,” she said.

A father of one of Minthorn’s former students called to inform her of the result.

“I was like, Wow that really is my name on that ballot and people voted for me,” she said.

When it comes to the

When asked about the significance of Round-Up to her and why she loves horses, Minthorn seemed lost for words.

“Well, it’s just something I’ve done. The participation and volunteering go back forever. It’s what my family’s done, it’s what I’ve done, and it’s all important — just to be a volunteer and be part of it.”

With all the time and work that goes into Minthorn’s role, it may seem more like a full-time job than a volunteer position, but it’s one Minthorn loves.

“Sometimes it can be hard when there are so many people that all need something from me, but I love what I do,” Minthorn said. “I have my little ways that I’m rewarded. I get to park my trailer down here and have my horse right outside the door. Most people don’t.”

When Minthorn’s not volunteering for Round-Up, she rides, breeds, and raises her own quarter horses. She has a stallion and mares for breeding and horses that are trained for cutting.

Minthorn is adamantly aware of the time and money that goes into her passion and makes no indications of changing her lifestyle. In several relationships, including a marriage, Minthorn’s partners attempted to either do away with her horses or convince her to quit training the princesses.

“‘Do you have any idea what you could do with your horses if you focused on this direction versus the Round-Up and Happy Canyon?'” Minthorn remembered one asking.

“Absolutely, but I don’t want to do that other thing. I love what I do,” she said. “And my response, ‘I strongly suggest you don’t try to take it from me.’ It went in one ear and out the other. I still have what I do, and he’s long gone.”

In the future, Minthorn would like to see her horses more active in the show ring, especially for cutting. One of the flag bearers in the Grand Entry bought two colts from Minthorn and has so far experienced success with them.

“I like watching the horses that I’ve raised excel,” she said. “I really like that.”

At any time, Minthorn has between 30 and 40 horses.

“I have two that are in a trainer’s house up in Washington, two standing right outside here (at Round-Up), two in the other barn, and a whole pile of them at home.”

Whether it’s riding in the parade, competing in events, or gathering cows in the mountains, Minthorn’s horses do it all.

“I don’t know how to live life without them,” she said. “Horses and riding are just part of who I am.”

This is part three of a six-part feature from Olivia Wolf, writer and editor ofthetinyvagabond.com.

She wrote the story about the 2023 Pendleton Round-Up and Happy Canyon Night Show. The work focuses on the perspectives of seven people:

• A grandmother and granddaughter from the Yakama tribe who stay in the Indian Village and whose family has been attending the Pendleton Round-Up since its founding in 1910.

• A husband and wife of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation who also stay in village and live on the reservation near Pendleton.

• Pake Sorrey, Pendleton local who won the 2023 Round-Up steer roping competition and whose father won twice before him.

• And Toni Minthorn, a horsewoman and 2023 Hall of Fame inductee who trains the Round-Up queen and princesses to do the grand entry.

The East Oregonian is publishing a new part each day of the week during the Pendleton Round-Up.