Siderius shines on national team penning stage

Kalispell rider on winning team in the Open Division

The odds surely didn't favor LeAnn Siderius.

The amateur rider from Kalispell was competing at the National Western Stock Show on Jan. 14.

A veteran of many local and regional team penning events, this was her first trip to the prestigious event in Denver.

There were 80 teams in her division - the Open, which included many professional riders. Many of the entrants were also from the southern states, where team penning has a much longer season.

And if that wasn't enough, Siderius was competing on a new horse and with a new team.

Well …

No problem at all as it turned out.

Siderius, Matt Manley of Florence and Cristina Santangelo of Dewinton, Alberta, teamed up to win the Open Division. They were also the top team in the qualifying round.

"It was pretty exciting that a team from the Northwest went down there and was able to run against the southern competitors," Siderius said.

"They go year-round."

The winning total time posted by Siderius, Manley and Santangelo was 165.52 seconds. Their margin of victory was just over eight seconds.

First place earned each rider $1,083.60, along with a set of custom spurs.

Only two teams managed to total 12 cows. The other team consisted of Jared Lesh of Stillwater, Okla., Ashton Rainey of Lady Lake, Fla., and Tristan McCormick of Stillwater. Coincidentally, Lesh is the one who is training Siderius' horse.

Team penning involves three riders on horseback who work together in separating three cattle with the same numbers from a herd of 30. They have between 60 and 75 seconds, depending on the class and event, to get all three into a pen, usually 16 feet by 24 feet with an opening of 10 feet. The pen is located at the opposite end of the arena.

There are three levels of riders - novice, amateur and pro.

Siderus had competed with Santangelo in events in Canada, and with Manley in local competitions.

"But we've never ridden together as a team until Denver," Siderius said.

Chica, a 5-year-old sorrel quarter horse mare, was purchased by Siderius last August and sent to Oklahoma.

"She was a cutting horse.

"She's still there (Oklahoma)," Siderius said.

"She's good; probably the best horse I have ridden for team penning. I may keep her down south. I'll fly down maybe a few times this winter (to compete on her).

"I got along with her real well right from the beginning, right when I got on her in Denver."

Siderius, Manley and Santangelo were up three times, starting at 7 a.m., for the preliminary round. Everything went smoothly through that session.

The finals were held in the evening in conjunction with the main event, a Professional Bull Riding competition.

"The coliseum was packed," Siderius said.

"They introduced the PBR competitors first."

And then the team penning finalists.

Halfway through the bull riding, the team penners took center stage.

"We rode out and had 15 minutes," Siderius said.

"It was really crazy; the music was loud, the crowd was loud."

Siderius says she doesn't remember much about her team's winning performance - like the number on the cattle they had to separate or the time they completed the task in - other than it was "fun, just a great experience.

"The cattle were really hard, they wanted to run, run out of the herd."

Siderius has been team penning for 20 years.

"I got into it (thanks to Tom Little)," she said.

"When it was backyard penning for fun."

Siderius grew up on a farm that always had horses. She has been riding since she was 5.

"My mom was a clerk at the livestock auction," she said.

"She would buy horses and bring them home."

Siderius never did compete on the high school rodeo circuit, but did some barrel racing.

"Mostly pleasure riding on the farm," she said.

Siderius said she took to team penning the first time she tried it.

"I loved it from the beginning. That was for fun. Then I started traveling, competing in bigger shows."

Siderius rode in 12 team penning events in Canada last year. She also is a regular at Northwest Montana Team Penning Association events.

"It's a serious hobby, but I'm not gonna quit my day job," Siderius said.

"Selling real estate (Properties Northwest), it gives me good flexibilty (to do both). I've been serious the last four, five years, going to bigger shows.

"It's such a great outlet. I never did it thinking I would win a lot of money. It was a way to have fun, meet new people and enjoy horses at the same time."

NOTE: The National Western Stock Show was first held in 1906. It is one of the world's largest horse shows. There were more than 18,000 entries two years ago (quarter horses, paints, hunters and jumpers, USEF Open Horse Shows, Mules Shows and draft horses.)