Shawn Murphy

Shawn Murphy missed two weeks of school in January. Instead of taking notes, he was riding his horse, Rose, at breakneck speed along with his team of 40 other high schoolers.

“We’re just like lights in the arena,” said Murphy. “You just run in, and then there’s 10,000 people surrounding you, and it’s just a roar. And it’s kinda hard to beat that.”

Murphy has been part of the Westernaires, a Boulder youth organization of nearly 1,000 horse riders, since he was eight years old. Its riders perform synchronized routines at full gallop, sometimes lit only by the lights on their costumes.

The Westernaires opened and performed in the Denver Stock Show this year, as per tradition.

“You get to be at the barn starting at 7 a.m. […] And then you perform in as many rodeos as there are in that day. And then at the end of the day, you put your horse back in its stall, and then you get home at like 11 o’clock, and then you wake up and do it the next day,” said Murphy. “And that goes on for two weeks.”

The past stock show brought more challenges and intensity than usual, all occurring within the span of 24 hours.

First, one of the Westernaires’ horses was found to have a gastrointestinal issue. Despite hopes that it would pull through, it eventually had to be put down. Within the same day, one of the Westernaires’ volunteers was trampled while trying to leave the arena. He ended up in the hospital, but was quickly released.

Going through these stressful experiences as a team created an extremely powerful bond.

Murphy said, “It’s just a really great thing to walk into a room of forty people and consider all of them family.”