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PHILLIPSBURG — When the gates crack open at the 92nd annual Phillipsburg Rodeo, there will be a doctor in the house. And in the arena.
Dr. Dusta Kimzey O’Connell, a doctor of pharmacy, has a job that involves a specialty act, trick riding, roman riding and whip cracking at rodeos across the nation, and she’ll entertain in Phillipsburg August 5-6-7.
Trick riding is a long-time western heritage art, like gymnastics on a horse galloping 30 miles an hour around the arena. It combines glitz, glamour and rhinestones with daring stunts that would make a Hollywood stuntwoman shake in her boots.
O’Connell first fell in love with trick riding as she traveled with her parents to rodeos, and the first trick rider she saw was Melissa Riddle Navarre, whose daughters she will perform with in Phillipsburg. “Melissa and her big beautiful horse Concho are still what I try to be, in and out of the arena,” she said.
At age ten, she attended trick riding camps and worked her first pro rodeo five years later. From there, she’s worked rodeos across the nation.
O’Connell is no stranger to Kansas Biggest Rodeo. The daughter of Ted Kimzey, who was a barrelman in Phillipsburg for years, she attended the rodeo as a child, tagging along with her brothers, Sage, now a six-time world champion bull rider and younger brother Trey, also a bull rider. Both brothers have competed in Phillipsburg.
She has a “day gig,” as she calls it, as a pharmacist in western Oklahoma, where she lives. She graduated from Southwestern Oklahoma State University in Weatherford, Okla. with her doctorate of pharmacy, and works full time, juggling her schedule around her rodeo work.
O’Connell’s trick riding horse is a palomino with a white face named Big Ike. Big Ike is a movie star; O’Connell rode him as a stunt double in the movie Cowgirls ‘N Angels.
Her secondary horse is a bay roan named Eight Ball who she has ridden for the past four years.
O’Connell loves coming to Kansas Biggest Rodeo. “My first memories of Phillipsburg are as a young tike,” she said. “I know that Phillipsburg has always been one of my dad’s favorite rodeos. It’s special to get to go back.”
Tricked Out Trick Riding, featuring the Navarre girls, will be the specialty act during each night of Kansas Biggest Rodeo August 5-7. Rodeo performances start at 8 pm nightly. Tickets are on sale online at www.kansasbiggestrodeo.com and start at $16 for adults and $12 for children.
For more information, visit the website at KansasBiggestRodeo.com or call 785.543.2448.
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