Poway Rodeo Queens Pageant is Saturday
Eleven young women will be competing for four titles in the Poway Rodeo Queens Pageant, which will be held at 6 p.m. Saturday at Midland Elementary School, 13910 Midland Road in Poway. Tickets are $10 and are available at the door.
The categories are Little Princess (ages 5-9), Young Miss (ages 10-12), Junior Queen (ages 13-16) and Queen (ages 17-25).
The outgoing queens, Bridget LaHaye and Lacey Bainbridge, were appointed to their roles in 2016 and asked to stay on for 2017, as no pageants were held either year.
Judging for the pageant is based on horsemanship skills, personality, rodeo knowledge, equine knowledge and stage presence. Contests will begin the horsemanship portion of the pageant at 9 a.m., followed by personal interviews.
The pageant winners will be the ambassadors for the 2018 Poway Rodeo held on Sept. 28 and 29.
The Queen category has three contestants, Sarah Andrews, Chelsea Estes and Abby Lehto.
Andrews, 23, graduated from Ramona High School in 2013 and completed the veterinary assistant program at PIMA Medical Institute. She is a veterinary assistant at VCA Adobe Animal Hospital. She has competed and ridden in hunter/jumpers, dressage, drill team and a rodeo in Ridgeway, Colorado.
Estes, 22, is from Norco, California and attends Pasadena City College as a criminal justice major. She plans to become a juvenile justice attorney as a voice for children, according to her biography. She has been riding horses since age 3, trail rides and runs in local gymkhana events.
Lehto, 23, is from La Mesa and graduated from Point Loma Nazarene University with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and criminal justice. She is currently pursuing a career with the San Diego Sheriff’s Department. Lehto competed in her first rodeo pageant last year and represented the International Professional Rodeo Association and the Lakeside Optimist Clun as the 2017 Miss Bulls Only Rodeo.
The Junior Queen category has four contestants, Natalia Botiller, Mia DiGiovanni, Sabrina Smith and Kaylee Tate.
Botiller, 15, is a sophomore at Westview High School in the Poway Unified School District. She channels her passion for the equestrian lifestyle into her volunteer service with Ride Above Disability in Poway, according to her biography. She has experience in both English and Western riding and competes in barrel racing.
DiGiovanni, 14, is a student at Valley Center High School. She competed in her first horse show at age 5 at a PVRA show in Poway. She was the 2015 Norco Mustang Gathering Youth Champion, the 2016 Chad’s Cowboy Challenge Champion, 2017 Valley Center Jr. Rodeo Queen and has held 12 Open Class championship titles for the Valley Center Vaqueros since 2013.
Smith, 15, is a Ramona resident. She participated in her first horse show at 1-year-old, according to rodeo officials. She is a member of the Ramona Santana Riders and has won several awards in the open western pleasure, equitation and trail classes. Smith has also won her division title at Ramona Santana Riders for five years.
Tate, 15, is a freshman at Scripps Ranch High School. She has competed around Southern California at barrel races, gymkhanas and rodeos. She was part of the Shooting Stars Drill Team at the Poway Rodeo, according to her biography. She is also a dedicated Girl Scout and will be working toward her Gold Award. In Girl Scout Troop 8714.
The Young Miss category has three contestants, Samantha Picot, Grace Lynn Robbins and Emily Sample.
Picot, 10, is a fifth-grader at Valley Center Elementary School. She is a member of Valley Center 4-H, an active member in the Valley Center Vaqueros and rides in the Young Riders Drill Team, according to her biography. She has been riding horses most of her life and showing since she was 1-year-old. Picot has competed in Junior Battels at local rodeos for several years and in 2015 was the Valley Center Rodeo Little Miss.
Robbins, 12, is a sixth-grader at Menifee Valley Middle School in Menifee, California. Robbins has been riding horses since she was five years old and competes primarily in barrel racing, pole bending and goat tying in the California Junior Rodeo Association, according to rodeo officials. She was the 2015 TVR Youth All Around Champion and the 2017 Valley Center Stampede Rodeo Young Miss.
Sample, 11, is a fifth-grader at Lakeview Elementary School in Lakeside. She has been riding since she was four years old and is a member of the Arabian Horse Association. She competes in English, Western and trail riding. In addition to riding and showing horses, Sample shows market and breed goats with the Sagebrush 4-H. This is her first year competing for a rodeo queen title.
The lone contestant in the Little Princess category is 8-year-old Jayden Soliz, a Valley Center resident who is a third-grader at Calvin Christian School. Soliz has been riding horses since she was 3 years old, according to her biography, and is a member of the Valley Center Vaqueros and Young Riders. She began Mutton Bustin at the rodeo when she was 4 years old. Soliz was the 2016 Valley Center Rodeo Little Miss.
Email: news@pomeradonews.com