Devenport on stock contractor support staff at NFR

Destri Devenport, who lived in Bonsall between August 1998 and February 2003, went to the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas as a member of the support staff for the Honeycutt Rodeo Company.

Devenport’s duties included warming up the Honeycutt horses for the December 6, December 7, and December 8 performances and for the December 9 saddle presentation.

Devenport began her career with Honeycutt Rodeo Company in May 2006 at the San Diego Rodeo, so the 2006 NFR was her first National Finals Rodeo as support staff for Honeycutt, whose presence at this year’s NFR included two saddle horses for flag presentations and pickup men, a bucking horse named Top Gun used for the Saddle Bronc Riding, and a bucking bull named Black Elk.

The Honeycutt Rodeo Company, which was founded by Roy Honeycutt and now also includes his three children, is based in Alamosa, Colorado. It provides stock for between 15 and 20 rodeos each year, one of which is Ramona’s rodeo.

In 2002 J.D. Davis was the arena boss for the Ramona Round-Up Rodeo. Davis’ stepdaughter, Paige Connelly, was ten years old at the time. She was asked if she wanted to work with Honeycutt and accepted that offer.

Connelly is currently a freshman at Ramona High School and began her high school rodeo career in September. Devenport, who is a sophomore at Julian Charter School, has been in high school rodeo a year longer, but Connelly and Devenport previously knew each other from junior rodeo.

“We didn’t get along when we first met,” Connelly said.

“We were really competitive. We just didn’t like each other. Now we’re close,” Devenport said.

The junior rodeo division qualifications are based on age at the beginning of the year, so in 2006 Devenport was in the Senior Girls division and Connelly was in the Junior Girls division. Devenport won the Senior Girls All-Around as well as the year-end Breakaway Roping championship; Connelly placed third in the Junior Girls All-Around and won the Goat Tying championship.

Devenport’s father, Lynn, was the trainer at Rawhide Ranch when the family lived in Bonsall. Lynn Devenport is now the trainer at Cloverdale Stables, and the family moved from Temecula to San Pasqual in December 2004.

As the friendship between Connelly and Devenport grew, Connelly turned to Devenport when the Honeycutt Rodeo Company had an additional position available. “She needed help, so I started filling in,” Devenport said.

Their duties at various rodeos include taking care of the saddle horses, saddling the horses, carrying sponsor flags, the grand entry and closing, feeding the bucking horses and bulls, and even cutting cattle if needed. “I caught on really fast,” Devenport said.

The Honeycutt Rodeo Company includes some support staff members who only assist at local rodeos. “Destri and I are really the only ones besides their family that travel with them,” said Connelly, adding that bullfighters and rodeo clowns also travel to the various rodeos.

“We try to make all of them,” Connelly said. A conflict with junior rodeo or high school rodeo may prevent Devenport and Connelly from helping a Honeycutt rodeo, but three sets of rodeos is no deterrent. “It gets difficult, a lot of hard work,” Connelly said.

In 2005 Connelly saddled Honeycutt horses at NFR and helped with the feed. She also helped rehearse when the flags were carried. Connelly and Devenport would have worked the flags at this year’s NFR had they been old enough, but the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association does not allow anyone under 18 in the arena.

The PRCA also has a minimum age for participants, so when Devenport and Connelly are 18 they would like to have activities other than carrying flags. “Hopefully we’ll be running the barrels here,” Devenport said.

The National Finals Rodeo consists of seven events, including Barrel Racing, and the season’s top 15 money-earners in each event receive invitations to NFR. A barrel racer can’t start accumulating PRCA earnings until her 18th birthday, so Devenport, whose birthday is March 13, has a greater chance of reaching NFR in her first year than Connelly, whose June 16 birthday would eliminate her from the first year’s spring rodeos.

“I’ll have to come watch Destri,” said Connelly, who will turn 17 in 2009 when Devenport turns 18.

This year’s NFR began November 30 and ended December 9. Devenport and Connelly arrived in Las Vegas on December 3. In addition to helping the Honeycutt Rodeo Company and watching the rodeo, their activities included shopping, a rollercoaster ride at New York New York, seeing friends, and mingling with contestants. (They also took time for this interview, which was conducted December 6.) Devenport and Connelly’s time in Las Vegas also included a lunch appointment with NFR veteran barrel racers Charmayne James and Jackie Dube.

Devenport and Connelly plan to continue working for Honeycutt in the future. “It’s our life,” Connelly said of rodeo. “There’s nothing else I’d rather do.”

“It’s what we dream of, what we live,” Devenport said.