Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: FRIDAY, March 23, 1990 TAG: 9003222063
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV3 EDITION: NEW RIVER
SOURCE: KATHY ROBERTS SPECIAL TO THE ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: PULA LENGTH: Medium
Boothe, 32, is what one might call a semi-professional cowboy. His passion for rodeo is no less than the pros'; he just doesn't depend on the chancy business to support his family.
"Taking care of my family comes first," said Boothe, who lives on a farm with his wife, Debbie, and his 3-year-old daughter, B.J.
"We operate the farm to supplement the rodeo. And compete in the rodeo to supplement the farm," he said. And their rodeo skills help their farming.
"We use our team roping skills a lot. We gather our steers with horses," Debbie Boothe said. "So the event is really useful for us."
Malcolm and Debbie, both team ropers, have managed to strike a balance between agriculture and rodeo, remaining faithful to both without becoming a slave to one.
The rodeo is "like gambling for some people. They sell furniture, take out loans and mortgage the house to get to the next rodeo," Malcolm Boothe said. "Some people stay on the road almost all year, going from town to town to compete. I'd rather be around to see my daughter grow up."
Nevertheless, the Boothes spend as many as 42 weekends a year away from home.
"It's a family thing for us, though," Debbie Boothe said. "I'm just as much into rodeo as he is. And B.J. loves it. She is almost always with us."
B.J.'s face lit up at the mention of the rodeo.
"I like the clowns," she said, beaming.
Both Debbie and Malcolm stress the importance of working as a team.
"It's tough on families who aren't in it together. You start to resent one another," said Debbie Boothe, who took a year off from the rodeo when B.J. was born.
"Being a mom is my first priority," Debbie Boothe said. But she added that she can hardly stand to be a rodeo spectator. "I'd rather not go than have to just sit there."
By the nature of their event, Malcolm and Debbie practice together and often compete as a team. In team roping, two people lasso a steer, one around the horns, one around the rear legs.
"Every steer will do different. If you've been watching carefully and taking notes, you know how certain steers are going to act . . . if he runs fast, turns to the left or to the right, or just stops in his tracks," Malcolm Boothe said.
Sometimes Debbie and Malcolm compete on different teams, as they didin a recent Salem rodeo.
"We make sure to leave the competition in the arena," Malcolm Boothe said. In fact, that seems to be a cowboy code of honor.
Rodeo contestants compete against one another with unbridled determination, their teeth gritted, their knuckles white. But outside the arena, there is an feeling of goodwill and camaraderie.
"There is so much sharing involved in the rodeo. Most rodeo people would do anything for you," Malcolm Boothe said.
In his second rodeo in Salem about 10 years ago, "I was so nervous, you couldn't have driven a pin in me. But I ended up winning two events, and thought I'd never see another poor day. Been hooked ever since."
Malcolm Boothe belongs to three rodeo groups, which allows the Boothes to compete in many rodeos.
"Every association has finals at the end of the season. It's a good chance for a lot of money," he said.
The two spend about two or three hours a night practicing in their arena.
"We always have B.J. right with us," Debbie Boothe said. "She rides with one of us while we're warming up, and plays in a corner while we practice. It's like a big sandbox for her."
"It's a life I wouldn't trade for anything," Malcolm Boothe said with a smile. Debbie agreed, but admitted to feeling "pushed out" by encroaching development.
"You see places where we used to ride and graze our animals being built up," she said.
by CNB