Close to home: Three Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo contestants don’t have far to travel for this weekend’s rodeo
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When the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo stampedes into Minot's State Fair Center this weekend, three of the 100-plus cowboys and cowgirls won't have far to travel.
Carson Hildre, Velva, Ben Kramer, Max, and Brody Nelson, Minot, will all be less than a half hour's drive from competition.
That's a switch for the men, who have rodeoed across the nation all summer.
Hildre, a bareback rider who is 20 and in his second year of PRCA rodeo competition, has done exceptionally well, not only at the regional level, in the Badlands Circuit, but at the national level. He is ninth in the Badlands Circuit (the rodeos in North Dakota and South Dakota), and eighteenth in the world standings.
"This year's been actually quite fun," he said. "I've gotten on a lot of good horses over the year and went to a lot of cool rodeos."
Hildre, the son of Marty and Jennifer Hildre, is a third generation rodeo cowboy. His dad was a tie-down and team roper, and his granddad Jim Hystad was a bareback rider and bull rider.
"Once grandpa got me introduced to it, I fell in love with it," he said.
Hildre won the National Junior High School bareback riding title in eighth grade in 2021. "Everything clicked, and since then I've never let up."
He was also a four-time state wrestling qualifier, never finishing lower than third place at state.
"Wrestling and rodeo went hand in hand for me," he said. "The mental toughness in both sports, when things don't go your way, helped me. You're going to get on a thirteen-hundred pound animal and ride it for eight seconds or wrestle a match for six minutes."
Hildre, a rookie in the PRCA, is also the Resistol Rookie of the Year winner, having won the most money among all rookie bareback riders this year.
Max's Ben Kramer will also compete in the bareback riding. He enters the rodeo in second place behind Dunseith's Will DeMontigny.
For the 25-year-old, this will be his fifth qualification to the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo.
He, like Hildre, is third generation rodeo cowboy. His dad, Shawn Kramer, and his granddad, Jack Kramer, were bareback riders.
Out of the 12 bareback riders who made it to the circuit finals rodeo, seven are North Dakotans. Kramer attributes that to the good bucking horses in the state.
"There's good access to all different caliber of horses," he said, "from beginning horses to ones that have gone to the (Wrangler) National Finals Rodeo." And the friendly competition between the men helps, too.
"We like to say, iron sharpens iron. The more competition, the more it's going to drive everyone to be better."
Kramer is the son of Shawn and Melissa Kramer.
Bull rider Brody Nelson qualifies for the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo in fourth place.
Injuries have kept the Minot man from fulltime rodeoing this year. A spinal fracture, a "smashed" foot, and more have slowed him down.
"I was getting wrecked out and banged up," he said. "Nothing big, but a bunch of little stuff."
The 21-year-old graduated from Western College in Snyder, Texas in May of 2026 with a certificate in welding.
He enjoys competing at the Badlands Circuit Finals Rodeo because it's close to home, and a lot of his family and friends can attend.
He is the son of Randy and Heather Nelson.
The rodeo takes place Friday, Saturday and Sunday, Oct. 9-11, with performances at 7 pm on Oct. 9-10 and at 1 pm on Oct. 11.
There's more than rodeo: an autograph session with rodeo legend Flint Rasmussen; nightly awards parties Oct. 9-10; trade show shopping; and Cowboy Church.
Tickets are $25-$35 for adults and $10 for children ages 3-13.
They can be purchased online at BadlandsCircuitFinalsRodeo.com and at the gate.
For more information, visit the website.