Local Youth Wins Southern NV Gymkhana Championship

by Tim Robison
Moapa Valley progress

In November of last year, local 10-year-old Dani Elle Russo was awarded the Southern Nevada Gymkhana Association (SNGA) Best Timed Rider for the 10-years-old and under riders. The winner is awarded a saddle with SNGA 2007 Champion brand.

Gymkhana is a series of equestrian events that include timed speed events such as barrel racing, keyhole, keg race, flag race, and pole bending. It is much like rodeo except that there are no other animals involved other than a horse and rider.

The road to winning the SNGA champion saddle is not done in one event. The Association holds ten events throughout the year. The times of each of the ten events are added up and an overall time is calculated. The award for the year is based on those final calculations.

Russo’s riding skill is evident by the fact that she won the 10-year-old and under SNGA Champion. It is even more apparent by the fact that Russo won riding a 21-year-old mustang named Peaches that her father bought for $35.

“The $35 was to pay for the paperwork that had to be filled out through the BLM,” said Bridget Russo, Dani Elle’s mother. “It is really amazing that she won, Dani Elle is an excellent horsewoman but she was competing against other kids who paid an average of $3,500 for their horses. The most expensive horse she competed against cost $22,000.”

According to Bridget Russo, Peaches is not the biggest or the fastest horse but, “Dani Elle and Peaches are in sync with each other and are able to communicated what needs to be done in the competition.”

According Bridget, Dani Elle’s and Peach’s ability to communicate with each other made up for the horse’s lack of size and speed. It also made up for Peach’s almost total blindness in her right eye; a fact that the Russos did not find out until nearly the end of the year of competition. Under SNGA rules, a rider cannot change horses and Dani Elle had to compensate for Peaches handicap with superior horse and rider communication.

The term gymkhana comes from various Hindustani languages out of the India subcontinent. It specifically references a racket court but generally refers to any location where a sporting event takes place. Gymkhana came to the western world through the British Raj. The British military used the exercise to practice cavalry maneuvers. Gymkhana spread to Great Britain and from there spread across the United States.