How rodeo competition is keeping Hawaii’s unique paniolo traditions alive.
“The steel gate kicks open and a calf darts from the roping chute into the open arena. It barely gains a 10-foot lead before 30-year-old Kalai Nobriga is after it on his champagne-colored horse, his lasso whirling over his head.
In what looks like a single fluid motion, he releases and lands the lasso, skids his horse to a stop while stepping from it, and runs the length of the rope until he gets his arms around the calf. He lifts it, turns it on its side and drives it to the dirt. Pinning it with his knee, he collects its legs and, in a flash, knots them together with a piggin’ string.
It all happens in 10 seconds.”
Read the full story at HAWAII Magazine.
Images by Megan Spelman