It'll be a rootin', tootin', boot scootin', horse chutin' time.

Participants in the Reach 4 A Star Riding Academy's Chutes n' Giggles Rodeo have been practicing hard.

At a recent practice session, they all lined up, ready to try a few of the events in the academy's indoor arena.

Their goal: Reach the ring on the ground about 100 feet away, stop in the circle, turn around and run back to the starting line.

The first woman jogs to the ring, stops a little late and almost slides right out of the circle. Laughing, she jogs back.

A man in a white cowboy hat looks confident. "I can do this!" he yells enthusiastically just before galloping to the circle.

A more timid girl walks to the circle, then begins to jog back with some encouragement. Her fellow participants clap.

Of course, they won't be jogging or galloping during the rodeo. They'll be riding horses, trying to get the large animals to stop in the circle and turn around.

"We always do everything as a two-person team," said Karol Santistevan, the arena director. "Whether it's just a horse and rider, or a horse and rider and a volunteer, there's always teamwork involved to reach some common goal. We work together to get the best results."

The rodeo is one of the major fundraisers for the nonprofit riding academy, which offers therapeutic riding sessions and horsemanship lessons to people with physical, mental, emotional and behavioral disabilities.

"We all have events in our life that make us go through different challenges, and we give lessons to help people deal with their different challenges," Santistevan said. "They have to engage the whole body. It's not just a physical benefit, but they have to be able to use mental skills to know where the horse has to go. How do you deal with a horse when they're not doing what you want them to do? How do you communicate differently?"

The rodeo, which will take place in the Arena at the Fairgrounds, will include a road apple relay, a costume race, a keyhole race, a ribbon race and synchronized bull riding. Anyone can participate in the rodeo's open division - those without real horses can rent stick horses.

A calcutta before the event will offer the best opportunity for fundraising, during which community members bet on who will win the all-around award during the rodeo. Fifty percent of the money raised automatically goes back to the academy, and the winner of the bet can choose to either cash out the other 50 percent or donate it to the academy.

"That's the meat of the fundraising is the calcutta," Santistevan said.

Spectator admission is $1 per person.

Reach night editor Megan Lee at (307) 266-0616 or megan.lee@trib.com.

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If you go

What: Chutes n' Giggles Rodeo

When: Saturday, March 21. Calcutta begins at 12 p.m.; rodeo begins at 1 p.m.

Where: The Arena at the Fairgrounds in Casper

What: Chutes n' Giggles Rodeo

When: Saturday, March 21. Calcutta begins at 12 p.m.; rodeo begins at 1 p.m.

Where: The Arena at the Fairgrounds in Casper]]>