Kansas
Kansas City equine show shines spotlight on horsemanship, mental health
KANSAS CITY, Mo. (KCTV) – Dozens gathered in Kansas City’s Hale Arena to shine a spotlight on horsemanship as well as mental health in rural America.
Jeff Winton, the founder of Rural Minds, has spent a lifetime around horses. But moreover, he has spent a lifetime around heartache.
In 2012, Jeff’s 28-year-old nephew, Brooks, died of suicide in rural America.
“When that happened it became very apparent that no one wanted to talk about it because there’s an embarrassment factor,” Jeff said. “We even had the pastor tell us that some of the people in our small town of 500 farming people, that we should make up an excuse for his death – we should have said he died in a farming accident or something.”
Jeff said his mother courageously ignored the advice of those around her.
“My mother said, ‘Now this nonsense is going to stop with my family, we’ve been hiding this for too long, too many young people have been dying’,” Jeff continued.
According to research done by Rural Minds, those who live in rural areas have much higher rates of depression and suicide than those who live in urban areas, a nearly 68% difference, however, they are less likely to access mental healthcare. Meanwhile, farmers are twice as likely to die by suicide than those in any other occupation.
“Believe it or not, 65% of the counties in the United States that are rural, have no psychiatrists,” Jeff noted. “Sixty-five, that’s huge.”
With that in mind, Jeff set out to make a change for the 46 million of us living in America’s heartland. In 2021, he founded Rural Minds to help empower those who live in rural areas with information, resources and training.
However, the story is not one that is unique to mankind as mental illness stretches far and wide in the animal kingdom. A few years after Jeff joined Linden Hill Stables a trailer on the way to another competition contained Jeff’s horse Duke and Jim Modica’s poney Java Joe. While en route, the trailer became detached from the vehicle and slid on its side.
While Java Joe did not make it out of the crash alive, Jeff said Duke is the reason that five other equines were able to escape it. After first responders had arrived, they started to hear a great rumble from inside the trailer, within seconds, Duke emerged, bloody and victorious as he burst through the gate and righted the trailer.
Before the collision, Jeff said Duke had been a nationally renowned champion in Western-style shows. But ever since the crash, something has changed, Duke no longer wins many ribbons.
“You can see he’s got a white scar on his inner left front leg,” Jeff said. “The vet said they tried but it just never went away, but I’m glad he’s got it. It reminds me every day of how strong he is.”
Lisa Hillmer, owner, trainer and instructor at Linden Hill Stables, also chairs the KC Summer Kick-off Horse Show, one of the season’s first shows. Each year she said the event partners with a charity to foster community involvement. In 2024, the show deemed Rural Minds the beneficiary.
“My family started the organization in Nebraska before I decided to move it to Kansas City,” Hillmer said. “It’s something that’s important to me to keep it going.”
The show, which is free and began on Thursday, May 30, runs through the weekend. It is set to feature a full slate of classes for Saddlebreds, Morgans, Hackney Poneys, Road Horses and Equitation riders.
The event kicked off Western and English classes on Thursday. Linden Hill started strong with a third-place ribbon for Jeff and his horse Catherine in the English-style class. In this style, judges search for horses that look more pleasurable to ride. American saddlebred horses were originally bred for plantation riding which required much stamina and an even gate.
Modica, who also rides for Linden Hill, took home one of the team’s first blue ribbons with his Hackney Poney Annie. The pair showed in the speedster cart class in which judges look for both form and speed.
The DJ at the event also takes requests from riders. For $5 they can play a song of their choice while their class is shown, all of which goes back to Rural Minds.
Thursday’s events were drawn together with a dinner and silent auction to benefit the charity.
“It’s so important that families talk openly about depression because there’s nothing to be embarrassed about. But people in rural areas are taught to be very independent, to pull ourselves up by our bootstraps, to get over it, because again, it’s not considered an illness. It’s gratifying work – it’s heartbreaking work.” Jeff concluded.
The following are some of the free programs and information provided by Rural Minds:
The horse show ran from Thursday, May 30, through Saturday, June 1, at Hale Arena, 1701 American Royal Ct., in Kansas City, Mo.
Copyright 2024 KCTV. All rights reserved.
Kansas
Who will the Kansas City Chiefs play in the Super Bowl?
Eagles defeat Commanders to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LIX
The Philadelphia Eagles are heading to Super Bowl LIX after beating the Washington Commanders in the NFC Championship game.
Seriously Seriously
The Kansas City Chiefs are champions of the AFC. Who will they face in the 2025 Super Bowl?
Since the Eagles won the NFC championship game earlier on Sunday, they’re also headed to New Orleans in a couple of weeks to take on the Chiefs.
Super Bowl 59 will be the Chiefs’ third straight appearance in the NFL title game, a feat no other team has accomplished before. It will also be a rematch of Super Bowl 57, when the Eagles and Chiefs faced off in State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona. Kansas City came away with the win in that one, 38-35.]
Here’s what to know:
Who will the Chiefs play in the 2025 Super Bowl?
The Chiefs will play the Eagles in Super Bowl 59.
This year’s Super Bowl is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 9 with a kickoff time of 6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT.
Fox owns the rights to broadcast this year’s Super Bowl, so football fans in the United States can turn to their local Fox affiliate to watch the Big Game. Alternatively, the game will be available to stream on the Fox Sports app and Fubo, which offers a free trial.
How many times have the Chiefs been in the Super Bowl?
Super Bowl 59 will be the Chiefs’ seventh Super Bowl appearance in franchise history and they’re 4-2 in their previous six games.
Kansas City won Super Bowls 58, 57, 54 and 4 against the 49ers, Eagles, 49ers and Vikings, respectively. They lost Super Bowl 55 to the Buccaneers and the first Super Bowl to the Packers.
Kansas
Kansas State PG Comfortable Being ‘Head Of The Snake’ On Offense
Kansas State point guard Dug McDaniel is a self-proclaimed “pass-first” point guard.
That doesn’t mean he can’t score the ball. He scored a team-high 15 points in Saturday’s victory against the West Virginia Mountaineers. Afterward, he said it helps teammates Max Jones and Brendan Hausen when the point guard is aggressive.
“It definitely helps the offense when the head of the snake of being aggressive,” McDaniel said. “Putting pressure on the defense, it opens it up for guys like Max and Brendan to get easier shots because they have to respect what I’m doing.”
The victory helped the Wildcats snap a six-game losing streak. Coach Jerome Tang has made an effort to make McDaniel become a better scorer.
“Me and coach been talking the last few days,” McDaniel said. “He’s been preaching to me to be aggressive, think score first. The pass is always going to be there. I’m a pass-first point guard. That’s like second nature to me. He just wants me to be aggressive, put pressure on the defense early so I can get my guys open.”
TANG APPRECIATES THE FANS
Tang had been under fire during the losing streak, taking criticism from fans the past few weeks. The win should calm the fan base at the time being. The Wildcats (8-11 overall and 2-6) need a lot of work to improve their resume if they want an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Tang was thankful for the strong fan turnout.
“So thankful to the students, man,” Tang said. “I walked out and I saw them, my joy tank was full seeing them. They really provided great energy for us and allowed us to get off to a great start.”
Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Kansas State Wildcats On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com
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@KStateOnSI
Kansas
No. 7 Houston shocks No. 12 Kansas, 92-86 in double overtime
It was an unforgettable night for Bill Self and the University of Kansas men’s basketball team against Houston on Saturday night and for all of the wrong reasons.
Leading by six points with 1:31 left in regulation, No. 12 Kansas lost to No. 7 Houston, 92-86 in double overtime. It was the second home loss for Self’s squad this season.
Still, Kansas had a chance to close out Houston late in the first overtime session and looked poised to do just that with 18 seconds left on the clock.
Leading by six points, Kansas guard Dajuan Harris stepped to the free-throw hoping to increase KU’s lead to eight points.
Instead, Harris missed both free throws and the Cougars took full advantage. After the second miss by Harris, Emanuel Sharp pulled Houston to within three points when his three-point attempt splashed through the net.
After a brief 30-second timeout, Kansas, up by three points, turned the ball over, which resulted in a game-tying three by Mylik Wilson.
Houston, in outscoring Kansas, 13-7 in the second overtime, never trailed during that final overtime session.
With 58 seconds left in double overtime, Kansas pulled to within two points but would get no closer in the final 58 seconds of the second overtime.
A number of factors played a role in Saturday night’s home loss to Houston. Missed free throws certainly hurt, but so did KU’s inability to inbound the basketball late in regulation and overtime.
“We didn’t execute, put it on me,” said Bill Self on Saturday night. “We got a way to get it in that we practice every day and, obviously, maybe not having KJ (Adams), who’s our best athlete that can get open, but we didn’t make a great effort to get open and didn’t call the timeout when we had one.
“When the count got to four, I should have done that,” he added. “And then the second one, we didn’t make a great effort, and then when they threw it in, I didn’t tell them to foul immediately. If something went bad, I thought that was sending the wrong message. So, obviously, something did go bad, and then they make the shot. So yeah, we had numerous opportunities. We played really well. Kids fought their asses off and obviously just didn’t make plays when it counted the most, and they made everyone.”
Kansas, leading 66-64 with 16.7 seconds left in the second half, turned the ball over (called for a five-second violation), right under the Houston basket.
With 14 seconds left, Shakeel Moore fouled J’Wan Roberts, who converted both free throws to tie the game.
Self, after the game, was asked if bouncing back from a loss like the one suffered against Houston is easier said than done.
We’re not going to move on from this,” said Self. “Hopefully, we won’t tomorrow. Hopefully, we will Monday, and put it behind us, but it’s a tough one. It’s a tough one. I think the only one that I can remember that would be comparable, and it wasn’t as bad, but was when Acie Law made the shot against us with Texas A&M and we had that game in hand and they went to the Hack-a-Shaq on us and we ended up missing free throws.
“So that’s the only one that I can remember, a home game, in which it probably, we left out of here probably hurting as much as we did today. But with that being said, guys, two pretty good teams playing, and there wasn’t a nickel’s worth of difference between us, and we didn’t have KJ (Adams), so there was some good to it, too.”
In moving to 14-5 overall and 5-3 in conference play, Kansas, in losing to Houston, was led by Flory Bidunga (19), Hunter Dickinson (17), Rylan Griffen (17), and Zeke Mayo (16).
Dajuan Harris added eight points, five rebounds, 12 assists to just one turnover and two steals, while Shakeel Moore added seven points, and David Coit chipped in two points.
Aside from scoring a career-high 19 points, Bidunga also pulled down seven rebounds, dished out two assists, and was credited with one steal.
Self, late on Saturday night, was asked about the performance of Flory Bidunga.
“I thought Flory did well,” he said. “He just gets tired, but I thought he did well, and he made his free throws at a pretty good clip for Flo. But our five guys that started, I thought, and when Rylan (Griffen) came in, even though Rylan didn’t do a lot of things, but if he’s open, he just shot it and made it today, which was great, which was the equivalent of what Wilson did for them. But when Flo or Hunt came out of the game, we had no offense.
“The ball just stops,” he added. “I mean, it just stops, and that’s when you got to rely on others, and you got to move it and everything. And so that was very disappointing that we didn’t help or cover for Flory and Hunt when they weren’t in the game because we became very stale and stagnant. But Flow was good. He was good. He got some touches around the rim, but you got to understand something. The reason why he got a lot of those points is because Hunter drew a lot of attention.”
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