BELLE FOURCHE - It's one performance down and two to go at the 89th Black Hills Roundup in Belle Fourche.

Action began with a bang Thursday night.

The bareback completion brought a winning score of 81 for Karlon Knudson, of Arvada, Wyo., and the chance for the audience to see four-time world champion Marvin Garrett, of Belle Fourche, take two rides into the arena.

Garrett, a rodeo legend who has a growing "second" championship reputation as a rough stock promoter and teacher, got two rides thanks to drawing a horse that had a bad night.

The low 64-point ride, he also gained a "reride." That happens in rodeo when the horse or bull doesn't necessarily play fair.

So Garrett strapped his bareback rig that gives a cowboy a handle onto a second bronc and got a 77-point score that put him into the top three on the night.

Most grandfathers likely wouldn't have tried the first ride.

Rodeo action continues at 1:30 p.m. today and then at 7 p.m. Saturday at the Roundup Grounds that has been the scene for similar cowboy competition since before the 1918 Roundup tradition gave the place the name it carries today.

Folks showing up by 5 p.m. at the Saturday rodeo will find their rodeo ticket also brings a free barbecue followed by the daring rides of the younger set in mutton bustin.'

Lori Franzen, who runs Powder River Rodeos with husband Hank and provides stock for the event, said things at the rodeo are going well despite overnight rain early Wednesday.

"They've done a phenomenal job of getting this arena ready after an inch of rain," she said.

The Franzens enjoy the Roundup where they've spent 20 years as contractors because they know the region's cowboys are a good match for their bucking string.

"We have all of our top stock," she said. "Every National Finals Rodeo animal we have is here."

The mares, such as the award-winning bucking horse "Miss Congeniality," are just coming off pasture, she added. That means the athletic horses are even more likely to give cowboys a challenge.