Dancer knows the routine.

The 21-year-old black-and-white war pony has memorized the turns through the outdoor arena that transforms into a stage for Eastern Oregon history every September.

His rider Aaron Hines, dressed in a bright orange shirt and jeans, sat atop Dancer during a recent rehearsal, both at ease, waiting for their cue. The bond he and Dancer have built over the last eight years made their routine look smooth and effortless.

They’re veterans of the Pendleton Round-Up’s Happy Canyon Night Show, a pageant involving about 700 animals and volunteers aiming to tell the stories of the region. A whole roster of events for Eastern Oregon’s largest rodeo starts this week, with Happy Canyon opening its 110th season to crowds Wednesday night. This Round-Up will also be Hines and Dancer’s last performance together.

“It’s time to pass it on to the younger generation to take over and keep doing it,” he said.

Hines, 40, is the CEO of Yellowhawk Tribal Health Center on the Umatilla Indian Reservation. He has been part of the Happy Canyon show since he was a kid, a family tradition that stretches back generations.

His grandmother, Mary Hines, was just a newborn in 1911 when she was part of an encampment near the banks of the Umatilla River in Pendleton, a historical gathering symbolized today by hundreds of tipis set up by the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation and others during the Round-Up. She became a regular volunteer for the event in its early decades, lending horses and regalia to people who needed them for the festivities. She died in 1989 and was inducted into the Pendleton Round-Up & Happy Canyon Hall of Fame in 2021.

Her grandson, a CTUIR tribal member, grew up around that tradition, learning the ins and outs of the show from his family. He and Dancer, a gelding with a sleek, spotted coat, began starring in a key role in 2018 — the Camp Crier.

This messenger rides through the encampment to deliver news, create gatherings or make announcements — a role that holds a deep significance to the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes.

And horses are family, said Umatilla Tribal member Gary Burke, a former member of the CTUIR board of directors.

Since the 1700s, the Cayuse, Umatilla and Walla Walla tribes have had large herds, Burke said, making it possible to travel further across the region, hunt and trade with tribes east of the Rocky Mountains and carry their belongings.

“Sometimes other Indians will give you horses, like if somebody dies and they’re really important to you,” Burke said. Burke said he was once gifted a horse from the Dakotas, who have a tradition of offering favorite horses to others.

Hines didn’t get Dancer as a colt. His previous owner passed away and Hines bought him from the family about eight years ago.

Once he started training Dancer for Happy Canyon, he said, there were days he learned more about himself than the horse.

“I needed to have the patience for something like this,” he said. “I think that really was probably one thing that I learned early on with doing this role.”

In the weeks before their last show, he and Dancer came down to the set two or three nights a week for a few quick run-throughs of their scenes. They’d ride through the arena and get reacquainted with the sights and sounds they’ll encounter during the pageant’s four-night run Sept. 16-19.

During one rehearsal last week, Dancer strutted confidently through the arena.

It’s in his blood — or at least now it is, Hines said, laughing.

“He was a young horse when we started,” Hines said. “It just took time and work but he’s good at it now.”

Hines will pass the Camp Crier torch to Lucien Cook, 19, who will ride Hines’ horse, Whiskey, a 14-year-old gelding with a brown-and-white spotted coat and distinctive blue eyes.

Cook, who’s part of the Nez Perce and Cayuse tribes, said he rode him through the show last year, but it wasn’t a major role. As he prepares for the spotlight next year, here are some personality quirks he’s still learning about the blue-eyed horse.

Whiskey sneezed and shook his head, while Cook explained his latest discovery.

“He has a fear of garbage cans. We just learned that,” Cook said. “It should be a learning curve, but it’ll be exciting.”

Hines said this is a role for a young warrior, one that he believes Cook will be able to fulfill as long as he has the patience, time and willingness to learn alongside Whiskey.

News Source : https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/15/pendleton-oregon-round-up-aaron-hines-happy-canyon-night-show/