Send In The Clown Lecile Harris PRCA Hall of Fame Rodeo Clown Lecile Harris paid a visit to a group of young riders at the Robert Rainey, Jr. Memorial Arena in Barton, Mississippi on Saturday May 9. Some of the riders are barrel racers and many study with trainer Victoria Montesi. The "saddleback social" was the brainchild of former team penner and bull rider Phillip Morton, who has four granddaughters riding barrels. Among them is Bailey Morton, who recently won the Youth division at the 2009 Firecracker 4-D in Memphis. The girls, and more than a few family members and friends, enjoyed a cookout under the covered facility, followed by a photo session and chat with Rodeo Clown Lecile Harris. The girls also had a great time painting and decorating their horses with washable paint and playing games on horseback. But the highlight of their day was meeting Harris. Harris was in the area for a short stay before heading to west Texas to kick off this year's PRCA tour, which will keep him on the road until November. Harris took part in the event at Morton's invitation. The two played high school football together in Collierville, and are fairly sure they attended their first rodeo together back in 1955 in Arlington, Tennessee. Morton remembered, "Harris was always a natural clown, even before he started rodeoing." Harris is in his 54th year of taking the heat off rodeo bull riding contestants and bringing laughs to spectators with his comedy routines, now accompanied by his son Matt. He was voted one of the top five clowns in the PRCA for the twenty second year in a row during the last season. "I'm probably older than all four of the others put together," he quipped, but considers himself fortunate to still be performing after all these years in the business. To read more about Lecile Harris see: http://www.lecile.com/. Victoria Montesi runs G G Farms summer horse camp in Moscow, TN.