Boots and chaps and cowboy hats…

We went to a local rodeo yesterday… and I guess there is nothing more quintessentially COUNTRY than a rodeo as entertainment.

I always think of the Garth Brooks song “Rodeo”…

It’s the bulls and the blood,

It’s the dust and the mud,

It’s the roar of the Sunday crowd,

It’s the white in knuckles

The gold in the buckle

He’ll win the next go round…

While I do understand that some people have reservations about this sport, I have to say I enjoyed this one.  To me, rodeo offers the natural adrenaline rush so many young men (and young women) crave.  And you cannot tell me those bulls don’t LOVE getting rid of the cowboys and chasing them off. Testosterone is a crazy thang!  (And surely it’s better than drugs?)

Let’s take a peek and see what went on.

Young girls donned their pink straw hats and cowgirl attitudes…

And their rhinestone heart pink belts and awesome teeny cowgirl shirts…

Young boys found their lairiest cowboy shirts and met up with their mates…

Spectators set up their folding chairs or grabbed a hay bale and found a shady spot arena-side…

Hats were held and heads were bowed for the Cowboy’s Prayer and the National Anthem.

The littlest cowboys donned helmets and safety vests and climbed aboard poddies to show the big boys how it was done…

The bigger cowgirls wowed the crowds with their balance and skill in the bareback barrel race…

(Am totally impressed with this one, one of our local vets who was egged on loudly by the crowd)

Check out the grin!

Almost makes me want to leap aboard a steed and go for a gallop.

(In my dreams – my leaping and galloping days are behind me, alas).

This girl was the winner of this challenging event… a young girl who actually spent some years growing up here on Granite Glen.

That’s her Mama with the video calling out and encouraging her…

Rounding the last barrel – how is the JOY in that face?

Some serious riding skills there, people. That horse is FLYING!  And in control. Just magic to watch.

Then it was the Stockman’s Challenge – where a group competed to build a yard (from portable panels)…

and wrassle a big calf into the pen…

…(or not)  before riding their horse ‘home’ double back.

It was hilarious.

While the calves did bellow their outrage, they were fine – a couple evaded their would-be wranglers altogether!

The saddle-bronc is always spectacular – flying manes, tales and chap fringes. And sometimes cowboys.

But not this one – he rode time easy.

The bull ride is always a real drawcard.  So much danger, so much action, so many heart-in-mouth moments.

So much blur if you don’t put the camera on the right settings!

I dunno – still pretty groovy, no?

Okay, proper settings now…

Better – well better for me, not for this rider!

Now, I have a whole series of this ride which is pretty scary scream-worthy amazing.

And I also have a series of shots of our jackaroo Lachlan competing in the bullock ride.

Anyone keep for some more rodeo?

🙂

BB