Monday, July 23, 2007
Friday night small town rodeo...
It's "Day's of '47" time in Utah. Being a newcomers and not Mormon, we've really not totally captured the spirit. We're working on it though... starting this last Friday evening with the local rodeo.
I'm an "old hand" at rodeos having attended them for well over 50 years. I'm just one of those "good fans". Cindy was a barrel racer in her high school and young adult years. I know Bev was raised around horses, primarily sulky racing horses.
Well, this rodeo is definitely "small town" and fun for the entire family. The "rough stock" consisted of calves, young heifers, bulls, donkeys (yes, donkeys), and CHICKENS! There wasn't a bucking horse to be seen.
Ok, I could figure out the calves and the bulls... but the cows, donkeys and chickens had me going.
They started off with calf roping in a "boys" class. Some of those little fellers looked mighty tiny on top their horses. Unfortunately, it was calves 8 boys 0.
The girls did a little better with three of them actually roping their calves. This was "breakaway" so once the calf was roped... you simply released the rope and let it go.
Bull riding was pretty exciting... only one rider stayed on for 8 seconds. Now you know it's a small town... and full of pretty tough cowboys when this happens...
You're riding the bull... he bucks you off and you sail through the air, landing on your head. You're out cold for a couple of minutes while the announcer calls for the EMT's. Other cowboys get to you first, but thankfully, they don't pull you to your feet... you really hurt all over.
You come to, and tell the EMT's you can move your arms and legs... good thing as they roll you over to your back.
Now you don't want to embarrass your cowboy buddies so you get on your feet and "Cowboy Up!" even climbing up and over the fence rails...
That scene was repeated three times during the course of the evening... not sure the EMT's even had a "squad"... besides, the nearest hospital is over 30 miles away.
About those CHICKENS...
This is a family fun rodeo... so, let's have a "Chicken Chase".
First, the chickens... these are excess "free-range" roosters donated by local farmers.
Next, the participants... two different groups of kids. The first group about 100 aged six and younger. The second group, about 100 aged seven to 10.
The object of the game... catch a chicken and you get to take it home... even if your parents would just as soon you didn't catch it.
Here's a couple of the winners.
What about the donkeys? Where do they come in?
Well, picture this...
Assign two people teams to each of about 12 donkeys. Place 12 watermelons thoroughly sprayed down with "cooking spray" at the other end of the arena.
Now, the two of you have to ride the donkey to the other end, pick up the watermelon, get back on the donkey, and ride to back to the start line... yeah right!
Talk about funny! Why I saw a donkey standing still with two riders... the donkey shivered, and they both fell off!
We'd seen "breakaway" calf tying, where the object was to get your rope around the calf, and let it pull the rope from you. We'd seen the "chicken chase", and the donkey-watermelon race, as well as the bull riding... What could possibly be left?
How about "ribbon tying"... or in this case, remove the ribbon from the heifer's tail and run back to the starting line.
It starts off kind of weird as there's one cowboy on a horse, and one cowboy on foot. The heifer (a nearly grown cow) is in the chute. They turn the cow loose and the chase is on.
The guy on the horse has to lasso the cow, and then the guy on foot runs up and "bugs" the cow by holding her head as if to throw her down. The horse's job is to hold the rope until the guy on the horse gets off... and runs up the rope to grab the ribbon that is tied snug at the top of the cow's tail.
There's only a few problems here... the cow doesn't want to be here. The rodeo arena ground isn't the easiest stuff to move around in on foot, and that ribbon... well, it's in a very hard spot to reach... watch out for those hind hooves!
They grow our young teenage cowboys big, rough and tough here!
Barrel racing is a family sport here. The first class is for 8 year old and younger... girls and boys.
We saw some really slow times posted by little tiny tots on very old, gentle geldings that would trot to the barrel, and the very carefully walk around each barrel, and the kinda, sorta, lope over the finish line.
There was one little 8-year-old girl who is gonna be a star... She turned in an 18.35 second run... and that was the fastest time of the night. She was better than all the girls in the 15 and under class, and at least half the women in the "open" class.
The night was very long, and quite warm... at 10:30pm we finally said "that's enough" and headed for home, satisfied we had been to a small town rodeo.
Labels: About Beryl
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Love the pictures of the rodeo. It looks like so much fun!
We're coming down your way. Will be in Cedar City the 3rd week of September. Checking the place out.
Hugs,
Kay
Hi Kay,
Send me a PM through the forum, and I'll get you the directions to here... we're just "over the mountains" about 45 miles.
It's always fun to meet folks in person after you've met them online. In fact, that's how I got here.
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