The entire town wakes up. Lawns are mowed, windows washed, banners hung from one end of Main St. to the other. That entire week thrums with excitement as the rodeo stock are shipped in and unloaded, contestant trailers start pulling in, and there are strangers in town. Shucks, folks, it's our week to shine!
For our family it is a little different. We are transplants. We've only been here three years. That said, it is a small enough community that everyone knows us and we know most of them as well. We ride in the grand entry parade every year and this year we brought a calf (Chester) and our donkey (Eeyore) to the petting zoo. We really are beginning to feel native.
Ok, enough blah blah blah. On to the pics!
Tough enough to wear pink night (like Luna and I need an excuse, pshaw!) just before the grand entry. Luna and I are keeping company with K who's reins match ours. What color? Why, pink and black, of course!
Luna and I, and Jake on Cash riding in the grand entry. We do a serpentine pattern around the arena while the drill team holds flags and our theme music blares from the loudspeakers.
Cody and Splash, Me and Luna, and Dustin riding Badger 10 a.m. Saturday morning for the rodeo parade through the middle of town.
Jake on Cash, Me on Luna, Cody on Splash, and Dustin who hadn't gotten mounted up yet before the Grand Entry on Friday night.
The following pics are kind of awful due to a faulty camera. Above is the bull fighters and a black and white bull who really tried to teach them a lesson, lol.
Saturday night rained for the first half of the rodeo. The arena held up well though and the barrel racers and ropers had no trouble. It got cool outside and after the rodeo was the dance, which rocked!
This is the view of the arena about halfway through the rodeo on Saturday night. I felt bad for all the chicks running around in flip flops. Many, many people lost a shoe that night.
Probably the best "half-time" show I have seen here yet ^^. This man and his Brazilian....somethingorother (steer) and the little girl, Codi Jo, on her pony was awesome. The jumped a culvert with a clown inside (yes, the steer did too!), thru a ring of fire, did a teeter-totter, and the little girl jumped the pony over the steer as he lay on the ground. Oh, yes, the pony and the steer both laid down on command.
The highlight of the show was when they pulled their rig into the arena and put up a ramp, walked the steer and pony up there, and waved to the crowd. It was pretty neat to see the animals so relaxed and well cared for, and so well trained.
Last, but not least, we have Cody and an Amazingly Vicious Beast. Here he is feeding the bucking stock some hay. They kept trying to eat his new hairstyle, a Mohawk. He thought it was hysterical and then started feeding them hay instead. Soon we had a waiting line at the fence. Some were pretty shy but most of them came right up and wanted scritches and, well, the hay.
I have to say that I was impressed with the stock this year. Everything was fat and slick, no apparent illness or injuries, and the horses' hooves were in good shape (not a common occurrence for bucking stock). We were there every day and all of the handling that we saw was low-key and gentle. They had fresh food and water at all times. Pens were clean. I was so happy to see it.
Stay tuned...it has been a week of stomach bugs and vetting horses and extreme temps but I have a blog planned for later in the week.
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