Day two of the 50% successful rodeo weekend began on the Sunday. Today we did not get such an easy parking space, we had to walk ages towards the entrance and had to pay a $50 entry fee. Pretty steep in normal circumstances, but being that it’s my second rodeo in 7 years, it’s not so bad. I think that’s how money works.
Having been to this event once before I knew that standing at the south part of the oval would provide an elevated and shaded position. Perfect for this photo enthusiast who did not wear any sunscreen.
Just like few years ago there was an opening ceremony of sorts, although not as wild as a few years ago when there were bold acrobatic riders, today it was just flag bearing riders and an introduction to the man himself, Harvey Dickson.
We watched a few disciplines this time around. The first one was the Barrel Racing. Wikipedia tells me its a woman’s discipline, but it already looks pretty tense. I would liken it more to horse drifting. Three barrels are arranged in a triangle with the horse and rider starting from the long edge, where as fast as they can they complete a cloverleaf pattern around them all.
Bull Riding is basically riding a bull. I noticed they tied a rope of some sort around the stomach, which is repeated with the Bronc Riding (horse), and I would assume it irritates the animal so much they start bucking. As soon as the rider dismounts, they unclip the rope and almost instantly the horse or bull calms down. Because the animals can be unpredictable, they have rodeo clowns who have a similar fashion sense to me and are designed to draw attention of the animals.
There was Steer Wrestling. Basically a steer is released and chased by two riders and their horses and one of the riders jumps onto the steer then has to wrestle it to the ground.
Team Roping is basically the roping of a steer using a team of two horse riders. One ropes the horns and the other goes for the hind legs. The latter being pretty tricky seeing as we only saw one team successful.
There were a couple of other events but with no photos I’m not telling you about them! Instead I’m rewarding you with photos of cowboys and girls in their natural habitat.
I did record some videos but I haven’t yet decided if there will be one. Have to learn how to do it first…
Update: I did eventually put together a basic video to bring it all together. May have overdone the slow-mo.
