It was a two hour rodeo and began with a patriotic display of the flag and the National Anthem...
Next, there was team steer roping...
Barrel racing (ladies) ...
and a sheep chasing event for kids where they all ran into the arena to try to catch a sheep and remove the bandana from it to win a prize...
Unfortunately, I was across the arena from the bucking chutes and only had my cell phone with me to try to capture the action shots, so they're a bit blurry and small ;(
One of the coolest things I saw was three men that conjured images of the 4 Horsemen of the Apocalypse (minus 1). They sat quietly at the edge of the arena until called into action. Personally, I think they're the real stars of the rodeo...
A Pick-Up Man’s job is to rescue the cowboy after his eight second ride from a bucking bronc. They gallop up alongside the bucking bronco and literally grab the rider off it and pull him to safety!
The cowboy’s job is to first ride the bucking bronc for the eight second ride with one hand, then grab on with two hands and wait until the Pick-Up Man rides in along side the bronc and picks him up safely. The cowboy is then set to the ground without injury. The Pick-Up Man also removes all equipment from the bronc and removes the bronc from the rodeo arena after the competition. Their thick chaps are custom made, heavy-duty, foam lined and withstand serious run-ins with and scrapes from the walls of the arena and raging beasts!
I borrowed some better pics off the internet to show them in action, grabbing cowboys from bucking broncos and retrieving the raging horses once they've separated from their rider... truly amazing to watch!
It was also fun to just walk around and see the angry caged bulls and the hot cowboys near the bucking chutes ;) Overall, a great evening...
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