BAREBACK RIDERS!

Sometimes when you don't sleep so well, it takes awhile to get your brain moving.  That would be today.  I think it was all that hitch lifting I did yesterday, but I'll get into that later.  

THIS is my favorite sport.  I'm terrible at it, in case you didn't know.  As a kid, I got bucked off a lot.  There was no coddling back in the day, you just got back on and got after it again.  As kids, we were pretty flexible and rubbery, easily able to recover from hitting the ground after getting bucked off those newly saddled colts.  Except for that one time I was thrown into the fence.  THAT was NOT fun!

I did get better at it as I got older, but the jarring crunch on that first jump got old really quickly.  That's why I have so much respect for these guys that get on over and over again, rodeo after rodeo.

This guy had a good ride.  It's the "get off" that hurts.  If you're lucky and the pick-up man riding that horse on the right gets to you, you grab hold for all you are worth and slide to the ground as he stops his horse.  That doesn't always work out so well.  Sometimes his horse doesn't stop, or even slow down.  Sometimes you end up UNDER his horse.

These were an excellent bunch of bucking horses, this one being a youngster.  You can tell because of the crazy bucking postures.  They just go wild.  

That usually means YOU end up like this.  The older experienced broncs will buck really good, but not expend NEAR the energy these young-uns do.  They have learned how to do their job without being exhausted.  Horses are pretty smart critters.

Okay ... here he is.  Rocker Steiner.  He's got so much hair you can't tell it from the horses tail.  As much as he likes to show off in the arena ... I think it's the girls screaming ... he is actually pretty shy when it comes to the media.  They say he's a "good" kid and he can definitely ride these broncs.

He needs to try my hairspray trick ... his hat always falls off in the first two jumps out of the chute.  See the guy in the back on the left?  That's Benny Beutler, the stock contractor.  He's the chute boss, making sure the horses are treated right and that they perform well.  He is in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame, so you know his horses and bulls are the best.

I mean really ... look at that hair!!  If you didn't know, you might think this was a girl!  Really, I didn't take this many pictures because of him, I took them because of the horse.  This one gave him a run for his money.  

He didn't get bucked off, which always means there's a celebration.  

And that's it for the bareback bronc riding.  It rained and snowed on Sunday, but apparently they were able to finish up the rodeo.  

It was rather weird though ... it rained hard in the morning, then this beauty showed up.  A full ground to ground rainbow ... I think the first I've ever seen ... actually a double rainbow to the right ... and when it went away, down came the snow.  

It's the last day of February, so hopefully March brings in some nice sunny weather.  Looks like we are good until Thursday when rain and 27 degrees are heading our way.  Oh BOY!!  More SNOW!!