Bull Dogging Is For BIG Boys!

I know I've shown you a LOT of rodeo pictures, but bear with me, I promise these are the last of the 811 images I took.  How could I NOT show you this little six year old girl riding her pony in the barrel races.  Now THIS is a girl just like me.  I had my first horse (a full sized 1200 pound boy named Pico) at the age of four.  By six, I was moving cattle all over the ranch.  

I had a little trouble getting up on Pico's back, so I would lead him to our tractor ramp, crawl up on that and lead him alongside, then jump on.  He was one of the best horses I ever had!  Can you imagine, sending your six year old out to ride alone?  Nowadays, parents would probably freak out, but back then, it's just what we did!!

This little one didn't win, but she sure did try.  Those pony legs were just a little too short in the deep mud, but she rode like she's been doing it all her life.

On the other end of the spectrum are the BIG boys who do the bull dogging.  These horses are highly trained to run beside a calf as their rider drops off the right hand side while they continue on down the arena alone.  

I have to say this doesn't look like very much fun to me!!  Once he has a hold on the head, the bulldogger sticks his legs out front and slides in the sandy soil until the calf stops.  Due to the deep mud, they didn't slide at all ... their feet got immediately swept out behind them, resulting in this.

Once the calf is stopped, the bulldogger turns his body and the calf's head to the right until the calf falls down.  It's a timed event which can be done in as little as 6 seconds from leaving the chute, if the ground and the calf cooperate.  That didn't happen on this day.

I mean look at this!!  His feet just got swept right out from under him.  These calves are strong at around 4-500 pounds.

This calf finally stopped, but that put this bulldogger face down in the dirt.  Don't you want to just run out and try this??  

Okay ... that was the last of the rodeo images ... I think.  We got another smidgen of rain with lots of fabulous clouds and now the weather has turned cold, as in a chilly 30-34 degrees.

In the meantime, next on my list is new carpet for the guest bedroom.  My plan was to do laminate flooring, but with all the trouble the Chance household is having, I think I'll stick to the much easier to install carpet.  

Nothing Better Than Good Company

Guess what!  I had visitors yesterday to my humble little Arizona home.  Trouble is, I completely forgot to take pictures.  We were so busy talking and having a good time with the puppies, that I spaced out.  So I'm hoping Patsy, Bill and Clemson don't mind that I STOLE a couple of pictures from Patsy's blog which you can find by clicking HERE.  She has some great images they took on the way over.

Actually from Canada, they are enjoying the Southwest for a few months and are currently staying in their RV near Sierra Vista.  We met in the desert outside Quartzsite.  How cool is that?  I was so happy they came to spend the afternoon with Cooper, Jessie and I.

Why don't you see Miss Jessie here?  Because she just doesn't get along with ANY other dogs.  She starts her growly bits and the fight is on, so she got put in Doggy Jail in the bathroom while Clemson and Cooper got acquainted.  Surprisingly, Cooper LOVED him, occasionally trying to get him to play the ball game.

In the end, Cooper worked his charm on Bill, who was soon on the floor throwing the ball for the next two hours!  Thank you Bill for keeping him occupied .... he was in seventh Heaven!!  Turns out Bill and Patsy weren't the least bit bothered by the trains either, since he and his father both worked on trains for Canadian Northern ... least I think that's right.  

Chef Patty even stopped by for a short time, bringing me the salted butter I did NOT have at dinner.  Unsalted butter on baked potatoes isn't my favorite.  What a sweetheart for picking some up at the grocery store for me.

Their new flooring contractor should show up today.  I said a little prayer that all goes well and it's done in record time.  There's nothing worse than having your entire house torn up.

Patsy, Bill and I had a nice lunch since I had just been to the store and stocked up on all things sandwich-like, made even better by the bottle of wine they brought.  Patsy even gave me an entire bag of corn tortillas, the perfect casserole ingredient, not to mention soft tacos!!

In no time, they were off for home while I watched the Olympics for the next four hours.  That stuff is so addicting.  Of course they have all the best ice skaters going last, so you have to stay up late in order to watch.  As a 20-something gal in Denver Colorado, I spent many hours at the ice rink.  I LOVED skating almost as much as horses.  

That is until one day I caught a toe pick and hit the deck ... HARD.  Apparently I woke up several minutes later surrounded by everyone.  How embarrassing.  They hauled me to the office and wouldn't let me leave until I could walk the line without losing my balance.  I guess I hit my head pretty hard.  At any rate, I survived to help manage the ice skating rink in Yosemite National Park a few years later.  But that's another story!!

I think today is going to be laundry day ... hang out with the puppies and count my blessings.  It's just too cold to do anything else, as temperatures have dipped back down to the low 30's.  Brrrrrrrrrrr!!

Flying Through The Air!!

After seeing the last of the rodeo pictures, you will wonder why in the world these guys do this.  It's absolutely crazy!!  Yes it is, but cowboys are a different breed of creature who thrive on excitement and adrenaline.  Not all of course, but bull riders in particular love the thrill of conquering 2,000 pounds of muscle and staying on for 8 seconds.

Eventually they are all going to hit the ground.  Rarely does a cowboy land on his feet.  Here's a few examples.

Although these bulls aren't bred to be mean, bulls will be bulls.  When I was a kid on our cow-calf operation ranch having to move the herds from field to field, it was always dicey when the bulls were there.  You give them their space ... a very WIDE space ... because they can knock you and your horse to the ground with ease!

Some riders, most likely those that have had head injuries in the past, will ride with helmets.  Having lost a few cowboys from being gored by horns, they are all now required to wear kevlar vests.  That also saves you from the crushing blow of a hoof landing on your chest.

Eight seconds is all it takes to win the money.  Since this is the biggest draw to a rodeo, they win the biggest pot.  Like saddle bronc riding, there is just a strap going around the chest of the bull with a handle in the middle.  The end of the rope holding it on is wound around the hand in a particular way so it will come undone when you let go.

There's a suicide wrap that some use ... like this kid ... that doesn't come undone.  VERY bad news.  The clowns jump in and try to release the rope while keeping the bulls attention on them and not the kid ... all the while spinning in a circle.  Do you think this kids hand hurts?  After about the third turn around, the clowns released the rope and kept the bull away from the cowboy.

The scoring is the same as for horses.  Half to the bull, half to the rider.  

The clowns ... even braver than the riders in my book ... can also help with the score.  Bulls will chase movement.  If he's not bucking very well, the clowns will move around so the bull will chase them, resulting in a higher score.  Same thing for when the rider goes flying off.  The clowns job is to keep the bull's attention on them until the rider gets back on his feet heading to the fence.  Yeah, I'd be running too!

Flying through the air ....... Sometimes they go through all this for nothing.  If your free arm touches the bull (or the horse) at any time, you get a no-score.

This was a pretty close call.  The rider was hooked (that's what they call it when a bull throws his head and horns at you) a couple times before the clowns stepped in.  I can't tell you how many lives those clowns have saved.  I bet this guys adrenaline was pumping.  Notice just for that reason, all of the bulls horns are cut back.

In between rides, there's always one clown that does a little show and cracks jokes.  In this case he was Michael Jackson, but had a little trouble doing the moon walk in the deep mud.

Now THIS is an athletic bull.  Look at that baby buck!!!  For being a couple thousand pounds, these guys can really throw their body around.

These three images show a pretty good wreck ... one you really don't want to see at a rodeo.  The cowboys hand was stuck just long enough for the clowns to come in.

The clown grabbed the guy and tried to help him up, but the bull swung around and nailed them both.  The blue shirt is the clown, the legs are the cowboy's.

As the bull lost his footing and fell back, he trapped both men under his hind legs.  Although a little cut up, the clown was okay.  The cowboy, not so much.  He had to be carried out.  Just goes to show that the bulls always have the advantage, kevlar vest or not.

One last picture of that sweet bull face.  Rodeo contractors provide all the animals for these shows and will be heading off to the next rodeo on the circuit.  Good luck to the cowboys next in line to ride these 2,000 pound behemouths.

Back to the Lost Horse Ranch, with the Chance house torn up, I offered dinner last night.  Turns out there was a bit of a glitch in the flooring renovation and the entire project got stopped before it got started.  Something about leveling the surface first.  

So I figured I better cook an amazing dinner.  Okay ... I was just hoping everything got done, which it did, but only because I turned the oven up to 420 on those baked potatoes.  I was so excited about not burning anything, I forgot to take pictures.

Meatloaf, baked potatoes, corn, salad, bread and cherry pie with ice cream for dessert.  We were all stuffed to the gills!!

In the end, a solution to the flooring problem was found and hopefully they are back on track.  In the meantime IT'S SNOWING AT MY HOUSE!!!  Pat J said it was going to snow and she was right.  At 5:30 this morning, it was coming down in my yard when I let the puppies out.  Of course it didn't stick, but thankfully melted right away.  I think we're in for some COLD weather this week!!

Rodeo Times Two!!

Back at the rodeo grounds in perfect sunny weather, calf roping was up next.  Due to the way too soft dirt and mud in the arena, only one cowboy caught and tied his calf.  Here's the thing ... they disc the arena to a depth of about six inches.  Everything below that is left untouched to allow good footing under the horse AND the cowboy.

Unfortunately, due to so much rain (over an inch) in the last two days, the arena was disced WAY too deep.  The poor calves couldn't gain enough footing to run, nor could the horses.  This guy caught the calf, but couldn't lift him in the soft mud and got a no time.  Only ONE calf roper got a time.  That was good for him, since he won the day money.

Cowboys who place every day win money for their trouble, plus the chance to ride on the final day for even more cash.  Some of these guys make hundreds of thousands of dollars.  Some don't even make enough to buy dinner.

You would think this nice soft mud might make a nice landing zone ... and you would be right!!  Trouble was, the horses couldn't do much buried up to their hocks.  The total 100 score is broken down into two sections.  The horse is scored up to 50 points for how he bucks and the rider is scored up to 50 for how he rides.  Add it up and that's your total for the win.

If you got bucked off however, you had a nice soft muddy landing!!  I love this picture below.  It's amazing that horses can jump and buck this high while remaining so calm.  His eyes are quiet and his ears show just how relaxed he is!!  

The rider is pretty relaxed too!  That is NOT him in the green shirt.   Look closely.  The rider is laying flat on the back of the horse.  In the old days, you wouldn't be caught dead doing this.  

It was a tough rodeo for both the horses and the cowboys.  I mean really, look at this poor horse's back legs buried in the mud.  I felt bad for them since I'm such a softy for animals.  Notice the riders hat hitting the ground between the horses legs.

And here's your winner.  My new Canadian friends will be happy since that's where he's from.  Also the only one to ride with his sunglasses makes him pretty cool!!  There was no laying back here!!  The funniest part was when he took his winner's ride around the arena on a borrowed horse that bucked the entire way.  Yes, he rode that one too!!  And really good looking to boot!!

Up to this point, the horses were ridden bareback with only a leather handle cinched to the horse like a saddle would be.  The back cinch is what makes them want to buck.  Here, we've changed to saddle bronc riding, meaning they actually use a saddle with the only hand hold being a rope attached to a halter the horse has on his head.  

That's more up MY alley since I've ridden a few bucking horses in my time with only the reins to hang on to.  This horse came out with a bang, but again it's hard to get a good score when your hind legs are buried in mud!!  Okay, I admit, most times I'm rooting for the horse, not the rider.  

The guy in the striped shirt is one of two scoring the ride while trying to keep from getting run over.  He had just as hard a time running through the mud as the horses did!

There's always a little stage fright.  Once this happens, the guys quickly close the gate and the rider crawls off.  There's nothing worse to mess up your timing, not to mention that the longer the horse bucks, the more points you get, so sitting in the chute lowers your score.  He got a re-ride.

Here's the perfect example of just how important that arena dirt is.  This is one of the world's best bucking horses, which you can obviously tell from looking at these pictures.  Right off the bat, his front feet slipped forward so far that when he put his head down to come back up, he hit the dirt.  

Here he is two seconds later.  Not hurt at all, he continued to buck like crazy.  I can't believe this guy rode this horse.  It was amazing, making the audience scream and yell!!  I also can't believe he didn't score higher.

That had to have been one of the best rides for both horse and rider I've seen in a very long time.  Although he could have taken a re-ride since the horse fell (sorta kinda), he chose not to.  I wouldn't either if I stayed on him the first time.  What an amazing animal this one is!!

And it's not over yet!  There still bull riding!!!

Today the Chance residence is taking their lives in their hands and coming to dinner at my house.  They are having their entire badly installed tile floors removed and replaced with beautiful flooring.  Literally, they are moving their entire house contents to have this done.  I figure the least I can do is try to cook for them!!  Wish me (and them) luck!!

It's RODEO Time!!!

The only thing more fun for me than a rodeo, is riding my own horses.  Unfortunately, I lost my last two a couple years ago.  First time in 68 years I've been without a horse.  During that time, I rode in many a rodeo, parade, horse show and cutting competition, not to mention working cattle on the ranch.  That makes rodeos right up my alley!

We picked up granddaughter Laila (Patty and Dans granddaughter) and headed off to La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros at the Tucson Rodeo grounds.  After maneuvering through the muddy parking lot (wouldn't that be fun in a 4-wheel drive .... wait, I HAVE a 4-wheel drive!!) we hit the ground running.  Here's Dan Chance and his almost-as-tall-as-he-is Laila who is almost as hooked on horses as I was at her age.

There were lots of pretty pink and purple hats to choose from, but thankfully, Miss Laila has better taste.

She talked Grandpa into a VERY nice black hat.  She's a girl after my heart, even wearing tall boots with her jeans tucked inside like I do.  Pretty cool!!

While they checked out a vendor, I hit the bull pens for a few pictures.  These guys are behind steel pipe fencing and fine steel wire, making pictures a little harder to get.  

Don't they look nice and sweet?  Just napping in the sun!

Until this guy!  I had him in my camera lens when all of a sudden he made three quick steps right up to me!  YIKES!!  I can read cattle pretty well, and when they put their head down and step toward you, you better look out!  I took a quick step back as I looked up from my camera.  He wasn't near as close as he was through my lens, but it was enough to get a big laugh out of some men at the other end of the corral.

There's lots of amazing food to order ... I mean who can resist a bacon wrapped sausage on a stick??

There's also the unusual at rodeos, as evidenced by this little guy.  Yes, that's a tail coming out of his backside.  Don't you just wonder what he's thinking?  Or what his PARENTS were thinking?

We hit all the belt and purse vendors, hoping for something spectacular.  Miss Laila needs a little more bling in her horse competition outfits!

Finally the Junior Rodeo started with barrel racing ......

and goat tying for the girls .... they run down the arena, jump off their horse and grab an already tied up goat before tying it's legs like the men do in calf roping.

Actually, girls can enter these competitions also, but it's usually just the boys who rope a calf, jump off and touch it instead of tying it up.  As you can see, he missed his mark.

Calf roping is the last one for Junior Rodeo.  Dads, usually seasoned ropers, head the steer while the Junior participant throws a heel rope.  I picked this image because she put the rope EXACTLY where she should have, wrapped underneath the calf.  When Dad pulls the steer forward, both back feet go in the loop and they score!!

I have to admit I took WAY more images than normal.  If you want to catch the action, you have to shoot fast.  I came home with 811 pictures to comb through.  Rather than overload you with rodeo pictures all at once, I'll spread it out over a few days.  

Here's one of the bareback riding broncs.  The guy behind him is hanging close waiting for the 8-second buzzer to go off so he can grab the rider and drop him to the ground versus the rider jumping off and landing in a pile in the mud.  

Back to work, I only have 750 more pictures to go through!!  I promise I won't post them all!!