The Rodeo

It was nice evening on Saturday October 4 the sky is clear it’s about 4 p.m. and we are getting the arena ready for the rodeo. As the tractor goes into the arena and starts ranking the dirt so that is nice and smooth this helps the horses to not slip. Tonight the arena is a little wet and muddy so it takes longer to rake the arena. After the tractor is done I notice that at my side of the arena I am working is muddy and really slick. This is not a good thing but we decide that the ground would be packed by the time the barrel racing begins. Before we knew it it’s 7 o’clock time for the rodeo to start. We open the south gate and let the flag girls in so that everyone can see the sponsors of the rodeo. After they exit we send in the different flags of every branch of the military while they are in the arena the ROTC from Las Cruces High School brings in a 50 foot flag. These boys and girls are wearing blue shirts and camo pants. The national anthem is played on two fiddles. The playing of the fiddles sends chills down my spine. After the national anthem the rodeo gets going.

The first event is bareback riding. This event is tough on your body because you put one hand in what’s called a rigging this I strapped to the horse. The last rider in the bareback riding the horse come out of the shoot and starts bucking like a bull does in all the years I have watched the event I have never seen a horse do this. The second event is steer wrestling. This is one event that I am starting to do. The point of this event is to ride you horse and slide off onto a steer a wrestle him to them ground as fast as possible. The fastest time ran was a 4.3 which is really fast.

The third event was team roping this event is ran with two people a header and a heeler. You start in what is called a roping box the steer is loaded in a shoot. The start the header nods his head and they release the steer and the header ropes the steers head and turns the steer and the healer tries to rope both feet if he only ropes one foot he is gets a 5 second penalty. The fast time was 5 seconds flat. After this event is the saddle bronc riding. This event is like bareback riding but you are sitting in a saddle with is custom made. The other thing that is different is you are holding what is called bronc reins. This helps you hold yourself up so you can make a qualified ride. The best ride of the night was a 84.

The fifth event is tie down roping or better known as calf roping. This event is fast pace because you are in the roping box and you are roping a calf and then jumping off you horse grabbing the calf and tying up three of his legs. After you tie his legs together you have to get back on your horse and putting slack in the rope then a judge starts a stop watch if the calf stays tied up for those ten seconds you get to keep your time you ran it in. If your calf doesn’t stay tied you get a no time. The fastest time that was run was an 8.5. The next event was barrel racing this is a girl’s event. This is a very fast pace event the ladies have to run a pattern around three barrels. The time starts when you pass what are called eyes this starts a clock and it stops the clock when you go back by them. The fastest run was a 16.23. The last event of the rodeo is the best event they have this is bull riding. Bull riding is one of the hardest events there are in rodeo because you are getting on the back of a bull. You put your hand in what is called a bull rope. Then you have people pull the slack out of the rope so you can rap the rest of the rope around your hand so it’s nice and tight. The other thing you have to use is your feet you use your spurs to get grip and hold yourself on. This year’s bull riding was terrible not one person rode their bull which is very sad because this is one reason people come to the rodeo. I had a good time this year and I am looking forward to the rodeo next year.