Monday, April 28, 2008

Spring 2008 AJRA Rodeo


This last weekend was one of my favorite events of the year, the AJRA (American Junior Rodeo Association) rodeo. I absolutely love this event. I love watching young people ride. The girls are so confident. This is a world where they can hold their own. I never cease to marvel at the riding abilities of those kids. I never cease to marvle at what troupers the horses are. I wandered around until lunch time, and then my ever demanding stomach insisted that my body be fed. My husband and I returned later on for the evening rodeo. I could have stayed all day.


I like the way the little cowboy in the pink shirt is leaning over and talking to the other little cowboy. I'm sure they've seen their daddies do the same thing.


I asked this girl to pose so I could take her picture as she was so lovely. She said,
"If I can get my mare to stand still." Unfortunately, later on when her horse ran the barrels, it went stark, raving, psycho.


This teeny tiny was awaiting her turn to run the barrels.


Oh how I wish the camera strap hadn't ruined this cute picture.


Here she is running the barrels. She could really ride!


I told this lady I liked her braids and I wanted to take a picture of her. She asked, "What do I do?" I replied, "Just stand there and look purty."


Kathy is a friend of mine who has appeared on this blog in the past. She was monitoring the barrel race. I adore Kathy. She is a Texas True. I love to hear her talk horse. She uses a different lingo than I do since she is a western rider, but I still love to hear her talk horse. She is a barrel racer, and her daddy, who is now 85, taught her a lot of what she knows about horses. We got our border collie cross, Gyp, from her as a pup. Gyp is the same age as Kathy's daughter, Katlin, who is 12. Kathy told me how Gyp's mother still helps Kathy's daddy round up cattle in a 300 acre pasture. Kathy is a strong Christian, and she and her husband, Rusty, have done ministry on the rodeo circuit.


This is her lovely daughter, Katlin. Katlin has two older brothers, Caleb and Kahan. My daughter babysat for Katlin 12 years ago after she was born. It is hard to imagine she has grown up so much. Take my word for it: she is come kind of cowgirl. Unfortunately, I missed her barrel ride that night. However, her mom, Kathy, told me about her new outfit, and I told her I looked forward to taking a picture of her that evening. They appear later on in these posts.


Next, the cowpunks started warming up for the break away calf roping. In break away, as soon as calf is roped, the rope is let go of.


Riding aside. I fell in love with this little horse. I wanted to take him home. I saw little girls riding him for the goat tying, also later on when a group of little girls were riding bareback in the park.


The bucking stock. Don't ask me about their feet.


Yes, boys ride these creatures, and it isn't pretty. We watched some of the young bull riding on Saturday night, and we saw boys (I think there is an age limit) get trampled. Even the clown got trampled by one particularly mean bull. The younger boys ride calves, but they still get stepped on. They do wear protective vests and helmets, but still.....


You don't see a lot of boys in barrels. Look how his shirt is blown up with the speed of it all.


Here he is, TommyMac. He's a bit of a legend around here. He's a well known roper in these parts. He also puts on this shin dig every year. I told him I was going to take his picture. I wanted to sneek up on him, but he saw me. He acted shy and said, "I hate them things," meaning the camera. I told him I would publish this on my blog and he'd be famous. My husband loves to watch TommyMac ride because he's such a good rider. If ever there were a Texas True Cowboy, it's TommyMac.

This kind of rig is common now. How do they afford it? HOW DO THEY AFFORD IT?!


Widdle bitty pink cow girl boots.


I heard a woman exclaim, "That calf's as big as that horse!"


The announcer's box on the other end of the arena. Yes, the country music was blaring.


Tinky Winky, my Chihuahua, is quite a trooper at these things. As long as she is with me, she is happy. She is not afraid of horses. She lets them know who is boss.


Down on the other end of the arena, by the announcer's box, the young riders are waiting for the break away roping to start.


Apparently this rope boxes can be quite a fashion statement. I also saw one with the girl's name,
Dakota, on it.


A wonderful little ropin' pony.


The rider, a very confident little cowgirl.


Preparing her rope before she postitions her horse.


Daddy helping her get set up.


There goes the hat.


Lovely big grey.

Tommy Mac and the men standing at the chute. Gotta love that cowboy pose.

I enjoy hanging out by the chute.


Nice big buck skin.


This little girl held my chihuahua, Tinky. She said she had a barrel horse, a ropin' horse, but was looking for a pole horse.


Gotta love those polka dot bell boots.


This is the ugly side of rodeo when people mistreat their horses. When this girl first tried to back her horse up into the corner, he reared up. Her mama said, "Take him out and canter him." The girl took him out and beat him with her rope. Woopee, how fun, you go into the corner and you get beaten. This pattern was repeated. When he refused to back into the corner, she took him out and beat him. I wondered if this was how her father treated her and she was passing it forward. No, I could not say anything. I don't think she could have heard me anyway.


His head is up and he's scared.


The horse reared up and came down on the other side of the barrier rope. Do you see how her armed is raised to strike her horse with that rope? Anytime you get into a fight with a horse, you loose.


And up we go. That man standing there managed to calm the horse down. She missed her calf. I noticed when she pulled the horse up that he stopped very abruptly. I wondered how many lessions he had in his mouth, what kind of horrible bit was in there that made him rear up to evade the pain. He was a pretty horse. Poor thing.


I just had to get a picture in of Morgan, the girl starting out of the chute here. I have more pictures, but thought she would be best represented in action. I've watched her grow up from a little girl to a 19 year old young lady.


I found this guy on the road on his back. If he'd been dead, I would have happily taken him home and added him to my specimen collection. However, once turned over, he started wiggling, so I turned him loose on a tree.


Amazing colors on this guy.

This is something I enjoy seeing a lot, small children and their small horses. I saw them as I was leaving, all riding bareback, some doubled up, in another part of the park. What wonderful memories they will have.


This was the last picture I took that morning of a little cowgirl and her Welsh Corgi, Gizmo.

2008 AJRA Rodeo,Evening


That evening, Max went back with me. When I saw this little girl, not only was I impressed by her pink color coordination but especially by her helmet--something you rarely see at a western event. I could tell she was focusing before her ride, practicing and thinking about her ride.

Miss Pink finishing her run and comin' home. "Bring her home, Baby! Bring her home!"


Relaxing before chasin' the cans. I started to write "chasing the cans," but it didn't sound the same. Barrels racers are called can chasers.


I think the award for the loveliest outfit goes to this young lady. She said everyone is always talking about how pretty her horse is, which it is, but I told her she is part of the package. And I added, after all, the outfits are half the fun, to which she agreed. The bell boots on the front had flowers on them. Gotta love it!


Off she goes.


...And putting on the brakes. Don't you just love those colors?


The wee ones warming up before the calf break away.


Here is Katlin, my friend, Kathy's, daughter, with her new outfit on, her own personally designed green outfit. She was very proud of it. I told her she was lovely. I still can't believe she's grown up so much. She is so confident, a common trait of cowgirls. Who wouldn't be living like that?