At the end of April, Tinky Winky and I made our annual pilgramage to the AJRA rodeo here in our county. I love watching young people rodeo, and our local park is such a nice place to go. I hear it's their favorite venue.

Widdle cowpunk waiting to go in

This is Meagan, the daughter of cowboy roper well known local, Tommy-Mac B. This is her proud grandpa, George,who is the retired president of our bank. George's daughter is Meagan's mother.

Hanging out on the other end of the arena, watching the cowpunks, I don't doubt.

A young champion.

She said, "But this isn't my doggy." That's ok because you are so cute together.

I think some of the older boys must have ridden these guys. Ugh. Too dangerous.

This young man had a proud Daddy. He also had a string of horses! This is his barrel horse. His daddy liked it that I took a photo of him. The nice thing about digital, is the instant result. Anytime any child posed, I showed him the picture. You know, these kids have got so much self confidence.

I think he must have used this little horse for goat tying, too, and he was practing here.

Coming home.

Here's Thane, a local EMS person. He also goes to my little church. He's a wonderful young man. His hero father is one of the local volunteer fire fighters.

I can always count on seeing my friend, Kathy, managing the can chasing. You can see my pictures of her daughter in my last year's photos of this rodeo.

Smile for the camera, Kathy. I just love that gal.

I have a friend in England who always enjoys seeing pictures of Tommy-Mac B., who lives in our county. Years ago, Tommy Mac was my farrier too. He's got a young family, and despite his young age, I consider him a Texas True. His oldest daughter, Meagan, can ride the hide off a gorilla. His youngest son is now roping. Merry, in England, these photos are for you!

He's always a steady fixture at these rodeos. His children are much involved.

Tommy Mac making sure his son's hat is right.

Off the little guy goes with Daddy's send off.

These kids learn to focus before their rides. Miss Pretty in Pink.

Practicing. The hat has already fallen off.

I always enjoy looking at the cowgirl bling.

Bling.

I have no idea what this stood for.

What a wonderful little vehicle.The next time I saw here, she was fast asleep.

Can you believe it? What a lovely little pony. But for those of us familiar with ponies, approach with caution. A little boy came along and asked the owner about a ride, and she said something to the affect of, "Do you really want to get bucked off?" Some people have a different spelling for Shetland.

So here's the brave one who doesn't worry about getting bucked off. The pony has met his match.

Exercise time. Good for his soul.

Backside.

Cowgirl bling.

Helping the calves a long. This young man is also a bull rider. I don't like bull riding, except maybe on the tv, and even then it's hard to watch. I had a farrier who was once a bronc rider. He's kinda held together in pieces now.

Beautiful rope boxes. Surely a young cowgirls. Cowgirls do get to put on the bling.

When I first arrived, this was the first horse I met. His name is Wrangler. I figured from his build that he was a stud, and he was. His owner, a rancher, told me he was only 5 years old. He was so quiet. The owner said he'd always been like that. He'd been used in some ranch horse competitions and of course, roping. God, Wrangler was a beautiful hunk of horsecake. I fell in love instantly. Of course, this is a young people's rodeo, so the man's grand son would be riding him.

Here they are getting ready to do break away. Five years old. This stud is five years old with an 8 or 9 year old child on his back. There are pissy mares around, and he's not taking notice. This is what good horse management can produce--a good work ethic in a horse. But then the owner said, "He's always been like this." Yes, but this rancher has managed this horse well.

Fixing the string and the dally. Grandpa is so proud of his horse and his grand son. Who can balme him?

He's practicing his swing. God, I love this horse. I can't quit saying that. I have a weakness for good looking horses. This stud is wonderful!

In he goes.

You can't see it here, but this horse had beautiful butts. They shown like an Akal Teke's. I think he missed his calf. Remember: this is break away roping, so the string breaks as soon as the calf hits the end of the rope.

Here is the same father from earlier with his son on his roping horse. I fell in love with this little horse. Uh, no brainer here. See the Ay-rab blood? Looks like a little Egyptian Arabian.

Daddy standing by with a steady hand.

And he's off! I don't think he got his calf.

Wee folk practicing his swing.

This was an awesome dude on an awesome buckskin or line back dun, depending on what you want to call it.

Tinky was anxious to see me again, but I had more thing I wanted to photograph.

I saw 3 little girls playing a game of riding aorund the trees, as if they were practicing their barrels. I thought, how cute! How fun! What good memeories they will have. I had a feeling that the little black horse had some Arabian in it because of the way it moved.

One last photo of round the tree.