Rodeo Photos; If You Don't Like Rodeos - Don't Look!

[Tia]

So we went off to the rodeo yesterday. Perfect day for it, lovely and warm but not too overly humid or stifling. Had a great time and daughter and hubby managed to get some shots.

First was the bareback bronc riding - wow these horses are totally amazing! You should have seen the bucks that some of them do. Most of these horses have been on the circuit for many many years and are seasoned broncs. They are quite something to watch though, they stand totally quietly in the chutes and the minute they hear the click of the gate opening they start!! The rider has to stay on for 8 seconds; interestingly the moment the buzzer goes, the older horses just sort of stop bucking and canter around waiting for the catch-rider to come up and release the flank strap. Some of the younger ones were just bucking their little hearts out and even ages after the flank strap and rider were off them, they still trotted around giving bucks out to the catch-riders. I wouldn't want to take any of my horses into there as catch-horses.....

We wandered off down to see these horses afterwards - you would never think they were anything special at all. They are all really friendly and sweet things.

Then came the bull riding - now these guys are TOTALLY crazy! Sorry but they really are! These bulls are not something to be messed with and the bunch they had yesterday were pretty mean bulls and the poor little clown had to have helpers to try to keep them away from the fallen rider. One poor lad was mauled and broke his pelvis - he was sent away to hospital. The bull who went after him is the big black bull with the big horns.

And then there was the saddle bronc riding:

 

[JaneMBE]

Some great photos Tia

The coloured bronc has got an almighty twist in it's bronc!

 

[LeneHorse]

Yeehah! One of the friends I hack out with rides western - he'll love these. His horse did a massive spook today and i think the western saddle saved him. These guys acrobatics are something else though! The pic of the coloured is fab.

 

[PaintboxEDT]

yeh great pics,god them blokes have some balls

 

[Rachel_M]

Braver men than I. :S

 

[Forget_Me_Not]

I think Dermot would of been perfect - God did he have a very twizzed powerful buck - Luckly I have had to sit it...

I like to kid myself and think I'd be good at rodeo. A horse is yet to get me off, Mainly because I take one look at the floor and stay on for sheer fright of falling off. At the Army ball I went to other weekend they had a bronco ball, despite being in a dress, I didn't come off (It only stopped when I was about to bring up that vodka)

So I bet the fit army lads

 

[__Annie__]

I haven't been to a rodeo so don't know if I like them or not so here I am !!!

These are technically very good photo's and on a 'girlie' note I love the bright colours and may I say the rather macho riders tickle my fancy

and OMGOMG the horse in the forth photo down(big chestnut with a star)at the spitting image of my mare even down to the mahoosive chest, although she is mostly much better behaved

Good piccies

 

[severnmiles]

Cowboys....swoooooon

There is just something about cowboys and men in pink hunting jackets!

Brave men!

 

[Starbucks]

Cool pics, I've always wanted to go to a Rodeo, hopefully i'll go some time.

They are crazy guys!!! I love that 8 seconds film, he's so hot!!

 

[Nic]

Nutters the lot of them!!!

Fab pics Tia.

 

[Tia]

QR -

Well there were at least 3 or 4 pretty dishy looking cowboys there! Afterwards, I guess it was sooo hot that they had to take off their shirts!!

BEAUTIFUL bronzed and muscled bodies!! I dribbled for a moment and then remembered my age!

We got some nice piccies of the steer wrestling and the calf roping - ALL very well done, everyone competing had horses who absolutely knew their job perfectly so no accidents to the little calves. If the calves skipped through the lasso or ran off, they all let them go and did not constantly chase them around. Again the steer wrestling was perfect - the guys did the drops so professionally that it really puts these two-bit back-street rodeos to shame!

Afterwards they turn all the animals; bulls, sheep and horses (not the little calves though) out in the arena for the night together and you can go around and pet them from the other side of the barriers. Amazing - but they are all pretty friendly animals once they have finished their 8 seconds of work in the day. No bulls or horses are run more than once in any day, so they don't really have to do a lot of work.

 

[Tharg]

Looks like you had a ball!.

Are there many women in the sport?.

 

[Tia]

Most of the barrel racers are women. There was a couple of bronc riders who were women *whispers* sorry but they were totally rubbish and fell off almost immediately!. I can't see that women would be particularly good at bronc riding to be honest; probably something to do with the weight ratio of our bodies. These horses can buck, buck, buck! The twists and turn they can do would put our little neddies pathetic "jumps" to shame LOL!!

 

[meandmyself]

Looks very cool and it's really nice to see a well run rodeo!

That little paint horse is a cracker!

 

[Rachel_M]

When I was younger I wanted barrel race, not as easy as it looks either. When I had a go a couple of years back I just about managed a slow lope around the barrels, LOL.

 

[__Annie__]

[ QUOTE ]
QR -

Well there were at least 3 or 4 pretty dishy looking cowboys there! Afterwards, I guess it was sooo hot that they had to take off their shirts!!

BEAUTIFUL bronzed and muscled bodies!! I dribbled for a moment and then remembered my age!

[ QUOTE ]


Stop it, it's hot enough with the weather without bringing semi naked cowboys into the equation

If I ever holiday in Canada I'll PM you for details of these well run rodeos but I'll have to persuede my OH to stay at home so I can oggle

 

[Tia]

Well you know, when I got home I was inspired to get our barrels out - that's what I was doing with Jet when hubby came out and took the photos. He isn't the best at barrel racing as he is a cutting cattle horse; locking onto a barrel isn't quite the same as cattle, but we had a good time anyway.

 

[dieseldog]

I used to love watching Rodei=os on Sky (when I had it) and it always seem to be on in the states when I am out there. I also really wanted to Barrell Race and used to spend hours galloping round bales of silage left out in the fields - but I was on a games pony to start with.

 

[Tia]

It probably would be a good idea to leave the OH at home......mine is not the jealous sort in the slightest.....but he did make comment about the amount of men who were looking at me, LOL!! Might have been because I was wearing a denim micro-skort and a teeny top though LOL!! Oh and I had blow dried my hair so it looked about 4ft long

. I still went home with him though - must have felt sorry for him

.

 

[Tia]

Ah now little games ponies are usually fantastic at it! Megan took Cloud last year to the barrel racing at our fair in town and they did great as Cloud is so dinky compared to the huge QH's and Appys that the other kids have.

 

[JadeWisc]

Great action shots Tia!

That is so funny as I was about to get my barrels out two days ago so that Cajla could give it a shot with Chester until I realised Merrill had been using them for recycling

They were full of Miller light cans and mouse crap so I just left them for a bit

Maybe next week

 

[soph21]

the horse in the 4th pic is HUGE!!!! those bulls are scary, i like watching that on the internet, where was that held?? in the UK?

 

[Foxford]

Tia, I take it the horses at the top were QHs? I used to ride my instructors QH stallion, but he didn't look like you typical QH! He just looked like a TB with a big bum!!!

I'd love a proper one though, there's something about a horse with a bit of muscle on it!!

 

[k9h]

How cruel are you

So makes me want to go to the Calgary Stampede!!
You can't beat a profesional run rodeo!!

I want to be a Buckle Bunny!!!!!!

Thanks for sharing amazing pics!

 

[Tia]

QR -

Yeah I thought they were pretty good photos too - I can't take any credit for them though LOL!!

Anakin - there is a HUGE difference between UK Quarter Horses and North American QH's - no idea why, I guess the bloodlines are quite different, but over here our working stock are seriously stocky little blighters. I had 3 UK QH's on my yard in the UK and they looked absolutely nothing like the ones I have over here. It's almost like something is going seriously wrong with the breeding of them in the UK?

If you ever do decide to buy one, PM me and I'll give you the bloodlines that I think you will like - however to be truthful if I was you, I'd forget about the UK ones and import one from over here.

 

[teapot]

Fantastic pics!

Can't decide whether the guys who do it are utter nutters or deserve an award LOL

Quick query regarding the bull riding - do many people get hurt?

 

[Tia]

Teapot I think the horse bronc riders are pretty brave; the bull riders are absolutely crackers in my opinion!! Those bulls are like 2000lbs at least and you wouldn't want one of them coming crashing down on you!

I don't know what the statistics are but at the rodeo yesterday I guess there were about mature 15 bulls and about 10 young bulls and only 1 person was injured, mind you a lot of that is down to the clowns and catch-riders I would think. One of the bulls smashed into the barriers after he had got his rider off; he was just going crazy and trying to butt everyone anywhere near him! Brave as I am, I had already figured out my escape route if he were to break through!

 

[teapot]

[ QUOTE ]
Brave as I am, I had already figured out my escape route if he were to break through!

[/ QUOTE ]

that's just sensible

1 out 15 I suppose isn't that bad! Even so, I'll just look at the pretty photos

 

[kevH]

Hi Tia,
Thes are really great pics. Which rodeo was it? I think I may have been there last year with some people from the UK.

 

[Tia]

Oh cool! Which rodeo did you go to?