RODEO AT THE FAIR

Sunday afternoon we had fun at the fair. No volunteering or work that day just plain fun! It was a beautiful day outside and we decided to enjoy it by watching the J Bar W Ranch's Battle of the Beast. It was basically an afternoon of bull riding and barrel racing with a little additional fun in the form of Bull Hockey and Ram Busting.

I have a few pictures here to share with you. The first is one of the gals in the barrel riding competition. There were 6 or 7 competing for the fasted time riding their horse in a clover leaf pattern around three barrels. These were some tight turns they had to make on their horses. I think the winner ran the course in 13.75 seconds. You can see here the horse really hugging the barrel as he went around it. They are allowed to bump the barrel, but can not knock it over. Also they must go around the barrels in the correct direction for it to count.

Next are a few of the cowboys riding the bulls. They needed to stay on the bull for 8 seconds to score any points and also they are holding on with one hand. The other hand must remain free and cannot touch anything in those 8 seconds. All this while the bull is letting them know they are not very happy about having someone on their back. There was one bull however who didn't seem to care one way or the other. His rider stayed on for 8 secs with no problems whatsoever, but it was not a good thing. Since the bull was so calm the rider did not score many points. Rider is scored based on his ride and bull is scored based on his bucking and causing the rider problems.

So those were the professional competitions. You may ask what Bull Hockey is???? I could just say it is not something you would ever find me wanting to play!!!!! Basically barrels are put up at the two ends of the arena. These are the goals. There are two teams of two players each. These teams are competing against each other and score points by getting the puck through the goal line between the barrels. The catch is the puck is a bull. The players are on foot and need to entice the bull to go though their respective goals. Things got pretty interesting at times and there was a fair amount of climbing of fences when the players themselves were chased by the bull.

Now this last event that I have pictures of is something I might consider doing. Unfortunately it is for children only. Ram busting is sort of like bronco busting except as the name says the kids are riding a ram rather than a horse. It was a really cute event. The kids had to stay on the back of the ram for 4 seconds I think it was. The ram just troted around, but because of its wool I think it is a pretty slippery ride and several of the kids just slid right off as soon as the ram began to move. A few however hung on for dear life seemingly having the time of their life. This little boy was only three years old and is the son of one of the rodeo cowboys. Evidently this event is considered to be the first training event for future cowboys. It looked like even at three he already had had a lot of practice. The other kids who rode were just ordinary kids. The tended to lie down across the length of the rams back and with their arms tightly wrapped around it's neck. To cute! They also had helmets on for safety.

Well tomorrow I will have some more fair pictures to show you. It really is a fun week.