Rodeo

We went to watch a Rodeo yesterday morning. It was brilliant. We had called in on the saturday to find out what was going on as there were loads of horses and we could see people watching something from the stands. It was called a high school Rodeo. It wasn't actually linked to any school but people between the ages of 14 and 18 come from all the 9 districts in California to compete. According to the nice lady we bombarded with a million questions they do splitting, the barrels, the poles, bare back riding, break-away, bull riding and much more all on the saturday and then they get to do it all again on the sunday. So we went to take a look. We saw the poles where horse and rider have to weave between poles as quick as they can (something we would do in gymkhana). Break-away which was where the girls have to lasoo a calf whilst on the run and then stop the horse as soon as possible so the lasoo breaks away. I think the boys have to get off and wrestle the calf showing how strong they are - a typical boy thing :) Then we saw the boys riding the bulls. Again, this was apparently not one for the girls. I have to say, we weren't sure how good it would be as the competitors are presumably considered quite young. But the bulls certainly looked frisky enough to me throwing their riders off and stamping on them if at all possible. It suddenly occured to me to consider where bull riding came from? The rest of what they were doing has obviously come from working on horse back. However, did a group of lads come home one night drunk and think hey, lets tie up the testicles of a bull to really pee him off and see just how long we can stay on board for. Certainly another way for boys to prove 'mine is bigger than yours' :) One day I would like to try some of what I saw.