Yee-haw! Rodeo Time!

Last Saturday we went out to the Greeley Stampede to see a rodeo! Whitney was not too enthused about seeing a rodeo, but she's now glad we went!

Greeley is named after Horace Greeley, the 1800s newspaper editor who advised "Go west, young man". It's the next town east of Fort Collins, about 30 minutes away. We drove out there with two other summer interns from AMD, arriving a few events into the rodeo. The arena was outdoors, but had a cover over the horseshoe-shaped grandstand, keeping us out of the sun and cool on a near-100 degree day.

We missed various types of bronco riding, but still got to see some great events. We saw a few of the calf-roping cowboys, and then it was time for the rodeo clown's intermission special. A clown drove out into the arena with a "police officer" with him, claiming they were looking for an escaped convict dressed as an American Indian. Because they were chasing an Indian, the clown claimed he was a "cowboy". After driving around for a few minutes, their car broke down and a "construction worker" walked out onto the arena floor. Suddenly, an "Indian" jumped out of the trunk of the car, all four characters lined up, and the first strains of YMCA boomed out of the speakers. The entire crowd, including me, groaned that they didn't see the Village People reference coming, before standing up to join the Y-M-C-A-ing!

The second half of the rodeo led off with team roping, where one cowboy lassos a steer around the neck, and his teammate lassos the steers back feet, all in about 5 seconds. Pretty impressive skills.

The next event was my favorite: "Mutton busting" This event was the kids' event. 10 6-7 year old boys and girls, equipped in hockey helmets and flak jackets, took turns climbing onto the back of an upset sheep, who then ran the kid around the arena. If they could stay on for 6 seconds, they received a score. Only 2 or 3 of the kids stayed on for the required time, but they all had a great time. Here's a picture of the eventual winner:

(Click the pictures for a larger view)

After the mutton busting, the rodeo continued with the women's event of barrel racing, where horseriders navigate their horses around 3 large barrels before racing back to the start:

The rodeo wrapped up, as most rodeos do, with some bull riding. Always a fun event to watch, since there's nothing like an angry bull to create some action. Only about 4 of the riders stayed on for the full 8 seconds, but it was still fun to watch.

As a bonus event, they rolled out some very large ramps, and 3 dirt bike riders took turns soaring above the arena, climbing over their handlebars, spinning the bike sideways and back, and completing a backflip, all while 50 feet above the arena floor. Neat way to wrap up the rodeo!

Did Whitney have fun? Looks like it (especially after a super-large rodeo lemonade!)