Wednesday, July 16, 2008

Rodeo Princesses and Wranglers

If you live in a small town with horses, cowboys and rodeo princesses, then you have to go the Fourth of July Rodeo. This beautiful princess is my little neighbor and friend KB. I just love her green pants. How does a rodeo princess smile and wave while staying on her horse like that? She is so pretty. And her horse is pretty too. I was lucky to get this photo because these girls were going sooo fast around the arena.
I just love KB. She is so AMAZING.

Every year we go to the rodeo. It's great to be with the country kin folk and pay tribute to our beloved country by standing, removing our cowboy hats, holding our hands over our hearts as our American flag is taking a turn around the arena. We sang along to the National Anthem and took our seats to watch the cowboys get thrashed by the bucking horses and bully bulls. We whoop and holler and get wild and crazy! Exciting things happen at the rodeo. Sad things happen at the rodeo. There are lots of wranglers and cowboy hats and cowboy boots at the rodeo. There is always a funny clown at the rodeo.


This is Josie and our neighbor friend Puny. She's not too sure of the calf roping. This is the sad part about the rodeo. She comes from a family who enjoys all creatures great and small. Her household has 408,234 animals from all kingdoms. They even have a marsupial.


Just last week the kids were born. Less than an hour old when photos were taken. Baby goats are so cute! BTW, these are not marsupials.

Puny has been a local all her live long life and never goes to the rodeo because the cowboys do cruel things like this. ooohh, so sad! PS: She went tonight cuz we had an extra ticket cuz Clark broke his leg. We begged and pleaded and drug her to the rodeo.


Then the cowboys in their wranglers set him free, sending the poor calf with a love pat.

The Rodeo Queens are getting ready to chase the frightened calf back into the pen, all clear for the next calf in line to be chased, roped and tied up. Someone please explain to me why we all sit up in the bleachers and witness such carnage and call it entertainment!

Our niece Hannah Banana wants to be a Rodeo Princess when she grows up. I wonder if she understands the calf chasing thing?? Doesn't she look pretty in pink?

Jeffrey thinks calf roping is sad too. I might rethink the whole rodeo patriotic experience for next year. All creatures great and small should be treated as equals!

Josie found another friend. hold on while I get her attention. I think their watching a cowboy hold on for dear life while riding a bull. oh hi! Josie didn't want to go to the rodeo this year. She told us that she isn't a rodeo person. It looks like she is turning into a rodeo person. See that smile? KK has a smile for us too! Of course the girls favorite event is the barrel racing. It was getting too dark to get photos of the fast cowgirls, however. Fireworks were the finale.

3 comments:

Grandma and Grandpa Clark said...

Ok you guys, I guess you don't remember the good old days when we didn't have cars etc. A rodeo is a glimpse of the past and hopefully we can remember it as a time when this sort of thing was necessary. It shows the skills needed to round up, brand,dock, etc. To me a rodeo is like having a living history lesson. It took lots of skills and well trained horses for this and also brave pioneers with whom we can be thankful for coming before us to tame the wild wild west. They not only had to catch the cows etc but they had to catch and train the horses they rode. Lots of broken bones doing it. It's a man thing I guess. We women folk stayed home and tended the gardens, gathered the eggs, and maybe milked the cows and churned the butter. I barely remember a bit of it. :)I think it is good for our young people to know of a different time in our countries history. It's history they are seeing instead of reading about. (I will concede however that rodeos today are a bit glamorized wouldn't you say) :) We love you all and thanks for the great post! How is our Clark doing? Hope he enjoyed the movies we sent.

Michele and Todd said...

Jill, reading this post about the girls not liking the calf roping reminded me of Kylee. We went to the rodeo during the fair and she could not stand to watch the calf roping any longer so we got up and left. At least those rodeo tickets were earned not paid for.

Josie said...

my hand looks like it is going to fall off...sad.