Saturday night at the rodeo

I have lived in Texas for 24 years now and last night I experienced something that will lead me even closer to being Truly Texan: I went to my first rodeo! (See the side panel for pictures of the event.)

Bryon works in several small towns around the city where we live. One of these towns has a rodeo each year. Bryon helped sponsor the rodeo this year so we got tickets for whole family. The boys even entered an event, but I will get to that in a minute...

The rodeo we went to was relatively small so we were able to get choice seats. The first event was bronc riding. I had no idea what to expect, so my jaw dropped as I watched a man riding bare backed on a very angry horse, body flailing, for 8 seconds. Then, two other men riding very quickly on horses flanked the angry animal and the rider tried to jump onto another galloping horse to get off of the angry bronc. Wow...

About an hour and a half into the rodeo, the boys got to ride bare backed on sheep through the arena. This is known affectionately in the cowboy community as "mutton bustin'". This has been about all we have talked about for weeks. The boys couldn't wait to get their chance!

Finally it was time. Matthew was third in line. I watched as the first two children got onto the sheep and rode for a few seconds and fell into the mud. This was an outdoor arena and it had rained the past few days so it was very very muddy! Then, the announcer came on and announced "Matthew Barnhill!!!" The shoot opened and out came Matthew like greased lightening! He held on for dear life about 3/4 of the way around the arena. Over 6 seconds! People were screaming for him! (You know he LOVED that!)

Matthew ended up placing third among the 27 other children. Sadly, Thomas was so tired by the time it was his turn (almost 10 o'clock) that he decided that he should wait until next year! On the way back from the shoot, a bull rider came up to Matthew and told him that he was a real cowboy. So sweet.

Matthew was very disappointed that he only placed third. I told him that children in this little town don't have libraries, museums, and zoos to go to for entertainment. When they want something to do, they go outside and ride sheep. This gives them a distinct advantage over "city boys". For whatever reason, this explanation made him feel much better! I told him that there was always next year. He looked at me and said rather confidently, "Next year, I am not riding a sheep, I am riding a horse!" We'll see about that, little cowboy!!