It's the ropes and the reins and the joy and the pain...and they call the thing rodeo....

So, (almost) every time we get home from one of our many adventures, Salt says he thinks that was his favorite. We are both having the time of our lives and so appreciative that we have the opportunity to do so.

Last night was the long awaited Silver Spurs Rodeo (the 122nd). We started our evening at the Rodeo Diner which was just a short distance from the arena grounds.

I should warn you right now, about 90% of the pictures are blurry. All of the events in a rodeo are based on time and speed! It was almost impossible to get clear photos. The few that I did get I finally figured I had to lead the camera like leading a shotgun.....

Here was the MC...with of course a million jokes.

The started the show with the introduction of the 2009 Rodeo Queen and her court and then brought in several of the state rodeo queens. Their costumes were beautiful!

This was a cute act.....These were all very young children; one as young as 4 years old. They square danced on their horses. The MC would call out the moves and the kids and horses did an amazing job!

Now this was really a blur because these kids were having a ball. About half way through the program, they called all the children over 6 and under 10 down to the arena. After they were all lined up they released 5 calves with pink ribbons on their tails. The kids had to catch the calf and get the ribbon off and take it to the judges. They won tee shirts and cash prizes. It was SO funny!

I told Salt I had no doubt that if Emma had been there she would have had one of those ribbons!! Just her kind of thing!

Bareback bucking bronco riding.....when you see these guys being thrown around sure makes 8 seconds seem like a VERY long time!!

This is the event where the cowboy has to rope the calf, jump off the horse and tie it down.

and here he is going back to his horse......this is all accomplished in seconds!!

This HAD to be one of the best acts of the evening. This little clown was dressed like his dad and mimicked everything he did. The kid couldn't have been more than 2 if he was that old. At the end of the skit, the father drops his hat on the ground (upside down) so the kid does the same. Dad says, "lets put our hats back on"......Dad does a head stand with his head in the hat and the little guy puts his head in his hat and does a somersault. Both of them ending up with the hats on their heads.....funny!!

Here is a guy being thrown from a saddle bronc....boy they take some nasty spills!!

I would think this was one of the toughest rope acts. It's a team effort....one guy lassos the head and the other one has to get his rope around both the back feet. Talk about timing!!!

And here is the only semi-clear picture I could get of the bull riders. These bulls are ugly...One guy guy couldn't get his hand out of the rope and that bull took him in a circle just swinging him. We were all holding our breath. When he was rescued he went over to the fence and just held on and laid his head down....I would bet he was praying...giving thanks!!