Barrel Racing and Southern Stars

I played harder than I worked this weekend. Now that Monday is here I buckled down to clean tack and start loading the trailer with items we won't need until the family trip. We are leaving Thursday morning!

One of the things I did this past weekend was attend a small rodeo. It was fun to watch the 4-H kids and rodeo queens come galloping in during the grand entry.

There weren't a lot of competitors in the events and despite a mid-summer drizzle that made us think it was October, we definitely enjoyed the show and cheered them all on. One highlight was a saddle bronc that completely went down on it's side with his rider, only to jump right back up and keep bucking, with his rider still aboard! The bull riding was not what you see on T.V. I have a new found respect for bull riders. Staying on a bull for 8 seconds must be a lot harder than those at the NFR or at the Calgary Stampede make it look! I think only one rider made it 8 seconds, the rest barely made it past a twisted buck or two.

Goodness, I loved the barrel racing! I could have watched that all night. Of course, I thought of our blogger friends over at Brown Eyed Cowgirls and Around the Funny Farm! The first horse to run, a big white, stumbled badly around the first barrel. I was worried he could have injured himself (Pony Girl, worry? Shocking!) I really enjoyed watching the horses that had those tight turns down around the barrels, it made all the difference. You'll get a chuckle out of this but we are doing a play day at our family horse camping trip next week and the barrel pattern is one of them. So, I set up muck buckets as barrels in the arena last week and trotted My Boy through the pattern. I will not be loping him. It was fun though, My Boy has a good turn and I posted a long trying to keep my head up and my eyes on the where I was going to the next barrel (okay all you real racers, yep, you can chuckle harder now!)

After the rodeo, we took a reminiscent stroll through the 4-H horse barns, replaying our days of showing at fair. Then I saw this! It appears the in thing these days is to paint and glitter and bling-bling up your horses and ponies. This horse seemed to be a bit embarrassed and hiding in the shadows of his stall. He was a black horse, painted with white stripes to look like a zebra- or wait, or was he a white horse and painted with black stripes?

The weekend got busier as we attended a concert featuring two country western stars. The clouds opened up and we even got a little late afternoon sun. Can you tell who this guy is? Hee hee. I know, I know, he's far away. It is Darryl Worley. Great performer.

What about this one, do you know who this cutie is? She actually is quite humble and charming on stage and can sing, too. I love anyone that can sing southern and twangy.

This shot is for my cowboy readers. Oh wait- I don't think I have any cowboy readers?!

Okay, so it's time to get out the Leather New and get back to work! And miles to go before I sleep..... I hope ya'll had fabulous weekends, whatever you were doing!