Ride 'em cowboy!

I have mixed feelings about rodeos. Of course there is a sports medicine trailer right outside the ring and the announcer assures us that the animals are safe, all precautions are taken and there are vets on hand in case of a mishap. But it is hard to watch a cute little calf chased down, roped and tied. I always feel better when they cut them free and the little cuties saunter out of the ring with their heads held high. Seems like it's always a win for them. The bull and bronc riding seems a little more fair. The animals are clearly the winners in many instances and it's the cowboys in these events who seem a bit worse for wear. The barrel racing is exciting and the horses look like they are having the time of their lives, the trick riders are a beautiful marriage of horse and rider and the pageantry, the clowns and the verbal acuity of the announcers are most entertaining. Rodeos seem at least a little more animal friendly than a circus and are way less disturbing than the bull fight I saw years ago in Cancun. Now that I think about it, I think I like them better than a zoo. At least the horses, bulls and even the little calves have an opportunity to get one over on the humans.

Having said that, watching a rodeo is also like a living scrapbook to me. It seems that at least some of these guys are actually working cowboys doing what cowboys have done for ages. I am a bit of a sucker for tradition.

                                                             They have matching faces! 

                                              This looks like a Norman Rockwell to me.

I am surprised I got these, the best of the 100 or so I took. Rodeo's move fast and my shutter doesn't!At any rate, some of you will hate these photos and some of you will love them. I'm going to be plumbing the depths of my soul for awhile yet to decide how I really feel about these spectacles. But I did have a lot of fun. That may have had something to do with the fact that I was with the husband and our granddaughter! The granddaughter used my camera for a bit and got some good shots herself.  The next two are hers.

 I never get tired of taking photos of our beautiful hills and mountains. After 28 years of living here, seeing these everyday, I am still in awe. This rodeo was also a reminder to me that Trails End Ranch is right here in the midst of what was once real cowboy country.

 

It is very late, I should be long asleep. Hopefully I am now tired enough to some shut eye, as the cowboys might say. Here's what I'm thinking; that I'm going to try to cultivate a constant state of wonder, never being too sure about what's right and what's wrong, but keeping my eyes and my heart open while life sorts itself out.