Sierra Stampede

Pics are up. http://www.flickr.com/photos/70104978@N00/sets/72157619330988649/
(I didn't take all that many. The far side of the arena was too far for my camera, and the horses tended to be moving too fast. I'll eventually get more instinctual about the shutter speed on the camera, but I need to practice more. It was a good field test and I ruthlessly scrapped about 2/3 of what I took.)

My first rodeo was a lot of fun. (Well, truth be told, I have yet to spend time with kproche  and bovil  and have it not be fun). Met some great, friendly people, watched the competitions by enthusiastic amateur (in the best sense of the word) rodeo folk and their horses and savored a Maui Wowie blackberry smoothie and a couple of hot dogs (which no doubt seemed like the best hot dogs I'd ever tasted because it had been a long time since breakfast by the time I got them).  It was nice to see the two riders from Saddle Pals parade in the opening ceremonies. The barn I used to work at hosted a handicapped riding group and I know how much those kids loved the saddle time they got and how good it was for them.

We went back into town to our respective hotels (across the street from each other), showered up and had dinner at a place called the California Cafe in the mall next door. I had a yummy arugula and bleu cheese soup. The three of us split an Asian fusion version of fried calamari with a sweet, hot sauce. My beef stroganoff was tangy and too filling to finish. (K had some sort of pasta and A went for a barbecue chicken pizza.)  We caught a cab downtown for the rodeo dance, which was held in the parking lot of a local realtor's office. They'd fenced it off, put down a dance floor, brought in a DJ and a couple of bar tenders. Great venue, the sound system wasn't too loud, and the dance floor was always full. I don't know any line dances, I've never learned to two-step, but K led me out for a waltz to something very country and brisk enough to get a couple of discreet spins in, despite the full floor. (Damn, I hadn't realized how much I miss dancing. Do I dare try going back to Friday Night Social Awkwardness On My Own Dime again?)

If you think animals are dumb, think again. A couple of the young steers quickly figured out that the best way not to get wrestled to the ground was to not come out of the chute if at all possible.  One of the goats used for the goat dressing relay decided that passive resistance was the way to go and kept lying down. One of the bulls managed to climb over the chute gate and get into the arena on Saturday evening out of sheer cussedness.

There were plenty of novice competitors out there. There were also a few horses running barrels and pole bending that were clearly out in the arena just to get some experience. Saturday I saw this pretty buckskin pinto go through the barrel course very slowly, making huge turns because she was staring at the barrels the entire time: turns out she'd been trained English and was still pretty new to rodeo games. Her trip Sunday was still "looky" but significantly improved.  The spectators cheered everyone enthusiastically.
 
Andy spent most of both days standing along the rail snapping photos with the long lens. I mostly sat with Kevin and watched the events or chatted with him other folks we were sitting with. (L-R, Kevin, Silver - who rode bulls for the first time this weekend - and I didn't get the third man's name.)