Cold at the Rodeo

Because the sun had come out and the 50 mph winds had died down, Denny and I decided to attend the Cody Rodeo.  Held nightly, the rodeo starts at 8 PM and runs about an hour and a half.  After the brief opening ceremony of a prayer and the National Anthem and a little sketch by the rodeo clowns, they got right down to it with the bronc riding, followed by some barrel racing, bull riding, calf roping and a little fun with the audience involving some young men and a dancing competition and a "get the flag off the calves" chase with a large group of children under 12 that had us all laughing.

Although this isn't a huge rodeo like the Stampede that is held here in July, there were enough competitors to make it interesting, both at the adult and junior level and since it was all new to Denny and I it was fun.  At least until the sun went behind the mountains and the wind kicked up again.  The wind threw off the cowboys doing the calf roping and it just downright chilled us to the bone.  The smart people who had been here before brought heavy winter jackets and blankets--us, not so smart with a windbreaker for Denny and a hoodie for me.  Yep, we were cold. So the rodeo ended none too soon for us but it was a lot of good clean and occasionally hokey fun. Located just a couple of miles from the center of Cody, we'd come back the next time we hit town, but we'd come back a little better prepared.  After all, as they mentioned during the beginning statements of the rodeo, just the Saturday before it snowed during the performance.  

To set the scene for my video clip; barrel racing is the sport of circling a series of barrels on a horse as a timed event.  The trick is to get your horse to circle the barrel as close as you can, then racing to the next barrel, circling it and then to the third barrel, after which you race for the finish line.  This clip is of the "littlest" barrel racer of the evening, followed by a clip of the young but fierce competitor who won.