Tough luck at the rodeo

In my last entry, I used the collective term "cowboys" to refer to all the performers at the rodeo. In fact, women do have a limited role in the rodeo. I have seen a few competing in the team roping event, where all you have to do is ride a horse and throw a lasso accurately. (It's tougher than it sounds.)

The other event is the barrel racing. Imagine a cloverleaf, with a barrel stationed at the tips of each leaf. The barrel racer rides a speeding horse up the stem of the leaf, then veers right, loops around the right barrel, crosses over, loops around the left barrel and then loops the top barrel. Then, a sprint to the finish line, down the stem. In this photo, the racer is looping the left barrel--the top barrel is behind her horse.



It's a speed event, often decided by hundredths of a second. If the horse loops too far around the barrel, the rider loses a lot of time. But if the rider cuts too close inside and the horse's body knocks the barrel over, she gets a 5-second penalty, effectively knocking her out of chance for any prize money.

I saw something for the first time this year--a rider's horse hit the barrel and it was going to fall, but she alertly saw that and steadied it with her hand as she went past. The barrel didn't fall, and she had a good time.

That worked out all right for her. But sometimes luck just isn't riding with the cowboys (and girls). For instance, this bronc rider had a good ride until his horse decided it was time to unload his burden. This hurts just to look at it ...


And if you've ever had a bad day at the office (who hasn't?), just think about these two poor guys I'm about the show you.

The first one is a steer wrestler. If you don't know: In steer werestling, the steer emerges from a chute between two mounted cowboys, who chase after him. One is a "hazer" who rides his horse along the steer to keep it running straight. The other one is the bulldogger, who jumps off his horse onto the neck of the steer, brings him to a stop and then uses his strength to turn him onto his side. A good steer wrestler can do this in about 6 seconds. I've seen one do it in less than 4.

Well, this guy was leaning far out from his horse but not close enough to his steer. He is already beyond the point of no return ...

It doesn't look good ...

Now it looks worse ...

... and sure enough, the hazer and steer run on past while the cowboy eats the dust of the arena floor ...

As the announcer is prone to tell the audience in such cases, "Give him a hand! That's all that cowboy's taking home."

The other little drama played out right in front of me during the calf roping. Here's the skinny on calf-roping: The calf emerges from a chute, the mounted cowboy follows, catches up, lassos the calf and brings him to a halt. Then the cowboy gets off his horse, runs over, throw the calf onto its side and ties up its legs. (The kind of thing cowboys routinely do on the ranch in order to brand calves.)

But that's not what happened here. First, the cowboy didn't lasso the calf until he was more than halfway up the length of the arena. (Happily, they wound up right in front of me.) Things look fairly normal here--the cowboy is running up to the calf ...

But then the calf flopped down on its side. That's not good ...

The cowboy closes in with his rope. Note that the rope is taut behind him--his horse is trained to back up slowly to keep it that way ...

Next, the calf rolls towards the cowboy--not away from him, as hoped ...

And as the cowboy grapples to get a grip, the calf is getting its legs under it ...

... and starts rising ...

... and suddenly it's calf-riding, not calf-roping, that's taking place, much to the amusement of all the spectators ...

I have a heart. I ran the last picture in this week's paper, but I didn't include the cowboy's name. He's probably been embarrassed enough.

***

More excitement in the next two days. I'm heading off to Ironwood to cover the U.P. Firefighters Tournament. Our local departments have been doing very well in this competition in recent years, and our county will host the 2007 U.P. event.

They have a dress parade Thursday evening; a shirttail parade late Thursday night (which is as wild an event as you will ever see in the U.P.); and then the firemen's races all day Friday. There are five races (one kept secret until the final minute) that involve skills the firefighters do on the job.

It's going to be hot--close to 90 on Friday--and there will be plenty of action for the camera to focus on. So I've got a question: Do you ladies want me to try to get a few shots of firemen's butts?

(Rhetorical question, I know.)