Well, we had waited all year for this! Last year, we had to leave before this infamous rodeo, even a bull flies all the way from Hawaii to compete, there was even a Japanese television show recording it. If you remember, Ben fell and smashed his sweet little face on a wooden table damaging his front tooth and we had to head home because we needed to get to the dentist before he went off on his own vacation.
Anyway, it is funny how you have a plan, think it will be one way and it just ends up to be not what you thought! Scott had been baling all day on an extremely bumpy field, he came home hungry & tired which, in turn, made him rather grouchy. Understandable. The kids were already tired from a hard day of play outside, they probably should have had showers but instead we had time to only wipe the dirt off their faces. Both Katie and Hunter were very clingy to Scott as we had not seen him much during this hay season.
You know when you just want to eat, or relax, or whatever and there is a little person essentially petting you, love bumping their head against you, sticking their finger in your ear, laying their head down into your lap, pinching and poking for your attention, all that? Yes, that was dinner at the restaurant. But after we all ate, we were all feeling much better and headed to the parade.
The parade was great. Katie brought a little satchel my mom had made her last year to collect things in so she could collect candy and all the things she was planning to win at the fair. After the parade, we headed over to the carnival where the rodeo was taking place.
OK..since when did the games at a darn carnival get so expensive! To throw three darts at the balloons cost $5!!!!!!!!!!! That is not even a buck a dart. What a rip off! So we spent $5 at the dart game, left with a bear for Ben. Spent another $5 at the fishing game where Hunter won a plastic trumpet which is already broken. We wasted $10 at this total rip off basketball game and lost another $10 at the break a bottle game. So, then the guy at that game felt bad for Katie so he gave her a little platypus. That thing cost us $10!! So you do the math....and that all happened in about 15 minutes!
The rodeo started with the bucking broncos. That is something crazy to watch happen right in front of you! I have somewhat become a cowboy history buff.
The first organized rodeo was in 1869 and took place in CO. When the cowboys would have a day off, they would get together with other cowboys from different ranches to compete to see who was the better cowboy. They did pretty much exactly what they do now. That is what too much testosterone and free time will get you!
I find this bit of history actually quite fascinating. The old western movies have somewhat created this false image of what a cowboy looked and acted like. In all actuality, they did not carry two six shooters on each hip. In general, a cowboy did not carry a gun at all and if he did, it was really only used to put a steer out of its misery. Even carrying a rifle was rare because of how you had to carry it caused bad sores on the horse where it rested.
Cowboys did run into trouble with Indians & individual land owners, but not exactly like it has been represented. This mostly was during the cattle drives. During the late 1800's, Texas longhorns were only selling for about a nickle in Texas but if you could get them North, you could get as much as $40 so many ranchers hired cowboys to take their steer north. Oklahoma was Indian Territory and crossing that state sometimes caused trouble, but mostly the Indians charged the cowboys to pass and they did so without trouble. A cowboy was actually more likely to die by either getting struck by lightening or to be trampled in a stampede than anything else. Apparently, if you were tramped in a stampede, there was really nothing left to even bury.
For whatever reason, the long horn steer the cowboys drove North were skittish. A bolt of lightening, the hoot of an owl, even just the strike of a match could freak them out so much a stampede would begin. Each night the cowboys would circle and circle the herd until they were in a tight circle and would lay down to sleep. Then the 1-2 cowboys would circle the herd all night, singing to them, whistling or softly talking to them to keep them calm. A sound of a human voice was soothing to them. If a stampede would somehow get started, all the sleeping cowboys would jump up, get on their horses, and ride with the stampede.
Now, imagine how dark the open range would be and they just rode blind. And fast! Sometimes they would even have to fire three shots right next to the leaders ear to get them to stop.
Once things all settled down, the day would begin like it always did. Bright and early with pancakes, biscuits and bacon and strong black coffee. The herd, although all mixed together during the night, would find their regular traveling place and follow in line, usually the same bull steers leading with the females and calves to follow. The same slow ones always in the rear. That is where the bandana comes in handy. Being at the back of the line was a dusty place to be. It was not unusual for those men to have an inch of dust on them by the end of the day.
During the season before the cattle would go to slaughter, they were out on the open range, grazing. Some stuck together, some traveled miles away, some alone. When the time came, several ranchers got together and organized the “round up”. The cowboys would create about a 20 mile circle, sort of like a web, and bring in the cattle. They had horses they used in the morning, ones they used in the afternoon, and even another that was best at night. It has been said that a ranchers would never actually directly fire a cowboy, but rather take his best and favorite horse away indicating that “your time is done here”.
Although a cowboy rarely owned his own horse, it usually belonged to the ranchers, he almost always owned his own saddle. Some days were long and a comfortable and well made saddle was essential. When a cowboy sold his saddle, it meant he was done, the days of him being a cowboy were over. Thus the phrase, “Don't sell your saddle.”
Another essential “tool” of a cowboy was his hat. Did you know you could tell where a cowboy was from based on what his hat looked like. Hunter was just saying he did not like the brim of his new hat because it was too wide and not shaped like the traditional cowboy hat that you picture. I told him it was a desert cowboy hat and that was why he needed the wide brim tp protect his face from the sun. And that was true! Hats were used to keep the sun out, the rain off your face, wave over a reluctant fire-there were all kinds of uses.
The winter of 1886-87 was the worst ever remembered in human history. This winter changed the entire course of cattle ranching. That year is known as “The Big Die Out” because so many cattle froze and starved to death. The ranchers/cowboys were unable to round up their cattle before the winter storms hit and it was that way for the rest of the winter season. The cattle starved to death and froze. It was a great loss and things were forever changed after that.
Ranchers started to realize that they would need to have a plan B when winter came. That plan was to farm the prairie and grow feed for the cattle to be prepared for when the ground froze again. And fence in the cattle. The year following that particular winter was the beginning of the end for what was known as the “open range”. Ranchers started to fence in their cattle as well as the many people who moved west to farm the land for 5 years until the government signed it over to them to own it personally. And so it began...”this land is my land”.
So, sadly enough, cowboys became fence menders & farm workers, staying more stationary than ever before. And then the life of a cowboy just kind of faded away and ceased to exist all together. Those years of roaming the open range and living the life of a cowboy really all only happened within about 30 years.
The rodeo brought all that back to life though. Of course, this time....with cotton candy. There was excitement as the men held on for dear life as they were bucked of horses and bulls. The women came out and barrel raced, wow, to see that horse gallop that last stretch in the arena was a glimpse of what a wild horse must have looked like so long ago, running through the open range, neck outstretched, mane extended out from speed.
Ben cried and screamed as these couple of dare devils came in and did some jumps on their dirt bikes. I mean really screamed. Really, the kids could hardly watch! He buried his face into me and cried and screamed and cried. I smiled at the cowboys sitting around us and shrugged.
Katie began to look a little green-started shifting in her seat as though something was coming up. Suddenly she turns to me, says she is not feeling well and going to throw up. UP and OUT we go, running to the bathroom, her hand over her mouth, lucky enough to reach an open stall and then the puking came. But she made it and she felt much better after!
We waited a year for this evening at the rodeo and it WAS worth it!
The moon rose over an open field and its light shone down on the dirt road back up to the cabin. It had been a long and exciting day. The rodeo.
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