CowboySam: Day 1
Day 1
Apr 21 2009 at 08:26am
DSRA provided very nice accommodations for the rodeo. The hotel shuttle would take you to and from the Rodeo grounds and Sidetracks. We spent a little too much time at Sidetracks on Friday night getting reacquainted with friends. There were only 68 contestants registered but the first event started at 9:00am sharp. It was a quick night.
Calf Roping on Foot went about as expected. If a damned 55 gallon barrel or a roping dummy would run out of the chutes I could catch the darned thing. Oh well, my donation to the few that caught. Steer Deco was the next event. I was the head and Dade was the tail. It was his first time. As luck would have it the stock was rather rough. The steer took out of the chute hollerin and jumpin like an Drag Queen that just broke a nail. Then it started slobbering. There was steer slime flung everywhere. Poor Dade had to try and grab the tail as I was being drug through dirt and steer slime. Yee Haw!!! He finally got the ribbon on started toward the timer. I grabbed the ring on the rope and saw the ribbon go flying off the gyrating ass of the beast. I had visions of drunken nights at Charlies. Needless to say, it was over. Strike one up to experience. I spent the next half an hour gasping for breath. It’s not that I’m in bad shape. I spend 45 minutes a day on an elliptical machine. That beast was, well, nasty! Since there were so few contestants the next riding events went fairly quickly and there was a long break until Grand Entry, Pole Bending and then my next three events in a row: Chute Dogging, Goat Dressing, Wild Drag.
Did I mention the stock was rather rough. That was cool though. I like a challenge. I had the perfect steer in Chute Dogging. It ran, I heard the whistle, I planted and somehow I went one way and the damned thing went another. I was left lying on my back staring at the judge. Oh well.
J.W. and I planned our strategy for goats. Apparently it worked. We had a good time, although the sound system sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher. You couldn’t understand a word Tamara the announcer said. But dang she has a soothing voice. Anyhow, we ended up in 4th. Yee Haw!!!
On to Wild Drag… Dusty, Dade and I plotted our strategy. Dusty has been doing Wild Drag since the beginning and was an incredible find. She’s a lot like my teammate Nora in Fort Worth. We figured out all the steers headed straight from the chute to the exit, which was just to the right of the chutes. When the chute gate opened I ran up, took the rope from Dusty and she guided the steer to the center of the arena. We let it run to the line and then the damned thing started bucking. Poor Dade didn’t have a chance. We’d get it calmed down, Dade would start to hop on, it would buck. Dade would go flying. After 45 seconds everyone was exhausted, except the damned steer. I reluctantly let go of the rope and secretly prayed that McDonalds would have some new meat shortly.
Well, I got my ribbon, so not a bad day, I guess… All that’s left is beer and searching for available cowboys. The beer was refreshing, and I don’t kiss and tell. Tomorrow is but another day…
Calf Roping on Foot went about as expected. If a damned 55 gallon barrel or a roping dummy would run out of the chutes I could catch the darned thing. Oh well, my donation to the few that caught. Steer Deco was the next event. I was the head and Dade was the tail. It was his first time. As luck would have it the stock was rather rough. The steer took out of the chute hollerin and jumpin like an Drag Queen that just broke a nail. Then it started slobbering. There was steer slime flung everywhere. Poor Dade had to try and grab the tail as I was being drug through dirt and steer slime. Yee Haw!!! He finally got the ribbon on started toward the timer. I grabbed the ring on the rope and saw the ribbon go flying off the gyrating ass of the beast. I had visions of drunken nights at Charlies. Needless to say, it was over. Strike one up to experience. I spent the next half an hour gasping for breath. It’s not that I’m in bad shape. I spend 45 minutes a day on an elliptical machine. That beast was, well, nasty! Since there were so few contestants the next riding events went fairly quickly and there was a long break until Grand Entry, Pole Bending and then my next three events in a row: Chute Dogging, Goat Dressing, Wild Drag.
Did I mention the stock was rather rough. That was cool though. I like a challenge. I had the perfect steer in Chute Dogging. It ran, I heard the whistle, I planted and somehow I went one way and the damned thing went another. I was left lying on my back staring at the judge. Oh well.
J.W. and I planned our strategy for goats. Apparently it worked. We had a good time, although the sound system sounded like Charlie Brown’s teacher. You couldn’t understand a word Tamara the announcer said. But dang she has a soothing voice. Anyhow, we ended up in 4th. Yee Haw!!!
On to Wild Drag… Dusty, Dade and I plotted our strategy. Dusty has been doing Wild Drag since the beginning and was an incredible find. She’s a lot like my teammate Nora in Fort Worth. We figured out all the steers headed straight from the chute to the exit, which was just to the right of the chutes. When the chute gate opened I ran up, took the rope from Dusty and she guided the steer to the center of the arena. We let it run to the line and then the damned thing started bucking. Poor Dade didn’t have a chance. We’d get it calmed down, Dade would start to hop on, it would buck. Dade would go flying. After 45 seconds everyone was exhausted, except the damned steer. I reluctantly let go of the rope and secretly prayed that McDonalds would have some new meat shortly.
Well, I got my ribbon, so not a bad day, I guess… All that’s left is beer and searching for available cowboys. The beer was refreshing, and I don’t kiss and tell. Tomorrow is but another day…
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