A few weekends ago we went to the 82nd Annual Arcadia Rodeo, which is a PRCA sanctioned event. The cowgirls and cowboys at this event were trying to earn enough points to get to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. This is, without a doubt, the town's biggest event (Arcadia is a quaint, sleepy little town on Florida's west coast). Donnie Gay, 8 time world champion bull rider, was on hand to announce from horseback. It was so weird to hear his voice...used to hearing him announce on tv! The rodeo clown/bullfighter they had was great. He was incredibly funny
and really kept the crowd going. They started off the event with mutton busting. For those of you who are not familiar with this event, go to You-Tube and search it...it's the funniest thing. Basically, they have young children, put helmets on them, place them on the back of a sheep and let the sheep run down the arena. The child who can hang on the longest wins! We're thinking we should enter our 6 year old niece, Amber next year. They also did all the "regular" events including bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc, bullriding, team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing. We had great seats that gave us a perfect view for all the events except for the bull riding. In this arena, the bull chutes are on one of the sides (not at one of the ends like normal) and we were off to the side of them. When the bulls came out of the chutes, most of th
em stayed right there and went into their spins making it difficult to see. We'd never been to this arena before, so we didn't really know what to expect. We've all agreed, next year we'll get the seats that are right over the bull chutes. I have a great appreciation for those that ride horses well. I am quite the novice when it comes to riding, and
I really have to work hard and think about what I'm doing (heels in and down, toes out, back straight, relaxed hands, reins even). I have no ambition to do anything more than be able to trail ride. I've only been as fast as a trot...I would like to get to the canter someday! In any case, I really like watching the barrel racing. At this event they had both the regular division and a junior division. These girls/women were fearless! Some of them really had horses that were acting up. The one reared several times and was refusing to do the pattern. The girl riding was so calm, and didn't give up until the horse gave in and did what she asked. The last event was the bullriding, which is definitely my favorite event (I'm a huge PBR fan...hoping to go to Vegas for the finals one of these years!). When they announced the last rider, Clayton Williams, I was kind of surprised. Clayton had been on the PBR tour just last year. A few years ago he had won the big PBR Challenger tour event in Oklahoma City and won enough money to land a spot in the top level of the PBR tour. I'm not sure what happened that he's no longer on the PBR tour, but was glad to see he is still riding. He sat on the bull chutes for a little while after his ride, and it didn't seem that anyone else realized who he was. I had the perfect opportunity to make my way over for a photograph and autograph, but (1) realized I didn't have a pen or marker on me since I didn't have my purse, and (2) Dave and the rest of my group had already made their way out of the stadium, so I had no one to take a pic of me with Clayton! Guess I should have told them what I was up to! I was able to snap a few good pics of him anyway. Can't wait until next year's event!
A few weekends ago we went to the 82nd Annual Arcadia Rodeo, which is a PRCA sanctioned event. The cowgirls and cowboys at this event were trying to earn enough points to get to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas in December. This is, without a doubt, the town's biggest event (Arcadia is a quaint, sleepy little town on Florida's west coast). Donnie Gay, 8 time world champion bull rider, was on hand to announce from horseback. It was so weird to hear his voice...used to hearing him announce on tv! The rodeo clown/bullfighter they had was great. He was incredibly funny 
and really kept the crowd going. They started off the event with mutton busting. For those of you who are not familiar with this event, go to You-Tube and search it...it's the funniest thing. Basically, they have young children, put helmets on them, place them on the back of a sheep and let the sheep run down the arena. The child who can hang on the longest wins! We're thinking we should enter our 6 year old niece, Amber next year. They also did all the "regular" events including bareback bronc riding, saddle bronc, bullriding, team roping, steer wrestling and barrel racing. We had great seats that gave us a perfect view for all the events except for the bull riding. In this arena, the bull chutes are on one of the sides (not at one of the ends like normal) and we were off to the side of them. When the bulls came out of the chutes, most of th
em stayed right there and went into their spins making it difficult to see. We'd never been to this arena before, so we didn't really know what to expect. We've all agreed, next year we'll get the seats that are right over the bull chutes. I have a great appreciation for those that ride horses well. I am quite the novice when it comes to riding, and
I really have to work hard and think about what I'm doing (heels in and down, toes out, back straight, relaxed hands, reins even). I have no ambition to do anything more than be able to trail ride. I've only been as fast as a trot...I would like to get to the canter someday! In any case, I really like watching the barrel racing. At this event they had both the regular division and a junior division. These girls/women were fearless! Some of them really had horses that were acting up. The one reared several times and was refusing to do the pattern. The girl riding was so calm, and didn't give up until the horse gave in and did what she asked. The last event was the bullriding, which is definitely my favorite event (I'm a huge PBR fan...hoping to go to Vegas for the finals one of these years!). When they announced the last rider, Clayton Williams, I was kind of surprised. Clayton had been on the PBR tour just last year. A few years ago he had won the big PBR Challenger tour event in Oklahoma City and won enough money to land a spot in the top level of the PBR tour. I'm not sure what happened that he's no longer on the PBR tour, but was glad to see he is still riding. He sat on the bull chutes for a little while after his ride, and it didn't seem that anyone else realized who he was. I had the perfect opportunity to make my way over for a photograph and autograph, but (1) realized I didn't have a pen or marker on me since I didn't have my purse, and (2) Dave and the rest of my group had already made their way out of the stadium, so I had no one to take a pic of me with Clayton! Guess I should have told them what I was up to! I was able to snap a few good pics of him anyway. Can't wait until next year's event!
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