VRHrider: Bring on the Bull Riders!

Trish & I went to Stock Show Saturday night. First thing she spotted was her honey, Ross Coleman. Ross is a PBR bull rider and makes Trish weak in the knees! He IS pretty cute, isn't he? So, we decided that our mission was to find ourselves some cowboys! Preferably not ones made of pixels.

Well, I found something. A cowboy? Nope...I found a horse. This is Star. I almost bought her. "Almost" meaning that I was practically writing the check. However, I have two good horses, and that money could mean the difference in Ranger's care right now, so it wasn't fair to buy her. Still, she was a really nice filly. Maybe next year. Then again, as Trish said, I only have one butt--and two horses. Do I really need three??? (The correct answer is "yes")

This morning, Margaret got up at 4:15am and Trish got up at 4:30a. I got up at 5:30a because I am lazy and don't really care about my make-up...but I did make coffee and breakfast burritos for the girls, so that I could feed them at 6:15 when they arrived. We planned to be at Stock Show by 6:30am for the 7:00a start of Versatility Ranch Horse cutting, since last year I got there at 8:30 and missed the whole darn thing. Not this year! Nope, not me!

So we got there at o-god-thirty, before the break of dawn, and guess what? THEY WERE DOING RANCH TRAIL!!!!!!!!!! AAAAAACCCCCCKKKKKK! We got up at WHAT TIME??? to be there in time for cutting?????? Where the @#$%@ are the @#$^%&ing COWS????

Still, we got to see Cody Crow on his nice mare....

And we all fell in love with this grey stallion, Pistol. Margaret wants to breed Lexi to him. I'm going to steal the foal when she does!

So, while it's fascinating to watch horses trot over poles and drag logs around, we also found time to visit. We spotted Gerrie Barnes and hung out with her.

Gerrie insisted on taking this photo. We were pre-coffee. Can you tell? That's Karen from the barn with us. She was smart and slept in till 7am.

There was an hour break between trail and cutting, so we went to find food. We found Wylie Peterson, a PBR cowboy, instead. Wylie is a hottie, and boy can he ride a bull!

The guy at the BBQ place, Gustavo, wanted some hugs too! So, I'm making him a star of the blog!

Cutting started promptly at 11a, or 12n, or sometime around then. Certainly not at 7am AS ADVERTISED!!!!! Causing us to be up at an ungodly hour...not that we are upset....or sleep-deprived....

I'm including this blurry photo because this stud looks so much like Beau that it's uncanny.

Holly Major is blurry because she and the cow are moving so fast. Look at the banners--they are in focus! Her horse is a good cutting horse. I think she came in 2nd or 3rd.

Wow, now that's a cut! Go, Holly, Go!

Pistol, our handsome stallion, cut and penned his cow perfectly. He won the class!

Then came the PBR finals. 35 cowboys in two phases, with the top 15 in the short go. Again, these photos might look blurry, but that's how fast the bulls are moving. This cowboy got dumped, and the bullfighter is already moving in to distract the bull--see the cowboy's teal chaps to the left of the bull? He's on the ground.

They've just pulled the gate for this bullrider. He's just a blur--wow, imagine the power!

Cute little Brian Cantor, my hottie, is lashing down his riding hand with the bull rope.

Buck, baby, buck!

Once in a while you come up with a fantastic photo--look at his chaps--they are just a blur! Everything is moving except his hat! Might have to blow this up and frame it.

The six hitch team came in during intermission. Check out the bald-faced horse in the back, on the left. He was laughing!

Back to bull riding--this kid thought it was pretty scary and noisy!

Then it was Wylie's turn.

One, two...

three....you're off! He almost got his oil checked by that bull! Thank God for the bull fighters!

Then it was Kody Lostroh's turn. Kody is a Colorado cowboy and a hometown favourite.

Ride 'em cowboy! and he did, ultimately winning the Championship! 259.5 points--great job, Kody!

Flint Rassmussen is everyone's favourite bullfighter. He's been doing this 25 years. He's the best of the best...even when he is dancing like Michael Jackson!

Oh, boy, is that bull bucking hard or what!

This is one of the scariest times in bull-riding. The cowboy is hung up in the bull rope--can you see him off the bull's right side--he's the green thing that looks like a rag doll. The bull fighter is trying to get the bull rope and the flank strap off so that the bull will stop bucking and spinning. Cowboys can get shoulders dislocated and arms broken with spiral fractures at the best, and broken necks or killed at the worst. They got him off quickly, and he was fine.

How's that for balance?

Ooops, no score...and once again the bull fighter saves the cowboy. That was one nasty bull--check out how he's trying to hook the bull fighter.

This is the one that almost got away. The safety riders rope the bulls that don't go straight for the exit gate. Bulls can jump the fences up into the bleachers easily, and often do. They're already mad, and a bunch of screaming, panicking people only pisses them off more.