After enjoying the scenic ride from Yellowstone NP to Cody, we settled into the Ponderosa Campground at the north end of town on Saturday. The staff was very helpful and provided us with a list of activities going on. We noticed right away that while the regular summer season tourist rodeos were over, tonight was the last night for the Collegiate Rodeo that had competitors from colleges all over Wyoming, Montana and Canada. So after a quick setup and dinner, we headed to the rodeo grounds just down the road a piece.
The Cody rodeo is a special place for me, as it was the first rodeo I saw, as perhaps an eight or nine year old, and then flashing forward, it was the first rodeo that our daughters Heather and Katie saw. Now another 24 years later and we are back for another night of high drama and fun. Despite the usual high winds it turned out to be a lot of fun. I would have been very disappointed if it would have been otherwise.
These college men and women were not in this for money but for the competition. There was the full range of events, but certainly the bareback bronco rides and the bull riding proved to be the most exciting. Digital cameras are an amazing invention that let some of us lose control at times. I took over four hundred pictures and have only reduced that amount to just less than three hundred so far, but I am still trying to decide which others need to go in the interest of space.
Certainly, the most dramatic event of the evening was when a young lad got tangled up in a tag line while being tossed from a bull and was dragged around the ring several times while all sorts of people tried to end the drama. Finally, he was cut loose from the bull and amazingly did not suffer any severe injuries. If any of several near tragic steps or kicks from the bull had gone wrong, it would have been serious indeed.
After enjoying the events for over three hours, they announced that they were going to finish the evening with a final round of bull riding. Anneke decided that she could not watch that again for fear this time, things could go really wrong.
7 comments:
Wow! You sure got some great pics of the rodeo action!!
What a great evening you had! I wish I could have seen that competition! :)
Absolutly one of my favorite places as a Child. I am glad you enjoyed your time there! - Don't squat with spurs on! ;)
Great write up on the rodeo and the pics were awesome. Good action shots. We've never been to a rodeo yet, but it is something we would like to see at least once. The one there in Cody looked like a good one.
What fabulous photos! I don't think I could ever capture such action with my little camera! We saw high school rodeo campions somewhere (perhaps eastern WY) along our travels(at a Fairgrounds rv area we stayed at) a couple months ago and it was so interesting to us ~ originally being from New England!
Stayed a night in Cody back in May of 92 one time on our way from Yellowstone to the Custer Monument battlefield. Can't say we are rodeo people. Just not happy about the whole animal treatment thing when it comes to rodeos.
Great shots of some wild action! Although I've been to a couple of rodeos, I'm always scared that something bad will happen to either the riders or the animals.
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