Cody Stampede Rodeo

We went to a rodeo in Cody, Wyoming.  It is a ton of fun...wish they had them in Massachusetts.

Hard to tell, in this shot, but that huge flag is hanging off the ladder of a fire truck.  Now, from what we saw of the town, I have no idea why they own a ladder truck, cause the buildings were not as tall as say...Shelburne Falls. 

 Above is bareback bronc riding...with the idea being to stay on the horse.  Some did this better than others.  Style counted in their overall score.  Can anyone tell me why the horse bucks around like that, though?  Is it trained that way or what? 

 This gal was pretty amazing!  The front two horses are paired with each other, as are the back, but there is nothing but the reins attaching the pairs to each other.  I could no more balance and drive those horses like that...wow~

There were a couple different calf roping events.  This one they did by themselves, and their was a team roping, as well. The man that sat next to me came over from Manchester, England just to follow the pro rodeo circuit.  He was very knowledgeable and gave us alot of information about scoring and technique.  He was a cowboy wanna-be. for sure!

Either this is a sexist sport, where the guys do the rough stuff and the girls only compete in barrel racing...or the girls are just smart enough not to jump on crazy bucking broncs and bulls.  Fun to watch barrel racing, as I have tried a little of that, at much slower speeds.  

 There was bull riding and saddled bronc riding, too. Look closely at the guy below...no, you can't really see his head, those ARE his legs up in the air.  YIKES!

The rodeo clown and his sweet little pony were a laugh a minute, too!