Rodeos

Wow. 4H Hair Grounds. Whodathunkit?

 

Yep, guys remember barrel racers because the girl racers wear their jeans tighter than in other events.

 

@John Brunner Was your mama the head hairdresser?

 

Well, since I'm ALWAYS wrong to you, Al, Denise and others on this topic and others, perhaps it is time for me to butt-out of this forum. It has been "somewhat" of a nice run for me since 2015, but.

One thing, and it's in the PRCA rule book, a contestant can't compete in any rodeo that is not PRCA sanctioned. A few World Champions, like Bobby Motes, along with Trevor Brazile, started ERA (Elite Rodeo Athletes). PRCA told all who participated, "you can't rodeo for PRCA, if you rodeo for another organization/association. So, ERA shut down.

As far as "small rodeos" go, very few are in America today. Even the rodeos I was in in So. California, like Lake Forest, San Juan Capistrano, Jurupa, San Bernadino, the crowds were big. Stands were full.

Anyway, good luck on this topic and others that are done.

I mean, Faye, you go back entirely too far in years with rodeo. Rodeo isn't the same today, like it or not. If you had the Cowboy Channel, you'd find this out, but since you don't.

 

I found out when I was just a lad that barrel racing can be hazardous to one’s health until one finds out that barrel racing isn’t when one gets in a barrel and is pushed down a hill.
Watching the ladies race around barrels on horseback is a much better thing to spend one’s youth doing.

 

Well, Bobby, there is boy barrel racing and girl barrel racing. Boys barrel racers become adult rodeo clowns (bullfighters) in baggy suspender-supported short pants with high white socks and tenny runners and girls grow into womanhood riding horses at high speeds around barrels in tight jeans and heeled boots. Both are necessary to keep rodeo alive.

 

Alas, another calling unanswered and to think my stint inside a barrel was probably a prophesy unheeded.

 

No one said it wasn't in the rule book. The PRCA is full of rules for every occasion. That is how they became a monopoly and shut down any competition. This is also the reason all the yearly county and other annual small rodeos here have become PRCA sanctioned. Lookup Haines Stampede. You can't get much smaller than that. The thing is just because a small rodeo is PRCA sanctioned doesn't mean nonmembers and amateur locals can't compete. They just can't win PRCA titles. They can win any prize that a small rodeo offers just not PRCA awards or standing unless you are a member. When one applies for PRCA membership, they have to win at least $1000 before full membership is granted. They win that money at these small annual fair rodeos.

From the PRCA rulebook: An applicant desiring to become a PRCA Contestant Card member must first become a Permit Member and fill a permit by earning at least $1,000 at PRCA-sanctioned rodeos in an unlimited number of PRCA rodeo years. Upon meeting this requirement, a Permit Member must apply to become a Contestant Card Member. No membership will be issued to anyone under the age of 18, unless the age of majority in the state of which he is a citizen is greater than 18, in which case, the membership or permit will not be issued until the applicant reaches the age of majority in that state. Permit applicants are required to submit a completed, notarized application to the PRCA National Office. An ap-plication without a U.S. Social Security or Tax Identification Number, or declaration of country of citizenship, will not be processed.

There are many small rodeos in America today. Just because you don't see them on the Cowboy channel doesn't mean they don't exist. I live within a 3-hour drive of 20 small annual rodeos and all are now PRCA sanctioned so any hometown person wanting to go pro has that opportunity. I have been to all of them over the years.

I go back entirely too far hahaha! Of course, I do, I am 71 silly boy. I love the history of rodeo and hate that some want to erase it. Without respect for its history, one cannot appreciate what it has become today. Of course, it has evolved and is now controlled by big money, the PRCA which forbids any competition. The free enterprise is gone. I would like to see at least four pro rodeo organizations. I hate monopolies.

I have had the Cowboy Channel since it came out. I don't spend my life transfixed on every detail every moment or care to remember the names of any but a few stars. That is what you love and I don't put you down for it, just remind you that your interest is very narrow and shortsighted when compared to the big picture of rodeo and not shared by many. I am sure someone out there shares your ideas and concepts of rodeo and western life and I hope you can find a place where rocking chair competition with boasting of glory days and knowing the latest stats and competitors is welcome. Perhaps you should start a blog or talk with PRCA about hosting a forum.

 

Also, I think you are being a little harsh with members of this forum. You ask questions trying to discredit others' opinions and experiences. Let's review some public comments you have received from other forums with knowledgeable rodeo and ranch folks. I am posting only in hopes you will give some serious thoughts on how you come off to others on public forums.

This was your original question: "So, we were just wondering if there are any serious (like us) rodeo fans in northern Colorado?" After almost ten days with no responses to your specific question, I think the answer is "no". At least, as has been stated, not on this forum.

Anybody else appreciate the irony in a rodeo fan continuing to beat a dead horse ?

On second thought, maybe you are on the wrong forum.

I rode in 100's of rodeos. I have pictures, scars, and belt buckles to proof it. Oh, I also have a saddle I won team roping. I don't recall ever hearing or noticing my name being announced. I was too focused on what I was about to do to pay attention to the announcer. I only recall one time noticing the noise from the crowd. I was an 18 year old kid riding at a college rodeo in Bozeman Montana. I was the first gunner up. Reg Kessler and started telling me that his rodeos started on time. If you were never cussed by Reg Kessler, you have never been truly cussed at. I just looked at him and said have the judges here. He stormed off to cuss at them. The grand entry left out a gate right in front of me. When the last horse's butt cleared the gate I nodded my head. I am sure the announcer hadn't mentioned me yet. The old field house was packed to the rafters. The crowd erupted. The noise startled me so much that I fell off a horse I should have rode every day and twice on Sunday. I learned that the crowd and the announcer mean nothing. Rodeo is about winning. And you had better focus if you plan on winning. I have traveled, eaten with, played cards with, and drank beer with world champions and guys in the hall of fame. Sat beside a hall of fame cowboy at the cow sale regularly up until his passing. I don't list off their names because that is not who I am and not who they are or were. I didn't meet them in an autograph line at Cowboy Christmas. I met them behind the chutes, at their house, my house, and just down the road.

While I have never had a judges card or cared to, there have been several occasions in my life where a judge couldn’t get to a rodeo and the assn asked me to judge a rodeo with full support from the contestants. I think that should tell you all you need to know about my integrity.
If we are going to drop names in the team roping world of yesteryear, the instructors who schooled me, be it Mike Beers, Dee Pickett, Rusty Wright, Bob McLellan or Ricky Green all told my partners and classmates that if I hadn’t already had a family and a ranch that I would be a top contender in the sport. Fortunately for my marriage, I grew out of wanting to be a rodeo cowboy at 40 years of age. After having not picked up a rope or much less roped in an arena for 17 years I was asked to heel for a fine young header at a jackpot two years ago. We won against some good competition.
So, as many have tried to allude to you here, just because we don’t puff up like peacocks and strut for attention doesn’t mean that many of us have been there and done that.

 

Well, Faye, I'm 72 and my wife will soon be 74. Yes, we watch the Cowboy Channel a whole lot. When we were in Vegas, we met Justin and Jamie, who are commentators on the Channel. We do watch every detail in both Timed Events and RoughStock. In doing that, we know who does the best and draws the best stock. We are now keeping a very close eye on Sid and Jamie Steiner's son, Rocker (bareback) and daughter Steely (barrels). Rocker is a rookie, but last night, scored 84 points at the NWSSR. Rocker wants to work on getting Resistol Rookie of the Year and go to the NFR this year. We also follow, very closely, the Wright brothers (roughstock riders), as well as Cory Solomon, Chad Mayfield and John Douch. We've been watching Lisa Lockhart for a long time.

We now have back our membership with the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. Except for the 11 1/2 years we lived in both North Carolina northeastern Florida, we buy the yearly membership to it. We both wish we had never left Colorado in Oct 2007, because we missed so many that got inducted into the Hall of Fame, including Charmayne James. Except for 2020, when the Hall didn't have an Induction, due to the virus, we went each year when we lived here before and went last year.

And, to let you know, I do have a rodeo "thing". It's a Group on Facebook. Have only had it for a couple of weeks, but I give a lot of information in the Group.

So, yes, wife and I do have somewhat of a different (today) prospective of rodeo and the only rodeo association we follow is PRCA. That's why I talk about it so much, plus, having been a member in it for some years. And, as a little "side note", I've figured out how to take pictures, from the tv (Cowboy Channel) with my iPhone12. I take video as well. Had to get a iPhone camera app, called Moment, to capture fast-action photos of rodeo on tv. And, Moment works very, very good.

 

First, be sure to read my Post #298.

Anyway, I don't, and neither does my wife, think I was rude to anyone. One thing my wife said to me, "do these people know that you had a membership with PRCA in Team Roping? Do they know you bought your Permit in 1987, when you were 38? Do they know how many rodeos you took me to in the first three months we were together? Multiple rodeos. And, then, after we moved to Colorado, we darn near went to every rodeo on the Front Range, from Pueblo to Greeley. Do they know how much I've learned from both you and going to rodeos, about rodeo? Yes, we've met World Champions and can name them. Like yourself, Honey, I love to say who we've met. We have an entire large binder full of signed (autographed) rodeo contestants, rodeo queens and World Champions, going all the way back to 2000. So, I really wish they wouldn't treat you like you know nothing. Just how many members here have rodeo pictures on their walls of MRA, State Queens, Hall of Fame Inductees, World Champions...........and us standing by all of them."