I took my donkey ERosie to the last rodeo we went to. The horses all ran up to the fence to check her out and she spooked and ran to me full speed across the field just a hew hawing. Put her head on my shoulder and just 'cried'. She was so smart and loving. I miss her and out horse too.
I'm working on the Rodeo section of our shopping categories at work now. While searching for websites to add to it, I came across a small rodeo in Carney, Michigan, less than twenty miles from my hometown in the UP of Michigan. The Carney Roundup Rodeo is a small venue, and their website doesn't have a lot of information, as they probably don't start posting information until the months coming up on the June rodeo. However, it's nice to see that they do have a rodeo nearby now, since I don't recall anything of the sort while I was growing up in the UP. Approximately the same distance from my hometown in another direction, the Upper Peninsula Championship Rodeo, in Iron Mountain, is the only PRCA sanctioned rodeo in Michigan. That's been running for fifty years now so it started not long after I left Michigan.
First: This is about us attending a few different events of the 2024 National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas. The rodeo started last Thursday evening. It is held at the Thomas-Mack Center, owned by UNLV, where it has been since 1985. The Top 15 in each event, except Breakaway, are there competing for 10 nights and a 14 million dollar total purse. The Ladies Breakaway Finals took place at South Point Hotel/Casino in one of their equestrian arenas and was for two days. The Thomas-Mack doesn't have the room or time to hold the Breakaway Finals. My wife is taking 3 days off of work so we can attend Contestant Autograph Sessions, go to Cowboy Christmas Gift Show at the Las Vegas Convention Center and another Christmas Gift Show at South Point Hotel/Casino. Last Friday, we got up at 6AM, dressed, including our black felt cowboy hats and headed to the Convention Center. Got there at 8AM and had to wait a short while to park. This Gift Show opened at 9AM, so we had some time to get a little breakfast inside. While sitting eating breakfast, we seen a ton of people coming in. First place we headed to was the 2024 National Finals Rodeo Booth for clothes. My wife wanted another ladies button-down collar western shirt, but, apparently they aren't made anymore (button-down collar ones). Another thing we wanted was, for each of us, a nice 2024 National Finals Rodeo coat or jacket. These coats/jackets have a small and large patch on them, front and back, 2024 National Finals Rodeo. She found a great looking one for $379 and I found one for $159. I like hers so much, we are going to take mine back and get one like hers. Later on, we will each have our first name embroidered on the front. While we were walking around, we got plenty of pictures and autographs of contestants that were at different booths. We have watched a lot of them compete at different rodeos thru the year on the Cowboy Channel. By the time we left, 1:45 PM, the place was packed with people. We seen the same thing we did last year, plenty of young adult girls that were either wearing a lot of "glitz/glamor" clothing/jewelry or looking for booths that sold that stuff. Anyone could definitely tell the difference between "big city" folks and ranch/rodeo fans (like us). The next day, Saturday, we headed to the MGM Hotel/Casino for Buffet Breakfast and a Contestant Autograph Session with the Top 15 Tie-Down Ropers. Like the contestants at Cowboy Christmas Gift Show, we knew/watched all of them during the year compete at different rodeos. Again, pictures and autographs. We have two more weekdays, tomorrow and Friday, to check out other things dealing with this major rodeo. This coming Saturday will be the Finals and, if we are lucky, we will watch in a Viewing Room at South Point Hotel/Casino. At that time, we will find out who will be the 2024 World Champions of each event. For us, living 20 miles from the National Finals Rodeo is OUR TIME to visit Las Vegas! Next year, hopefully, we will be in the Reno area and will either have to watch on the Cowboy Channel, drive down or fly down to Vegas for it. Of course, with food and hotel room, driving or flying can be expensive.
Didn't realize rodeos were so dangerous, but now that you mention bulls I can understand why.I went to a couple but didn't stay for the bull riders.