Wild West Yellowstone Rodeo

Thursday night saw us heading out to the local rodeo. The closer we got, the harder the wind blew and the rain poured. But we were determined and sat out in the exposed cheap seats, huddling together and wearing rain ponchos for warmth. Joss had a meltdown and we thought we might have to go early, but it turned out he was just hungry and a bag of popcorn set him to rights again.

It began with the bucking broncos. The kids loved the rodeo because they'd never seen one, but Rob liked it because it felt authentic: these were young kids on the rodeo circuit, some of them still teenagers and one of them had his first certified ride that night.

Then came one man roping

Then the calf-tail races. Naomi and Sebastian were in the eight-and-under category. I don't know if either of them got anywhere close to the calf, but all participants got a gold dollar, and they were pretty satisfied with that!

So were Maddie, Sophie and Will here. Their calf gave all the kids a good run for their money.

Then there was barrel racing, two man roping and bull riding. I was rooting for the kids who wore helmets and mouth guards when they rode. I think their mothers and dentists would be so proud!

The rider in back here was a woman who ran the show. She was a hazer in the roughstock events, she participated in the barrel racing and the two-man roping. She was incredible.

But it was getting cold and the littlest kids were shivering. I told John I thought we should go as soon as the last two bulls in the bucking chute had gone. I told the kids that we were leaving after two more bulls and they were so disappointed. Thankfully those two bulls were the end of the show!

Once we got off the main road, we were flagged down by one of the barrel racers on her horse. She was riding back to her truck when something (she thought it was a bear or a wolf) spooked her horse and she wanted us to shine our headlights out to scare it off. Rob gallantly offered to ride alongside her until she reached the truck. Our girls were so starstruck.

Thankfully we had warm huckleberry pie and huckleberry ice cream waiting for us back at the cabin

and the kids held their own rodeo.