Mommy, Mommy, I want to be a cowboy whan I get big!

No ya don't. 

My friend Wayne owns the Double M Western Store and holds a rodeo on Friday nights.  (Fri & Sat got to be too much)    Last Friday after the National Anthem and Johnny Cash did Raggety Old Flag, two cowboys on each side of Wayne reached over his horse's head to shake hands; his horse bucked.  Never did calm down, bucked him pretty good.  He got hit right in the nether regions with the roping saddle horn.  Oy.  He claimed to be OK, the rodeo went on but the next day I saw him walking with his grandmother's old walker and smiling about it.

On a ranch, you get stepped on, cows accidently but when a horse does it, you know why.  You get squeezed between animals, pushed up against rails all the while trying to help them.  It's hard work and Wayne's a tough guy.  Two days later when he said to his wife "We gotta go see someone.." she knew it was serious.

Local Urgent Care is right next to their property, it's 3/4 mile drive.  They rushed him to Albany Med.  Everything from his navel down is black, blue and green.  Tender berries are swollen 3X.  Concerns about internal bleeding.

I watched my neighbor try to squeeze past a cow in a chute. The cow was big enough that it's stomach was rubbing both sides of the chute so there was only room for one of them,  which would be the 2000 pound cow. He got rolled like a sausage between the cow and the fence until the cow had forced her way past. Did several complete revolutions and he was pretty beat up afterwards.  Busted ribs and other serious damage.

This is why I prefer motorcycles to horses. Only one brain involved. Sometimes less.

I imagine that if you were to plot sports on a danger-to-fun ratio spectrum, the only thing between rodeo and the bad end of the scale would be bullriding, and other horseysports would be close behind.

Also, what Woody said^

Nobody makes as much money in 8 seconds as a cowboy...

That said, my uncle was a saddle bronc rider and he has a permanent limp.

I was a farm kid, still help dad when he needs it.  400+ acres of cattle and hay production.

I showed cattle from 3rd grade until I graduated high school, and we were around our share of crazies, Jackpot shows can get silly competitive, and the money folks will sink into show animals and accessories can make auto racing look cheap.  They don't hold a candle to horse and rodeo people though.  Jeebus!

We had 2 horses on the farm, they were the definition of "hay burners," I never enjoyed riding, and only had a horse because my sister got one.  I got way more use out of the ATVs on the farm that I ever did any of the horses.  I never got bucked from an ATV that it wasn't my own fault, and the ATV doesn't eat anything when it's not in use.

I've had plenty of cattle related injures though, just not from attempting to ride them, well not many from attempting to ride them.

Cody Night Rodeo.  Cody, Wyoming.  

Thats all I got. 

Our son’s in laws live on Long Island.  They think Montauk is the edge of civilization and Lake George is wilderness.  We went to the rodeo....

One bull rider was taken out, toes down between two guys.   He wasn’t allowed to enter again as he really should consider bowling as a hobby.  Kid’s MIL was devastated, how do they allow this to happen?

WTF?  You climb onto an animal that weighs like a ‘48 Buick, its pissed off with a rope around his nuts and he doesn’t want you aboard.  Oh yeah, he’s got two daggers on the hood.

Fishing is stupid..  This?  I get it and can see just fine from the bleechers with a Heiney.

Datsun310Guy said:

Cody Night Rodeo.  Cody, Wyoming.  

Thats all I got. 

Been to that. Pretty cool

Went to the Houston Livestock show a bunch when I lived there. My co worker is a finance/business guy who grew up west of ft worth on a farm and he's a cowboy/texan to his core. I've learned interesting stuff going to lunch with him. 

I managed to get through 12 years of working with horses with only one fractured bone, some disc injuries, and some permanent soft tissue damage.

I had some serious close calls, but I was lucky. Some horsemen I knew died in wrecks.

And that was just harness racing, although sitting directly behind it in a sulky definitely puts you in a vulnerable position, especially with your legs spread wide in the stirrups of the sulky.

Take a look at my photo in my avatar, and think about what it would be like if that horse started kicking. I've had one send both hind feet over my shoulders at the same time.

Rodeo? No way. Rodeo is beyond crazy.

You think harness racing is nuts?

Watch the chuckwagon races, absolute bedlam. Makes a NASCAR crash look organised.

ShawnG said:

You think harness racing is nuts?

Watch the chuckwagon races, absolute bedlam. Makes a NASCAR crash look organised.

My whole point was that harness racing was relatively tame by comparison.I have seen chuckwagon racing. 

Like I said, rodeo is beyond crazy.

Sorry, I misread that.

You were driving? Hat's off to you, you're a braver man than I am!

I always thought it would be fun to do. Once. If I survived, awesome story. If I didn't, awesome story. 

And THEN what? 
This is going to be a ringing endorsement of our national healthcare system, right ?

Used to be, poor people had horses, and wealthy people owned cars.

Now, poor people have cars, and wealthy people own horses.

The stables have turned.

This is a good reminder I should probably stick to growing plants vs livestock.

Oh, and horses freak me out.

When are people going to start listening to Waylon and Willie? Be a doctor and lawyer, and such.

My uncle was a large animal vet for 40 years. He's had his share of breaks and bruises. He never went in a stall or corral without a 24" piece of axe handle with a loop of chain on the end. I've seen him put a bucking horse on the ground with it. 

Personally, I have no use for any transportation that doesn't have an ignition switch and a fuel tank. 4 legs and a brain just makes it worse. 

Rodeo is crazy, I always respected the British Navy Cannon competition.

Guys work through broken bones, smashed hands and untold stitches.

Spent the afternoon at a showjumping event with the wife.

Two ambulances, a police car and a firetruck.

ShawnG said:

Spent the afternoon at a showjumping event with the wife.

Two ambulances, a police car and a firetruck.

Also highly dangerous. Look at Christopher Reeves. Large animals are dangerous. Horses, cattle, you name it.

A small animal veterinarian I worked with told me that she had to choose between applying to vet school or trying for the US Olympic jumping team.

If I recall correctly, she'd already broken her back twice, so she chose vet school. 

She still rides, but not competitively.

Back to harness racing for a moment. I only drove 30 races, so I don't claim to have been a driver.

I have however, driven many thousands of training miles, on 50 tracks, in 9 States and 2 Canadian Provinces. 

Edit: I read through my post, and I have to ask: does anyone else think it reads like Frenchy wrote it?

In reply to Floating Doc :

Only if those horses were powered by Jag V-12s.

Appleseed said:

In reply to Floating Doc :

Only if those horses were powered by Jag V-12s.

LOL. Oh, the axe handle with a loop of chain on the end is a horse restraint tool called a twitch. It's purpose isn't to be used as a club.

As a kid we had both cattle and horse's, I was never a fan of my horse and wanted nothing to do with it.

However we had a bull who seemed to think he was my dog, would follow me all day, if someone closed a gate, he would knock it down just to be with me.

I had no issue with him staying in the barn at night, during the day if i was cutting wood and it was lunchtime, I could get on his back, tell him its hometime and he would give me a ride up to the house.

One of the few nice childhood memories