Buck up or Buck off

Before we left for Aus I had read an article about rodeos in a magazine on camping and caravaning, so I was excited to go to one before I had found out where and when I could. When I then came across an advert for one in the town where we had gone to the fauna park only 40km from us, I was basically counting down the days! We packed a lovely little dinner and drinks into our cooler box and bought some epic camping chairs complete with drink holder and cooler bag attached. Hats and suncream on we set off to watch the bucking brontos. We had decided to go early and watch some of the preliminary rounds and get good seats. It was great to stroll around with no crowds and we got a parking between the horses (though that may have been more because we got lost and parked in the wrong area :) ).

The rodeo was exactly like in the movies, it was epic!! Horses are trained to buck and there are different levels of difficulty. I hadn't realised that they are given scores based on a number of factors and with the bulls and bucking horses it is not only based on how long you stay on it's back. The minimum in order to get a score at all is to stay on the animal for 8 seconds and there are certain rules about what your hands can touch and where your legs must be. The coolest thing is that they all dress up and are literally called cowboys!!! Big buckles on tasselled trousers, boots, spurs and no outfit complete without the cowboy hat! This was not limited to the competitors but many of the crowd were into the spirit of the outfits aswell. James and I had an arguement over which was cuter the 2 year old cowboy dressed to the nines or the little pink cowgirl (he was waaay cuter). Needless to say we felt a bit left out in our normal jeans and boring hats but we had a ball.

There are lots of different events: the bucking horses and bucking brontos which are the main attractions and are only done by men ( I have the feeling there is a connection between this and the fact that it is a seriously insane thing to even contemplate doing!). The female events were the delicate ones based on speed and accuracy. The one event was the one that is always in horsey movies where the rider races around 3 barrels placed in a triangle in a sort of figure of 8 at each leg. The idea is to get round them the fastest without touching the barrels. The other event was lassooing a small cow in the shortest time possible. The cow gets a 10m headstart and then runs for its life! Some people got the cows in like 3 or 4 seconds its crazy. The men also do this event but once they have got the rope around its neck they jump off their horses and wrestle the bulls horns to the ground... again insanity. A step harder was the team lassoing event where one man got the cows around the neck from his horse and the other also still on his horse had to rope the cows feet ... while it is running...impossible. The last event that happened on that side of the arena is hard to describe but basically 2 horses sandwich a bull between them and one rider spontaneously jumps off his horse and grabs onto the horns and tackles the animal to the ground.

These were crazy stupid events but getting on the back of a riled up big ass bull is for those that have lost it completely! Most didn't make their 8 seconds but when they did it was great to watch even though you spend the whole time cringing. There were only 2 injuries that were on the more serious side. We expected there to be an army of medics for what is considered one of the most dangerous sports. If St Johns needs 2 ambulances on the side of a junior rugby match bucking bronto riders must get the best of the best right? Well... no... obviously these are the real hard core people cause when a man fell off the giant bull onto his neck and didn't move 2 casual first aid looking people strolled out of a make do tent in the corner and had a look while the commentator said something about the bull! The guy got taken off to hospital eventually and the other injured guy just had a concussion.

It was everything I hoped it would be expect for the crowd who seemed unfriendly and barely clapped even though these people risked their lives over and over, so the vibe was a bit dead. James was half asleep but I got him slightly enthused at times! We found the fair at the back of the grounds and played some games before we went home. Throwing balls, popping balloons that sort of thing and came away with 2 ugly toys that are now named Sally and Ben and you have to guess which is which since James and I cannot agree on this ;)

It is hard to explain such an event to people who mostly have not been to a rodeo but just know that it was great fun and if you ever get the chance I recommend that you make the trip.

 Its fairly obvious but I cannot take credit for most of these photos I downloaded them off the site for this event after the pro photos were uploaded.