Boulder County Senior Rodeo

One of the first things we did in Boulder was go to the Boulder County Senior Rodeo. Yes senior rodeo, meaning all the contestants (is that what you call people in a rodeo?) were over the age of 40. We went with Tom Judd and the German couch surfer, Isabel, that was staying with him for a few days.

We started with the animals. They had a ton of farm animals to look at and pet if you don't mind the risk of E.coli (seriously how many stories have you heard about petting zoos and E. coli?). The bunnies were probably my favorite. I tried to convince Josh that a bunny would be a nice addition to the Battle Wagon but he had already moved on to the goats. I had to talk him down from buying a goat, convincing him that a goat is an even more ridiculous idea than a bunny. Where would we put a goat, even if it is a bargain at $175? Then again do you really want bargain farm animals?

Eventually it came time for us to take our seats which was good because I was pretty much done with the animals after I got licked by a cow. They started by crowning the 2009 Rodeo Queen. From what I gathered through the crappy P.A. system announcements, she was a UC Boulder student and was awarded some kind of scholarship. After the ceremony, she was told to take a lap on her horse. She went flying around the arena and was headed for the exit. She was going way too fast and I remember thinking this is gonna end badly. I was not disappointed. She ran into about 3 other horses before hitting the wall where she promptly fell off and was shamed in front of the entire crowd.

After the laughter subsided, they got started with the show. the age brackets were >40, >50, >60 and >68. That's right, 68 year old men were riding bucking broncos. I feel like it's highly inappropriate for a 68 year old man to ride a horse at all, let alone one that is trying to buck you off. I was very impressed with their spryness (is that a word?).

My favorite part in the whole thing was the mutton busting. If you're not familiar with this, what happens is they put a sheep in the middle of the ring. Then at one end, they're holding a sheep that is very eager to get to the one in the middle. Then they put a small child (I believe the age range was 5-7) on the sheep, wait for him/her to get a good grip, then let go. The sheep goes screaming towards the center and these crazy kids hold on for dear life. The kid that stays on the longest wins $5.

One kid took a particularly bad fall off the sheep.A few moments later, we heard over the PA system "Will the mother of Gilbert Smith Jr. (ok I don't remember his real name) please report to the ambulance immediately". I'm not sure but that kid had to walk away with at least a broken arm. The kid that won made it all the way to the other end and had to be removed from the sheep because he was not about to let go. He is definitely a bull rider in the making.

We had a great time at the Senior rodeo and are pumped that we can check that off our list of things to do on T3. All I have left to say is Yeeeeeeeeeee Haawwwwwww!