Rodeo

This weekend I went to the Warwick Rodeo which is apparently the biggest one in Australia. I have now seen calf roping, where a man on a horse chases a calf and tries to lasso it. Of the 10 I saw, one bloke managed it. I have also seen competition barrel racing, the fastest time was 17 and a bit seconds. It is so close and so contested that they have a sensor to measure the time and it goes to 3 points of a second, so for example 17.429 seconds. I also saw camp drafting which is when a man on a horse chases a cow through around post and through a gate. I also saw Steer wrestling where a man jumps off his horse onto a running steer with long pointy horns and pulls it to the ground. I also saw bronc riding and bull riding where the aim of the exercise is to not fall off if you are the rider, and toss your rider if you are the mount.

I have thus decided I will NEVER let my children (if I ever have any) do Rodeo things, except perhaps barrel racing and even then.