I was watching this new show called Yellowstone last Wednesday, starring Kevin Costner. There was one scene where Costner’s character is at an indoor rodeo and the man he is with says something along the lines of “I’d be worried to meet the first person to ride a bull.”
“I don’t know. The first one would be interesting, the second person would be who I was worried about,” was Costner’s character’s reply.
After watching some bull riding up close, I would have to admit Costner’s character might have a point but that doesn’t make it any less entertaining to watch.
I’ve definitely grown fond of rodeos, mostly the horse events opposed to steer wrestling and chute dogging but bull riding has a strange allure to it that I expect only the people brave enough to sit on the horned bull weighing around 1,500 lbs would understand.
The Bridge Lake Stampede was definitely an entertaining day, despite the heavy rain which probably made more damage to my wallet than my hunger.
It was only my third rodeo and my first “serious” one so I was pretty excited. The two previous ones were junior rodeos - the Little Britches in 100 Mile House and a small junior high school rodeo in Estevan, Sask. a friend dragged me to.
Sitting by myself in the stands, I was thinking about how many seconds I would manage to stay on the bucking animal as I watched six or seven of the 22 bull riders who came to compete. One managed to stay up for a while and I realized with all that movement, especially with one hand in the air, I didn’t even have a chance.
The next competitor came out the chute and before the crowd could even start to cheer him on he fell. He must have been really disappointed with himself, but honestly, I think having the courage to even try is an achievement in itself.
I decided to wander off after the last rider to see if I could grab a hamburger at the concession stand, which I avoided during the previous events because the line up was quite large.
This time, only a couple was ahead of me.
As I bit into the burger, a large cheer erupted from the crowd as two ropers managed to catch a calf. Or maybe the calf escaped but all I knew was that I would be going to the Interlakes Rodeo later this month.
brendan.jure@100milefreepress.net@BrendanKyleJure
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