So in the name of research, my daughter and I went to the rodeo last week. Apologies to those of you who follow my Twitter stream…this will be a lengthier recap of my tweets of the night.
The first question you might be asking yourself is why is the city-slicker author who writes mainly about corporate CEOs or the occasional spy or secret agent writing about the rodeo? Well, my answer is Kimberly Raye. I was invited to do a novella collection with her, a Blazing Bedtime Story. We chose to riff our stories on the Peter Pan oeuvre, with her taking on Peter and Wendy and me taking Hook and…the alligator. (Crocodile, alligator…try making a cute heroine name out of Crocodile. Can’t be done. Her name is Allie and that’s that.)
But because Kimberly is a queen of the sexy Western-set story, we decided to set the story in the fictional world of Lost Gun, Texas. I’m sure Kim could punch out her story without a lick of research (see, it’s already starting to rub off on me, even if I still use words like “oeuvre”) but not this chick. I’m around horses weekly, but it’s one thing to go to the barn and tack a horse with an English saddle and quite another to go “rodeo.” So I did some checking and when a rodeo ended up about an hour and a half away from home, I bought a couple of premium seats, got my newly 14 year old daughter to trade her Crocs for boots and we headed out.
Here are my impressions…initially in 140 characters or less.
#1: I was surprised that in addition to beer, you could have a martini. Not that I saw a single person buy one.
I drank a Dr. Pepper and ate a corn dog. It seemed like the right thing to do.
#2: Too much cotton candy is not good for my 46-yo stomach, esp. after eating tuna tartare for lunch.
Yes, I also had cotton candy. Freshly made. Soft as a cloud. Purple. Yum. And yes, I had tuna tartare for lunch…like I said. City slicker.
#3: I’m glad my daughter rides English (Hunter/Jumper) rather than Western so her horse NEVER has to go that fast.
I must have tweeted this one right after the barrel-racing, which I loved. But damn, they had eight year old girls riding at about a hundred miles an hour. Okay, maybe not quite that fast, but it sure looked about right. I get heart palpitations when she jumps one-handed–and her jumps aren’t that high yet!
#4: I love horses. (I knew that one before we went, but this solidified it.)
I really do adore them and the breeds the cowboys use are particularly gorgeous.
#5: Bucking broncos look WAY more dangerous to ride while rider is on than bull. Bull looks more dangerous when rider goes off.
The broncos are fast. And when they buck, they look like they really want to kill. The bulls, on the other hand, seem to want revenge after the damned rider is off. Both are scary, let’s be clear.
#6: You don’t have to know how the scoring works to enjoy yourself. They didn’t make a big deal out of winners, etc. At last, at this event.
That surprised me…I knew they were awarding points, but there was no presentation, no announcement of a winner, no nothing at the end of each event or at the end of the whole rodeo. I wonder if this is because we were there the first of two nights. This means more research.
#7: Cowboys have very different “styles” in how they ride a bull. One rider was fluid. Another stiff. Both rode the full time.
This didn’t exactly surprise me, but it was very interesting to see such divergent styles. I swear, the one stiff guy looked like a mannequin. The other guy looked like he and the horse were part of the same muscle mass. It was fascinating.
#8: Barrel racing was hands down the most compelling event to watch. Though gals rocked.
I can’t tell you how much I loved watching the barrel racing. The skill of these women and young girls…and horses! I could watch this event forever.
#9: Bulls/calves are smart animals. Know exactly what to do/where to go. Especially calves, who outsmarted more than one cowboy.
The calf roping event was actually hilarious because to borrow a phrase, it was clearly not these animals’s first rodeo. However, as they are calves, they are young, so they couldn’t be too experienced! And yet, in more than six separate attempts (might have been more like ten), the calves knew exactly what to do to make sure the cowboy’s rope didn’t get anywhere near them. One feinted right, then went left. One stopped dead and the cowboy overshot him. It was funny to the point where you couldn’t help but root for those adorable beasts!
Overall rodeo impressions: #10 Yes, cowboys are adorable. (Daughter wondered if it was a pre-requisite.)
Especially when they are sitting on the rail during a break, eating cotton candy. (Blue, of course.) Although I shouldn’t say “of course.” At least a half-dozen cowboys wore pink or lavender shirts. Real men, apparently, wear pastels. My favorite cowboy, whose name was Shane (I kid you not!), wore a deep amethyst purple for two events, then changed into white for the bull riding. I’m telling you…cowboys? Fashion plates.
And those are my impressions of my first rodeo. And I know it won’t be my last. (Actually, it wasn’t my first rodeo…I went years ago when my daughter was probably around two and I was miserable. But it was an outdoor rodeo in July in Florida.) So I will do a lot to accurately research my books, but it’s so much better when it’s January in Florida, indoor and with box seats.
Have you been to the rodeo? Do you want to go?
The winners from Monday’s blog who have won a copy of Samantha Hunter’s STRAIGHT TO THE HEART are:
Pat Cochran (Comment #40)
Limecello (Comment #36)
Angie T (Comment #8)
You can contact Samantha at samhunter @ samanthahunter.com for details!
HAPPY BIRTHDAY BRADY MAN! Last Saturday, January 21, Brady turned one year old. He’s a great dog and I adore him. He’ll never take Buddy’s place but that’s not his job. His job is to be his goofy, loveable self and to LOVE me. Which he does. Just like I love him!
The funniest part? She’s not really funny. She doesn’t have to actually DO anything to make us laugh. She can just be sitting at us, staring, or as she is now, perched on the side of my desk like a sphinx and I think she’s hilarious.
FYI: the cat just tried to climb the ladder that I use to change the light bulbs. It’s folded up against the wall. She didn’t quite make it, but is unharmed. Daughter and I? Can’t…breathe…laughing…
First, an announcement. If you follow me on Facebook & Twitter you already know, but I recently re-released my contemporary paranormal trilogy digitally. The first book, 
Destiny
Dirty Little Secrets
IT HAPPENED ONE CHRISTMAS
Through The Night
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