Rodeo...A Real Idaho Sport

Today Gideon went to the Island Park Wild Horse Stampede! (AKA, his first rodeo.) For those who don't know, I was born and raised in Parker County, Texas which is somewhat famous for it's rodeo and rodeo connections. So I grew up attending several rodeos each year. It was always fun. Plus for a while my parents raised Quarter Horses so there were always rodeo cowboys around. Is it any wonder that at least one of us girls ended up married to a rodeo cowboy? Jesse's husband Kelly used to be a bull rider (and you never know, someday he might start doing that again.) But his family are rodeo producers. So thanks to Kelly and Jesse we got free tickets this weekend.

First, Gideon helped Aunt Jesse register some of the contestants for calf riding.

Then he met this puppy who he absolutely loved. (I couldn't get the camera out in time to catch the photo of them licking each other on the face, but it was so cute!) Seriously, he laughed and squealed and got so excited, and the dog just sat there and enjoyed the attention. (Just so no one gets worried, these women are friends of Jesse and Kelly, but I don't remember their names.)

I guess our admission wasn't entirely without a price. We were asked to sing the National Anthem. It was very windy, and in the booth we couldn't hear anything, but everyone else said it sounded really good.

Enjoying the show. (Although we could have done without the wind.)

What a little flirt, he had the lady sitting behind us just totally in love with him.

It was fun to see Kelly and his family in action behind the chutes and in the pens. But Kelly actually got to participate in the "Wild Cow Milking" this was HILARIOUS! Kelly is in the white shirt on the horse. It was his job to rope one of the cows while partner had to milk it. It's funny because there are about 8 crazy cows running around and five teams trying to milk them. Kelly was the first to rope a cow and his partner got the milking done, but then things went a little south.....

The cow didn't stand still long enough to let Blair get her undtied. (Yes, that's Kelly being dragged on his rear end trying to stop her. Don't worry he's not hurt, this was actually really funny to watch.)

They finally got her stopped

And ran their milk over to the judge. But by that time, another team had beat them, so they took 2nd place. Still it was something I've never seen before and I hope to see it again. It was awesome! Wild Cow Milking.

When the rodeo was over Uncle Kelly took Gideon for his first horse ride. They both seemed to enjoy it.

All in all, it was a great day, but so windy that we came home just covered in dirt and dust. Seriously it took an extremely long shower and several shampooings before I felt clean again. But it was fun and I know that I'll do it again sometime. The Texan in me still appreciates a good rodeo.