Annual Ranch Rodeo...and much better photos than last year!

You guys probably have been wonderin' if I've died or fallen off the edge of the Earth. Close...I was substitute teaching at the preschool last week. You probably wouldn't think working with a class full of 4 year olds would be so taxing that I couldn't even blog a bit this past week. You are right. I LOVE subbing at the preschool. Those little monkeys love to share....their germs. I came home this week with one of the worst head colds I can remember. I could barely remember my kids names much less be with it enough to blog. 

But, I'm back now and I have photos of share of the Annual Ranch Rodeo Finals held in Dodge City over Labor Day weekend. You can read about my introduction to Ranch Rodeos last year in this post. 

There wasn't too much different this year than last. The four events were; Branding, Sort and Load, Doctoring and Wild Cow Milking. But this year I had a whole year of photo experience under my belt and a zoom lens! I was so happy with how some of these photos came out....definitely better than last year! 

Mountain Man and his buddy Jake from Oklahoma came up to the rodeo this year, it sure was nice to see family! We even got to see Mountain Man's buddies compete this year. 

Young...

...and old. There were all types of cowboys out there working. 

Even a couple of women, and they sure weren't slouches! 

Branding

Aren't those pink shirts nice? This was one of my favorite teams to watch, they worked so well together. 

Halfway through the rodeo the kids were able to get out in the arena and have a little fun. First there was the pool noodle race. My boys in the stripes DOMINATED!!! 

Yahoo wasn't to be outdone and worked hard too! 

But the event that my boys had been waiting for was the boot scramble. Every Rodeo I've been to has held a boot scramble for the kids. First they take off their boots or shoes ( better have some bleach at home Mom...look at those socks!)

They dump the boots in the middle of the arena...

...and the kids race to find their boots, put them on, and race back to the starting line. Yip was aggravated that he was beat by a girl that was only wearing flip flops. He was quite adamant that she cheated because it was a "BOOT SCRAMBLE" not a "SANDAL SCRAMBLE". 

Wild Cow Milking. Aren't you happy you don't have to get your milk like this everyday? 

Yep, that's a LADY throwing down that steer! and boy, did she mean business. 

I sure wouldn't want to cross her! 

Ranch Rodeos are one of my favorite things about Kansas. There just aren't too many places to go experience anything like it. 

A Ranch Rodeo...not what you'd expect.

Mountain Man left me last month. Jerk.


Now instead of being a mere three hours away he's moved six hours away into the depths of wild hog Oklahoma country. Hadn't been there a month and he already shot a wild hog. He's a crazy man.


Anyway, long story short....DR bought Mountain Man a used saddle. Neither Mountain Man, DR or I have had the time to drive to drop off/pick up this saddle.


Flashback last Sunday morning. We're walking from church and DR and Mountain Man are yipping back and forth on the phone...they're buddies. DR hangs up, turns to me and says, "Change of plans, we are going to a rodeo!" Huh? We had plans?


Turns out the Ranch Rodeo Finals were being held in Dodge City and one of Mountain Man's buddies was competing. After competing, this buddy was headed to Texas and would be willing to take the saddle to my brother in Oklahoma. Great! We are going to the rodeo!


But....how is a Ranch Rodeo different than the rodeo we went to last month?


First off the cowboys in a Ranch Rodeo work in teams of four and the teams compete in four events. These four events would be tasks the cowboys would do on the ranch. Their collective times would be added together to get the winner. Secondly, all of these cowboys work on a ranch. They aren't these professional good looking "cowboys" who get their pictures in Stetson or Wrangler advertisements. Nope, Ranch Rodeo cowboys are REAL cowboys. Third, the stands weren't nearly as full. There were probably only a couple hundred in the stands and there wasn't nearly the fanfare or glitz as the rodeo last month.

EVENT #1 - Branding

This event starts with a dozen or so calves in a pen. 

One team members rides in to rope a calf...

...and has to pull it through a gate. Once outside, two team members have to get the calf on it's side and the rope off. The fourth team member (off to the right) waits with a branding iron (not hot) to run in and "brand" the calf. 

The team has to rope and "brand" two calves and when the brander has placed his iron in the blue bucket that ends the time for this event. 

 Event #2 - Sort and Load

I think this was my favorite event. There's a white line in the dirt and off to the right are about a dozen steers with numbers on their backs; two of each number; 2 3's, 2 4's, 2 5's, etc. 

The team is given a number and it's their job to cut out the two steers with that number on their backs while keeping the other steers on the left of the line. This was sure something to see because you wouldn't believe how good some of these teams were. Some of them would seem to work for just a minute or so and then suddenly they had both steers cut and running. 

Once the steers were cut to the right of the line they were herded to the other end of the arena....

....around a gate (sorry, it's behind the post)...

....then herded into a gated area. 

The team had to load the steers into a trailer without letting them out of the gate....

...then load three horses in the trailer. The fourth cowboy had let his horse go when he took charge of closing the gate. 

Time is flagged when the trailer is shut tight and all four cowboys (or 3 cowboys and 1 cowgirl in this case) are on the back of the truck. 

Event #3 - Team Doctoring

In the doctoring event, a larger steer is let loose and the team has to work together to rope it....

....by it's head and heel. 

Then the team works together to get three legs tied together. Now these weren't that little of steers. Combined those cowboys probably didn't out weigh that steer. 

The time is flagged by the judge (guy on horse with the flag) after the team is up and the steer stays tied for a certain number of seconds. When a steer needs doctoring this is the safest way to handle the steer for both the animal and the cowboys. 

Event #4 - Wild Cow Milking 

Cow Milking...kind of what it sounds like but rather than getting a wild cow to stand still to get milked the cowboys rope her, throw her on her side and milk just a bit of milk into a beer bottle. Yep, a beer bottle. Once they milk a certain amount of milk, which isn't much, they run to a circle at the edge of the arena for their time. Now I don't think this is something cowboys are called on too often to do  on a daily basis but it was sure entertaining to watch. 

Sorry, didn't get any photos of this event but it was a lot like this....

Ha! 

I'm sure happy Mountain Man called and changed our plans. I really enjoyed the low key Ranch Rodeo. It was nice to see the down to earth "real" cowboys excel at the jobs they do everyday. They definitely don't get the attention they deserve.