The Mesa Rodeo
Every year, in early March, the rodeo circuit comes to town and they have the three day event that culminates on the Sunday afternoon, when all the contestants who have won events earlier in the weekend fight it out for the grand prize.
They have all the big events, including bull riding, bronc riding, roping and bull dogging. I was surprised at just how difficult it is to do what they do, especially when the animals don't do what they're supposed to do. There was one bull that threw his rider, the refused to go back into the pens. They had to rope him again and drag him in using the horse. He managed to come back out again so it took awhile to get him out of the arena-much to the glee of the spectators.
The half time show was a group of lady riders who were from New Zealand and did some pretty daring "trick riding".
As usual, they also had a clown - who helps keep the bulls from attacking the rider after he's thrown off. Usually they are pretty funny, but this one wasn't. The clowns we've seen at the Cloverdale rodeo in Canada were better.
We started the day with a wander through the sales area, where you can buy everything you'll ever need as a cowboy. Quite beautiful is some of the work on tooled leather saddles, chaps, etc. , and the riding clothes and horse blankets were very colourful. We had a great time and for sure will go again next year.
