Stampede Rodeo

Saturday, July 6, 2013

Today was rodeo day for us, although there is a rodeo held every day of the Stampede, today was the only day we had tickets to go. We got to see it all though, bucking broncos, bull riding, barrel racing, calf wrestling and calf roping. The cutest thing we saw though was wild pony riding. This was an event for boys and girls from the ages of about 7-10. They were teamed up in threes, and they were holding the halter rein (about 15-20’ long) before the pony was let out of the shoot. The object was for two of them to hold onto the pony while one got on its back. These ponies were having nothing of it! Out of about 8 teams, only one was able to get a rider on the back of the pony and that lasted about 1.5 seconds. Three of the kids were stubborn enough not to want to let go of the pony when it took off running, thus being drug through the mud at a very high rate of speed! It was a fun event to watch, and safe, each kid had a helmet on! Even some of the bronco and bull riders were wearing helmets, and I was glad to see that!

Another storm this afternoon, fast moving, but ominous looking! The rain was considerate enough to hold off till the very end of the rodeo, but by the time we got to the C-train station, there were 500 people there waiting for the same train we wanted. Everyone was crowded under the overhang to stay dry, when one of the transit workers told us that if we would go out to the end of the platform, we would have a better chance of getting on the next train. By that point it was only sprinkling so that’s what we did, worked too, we got on the next train and by the next stop a whole family got off, so the four of us got seats facing each other. Worked out real well!

No pictures taken today, Phil still feeling like crap!