Rodeo!

It was worth risking life on the corridor of fame that is I35 to go to the rodeo in Waco. That's because the PRCA ProRodeo finals are sheer adrenaline up excitement, and a good humored get together to boot. 

A ringside seat in the boxes made it even better, right up close to the action, and that had its moments. Bang, out of the gate comes a pounding, bucking, ferocious bull. Rider, stay on that bull! And when you're thrown, don't get trampled to death by the hooves of the beast. No kidding.

Bronc, barrel, just look at those girls fly!, and bull riding are all high octane, but  don't scorn team roping and steer wrestling. Go on, jump off a running horse and wrestle a steer to the ground, I dare you. Regardless, watching the horsemanship and the outstanding quality and spirit of the animals alone is an event in itself, at least for me.

All this to say nothing of muttin bustin (sheep riding) and general carry on for the kids, and the way the event kicks off, with prayer, a flag ride, and the Star Spangled Banner. Guess what, no one keeps their hat on in protest.

You might mock all this if you're an NWO stooge, or a comsymp fool who's so far up the New York Times that you can't separate truth from fiction. Or you can see it for what it is, good, wholesome, down-home, straight up enjoyment with no side.

So thanks, J&B. A great night was had by all.

God bless,

LSP

Don't be a Loser, Ride The Horse

It's been hard to ride lately on account of the floods but the waters have receded a bit, which means get on the horse. And that's what I did, after flying the flag at a cowboy church men's prayer breakfast. 

They're a good bunch of guys, the cowboys, with a pretty straight up kind of faith. Enlivened by that, I tacked up in the morning sunshine and rode out. Trace was eager enough and it was simply good to get out in the country on horseback. I find it clears the mind.

Gallop up The Hill

It's good exercise, too, provided you put some work into it, and we did, horse and rider, galloping along through the incredibly, for Texas, green countryside.

Ride over, I turned the herd out into their big pasture, where they can get up to mischief and eat lots of grass.

Trace

There's a satisfaction to all of this which is hard to put into words, but I will say this -- riding's good for mind, body and spirit. Unless you fall off and get killed, in which case it's a different story again.

With that in mind, stay on the horse,

LSP

Horse And Gun

Riding is good for mind, body and spirit, it's fun, too, provided you don't fall off the horse and smash yourself to pieces. With that in mind, I went for a ride yesterday on a new horse. 

She's an Arabian mare called Wendy, who had been in very bad shape when she was bought for the vast sum of $300. She looks fine now, but what was she like to ride? After getting a cup of coffee at Big Willy's, I went to find out.

First off, she was gentle and well behaved, at least to humans, maybe not so much with her horse pals. She was also responsive and easy to ride, even for a rusty horseman like myself. We walked, trotted and cantered and I thought, "I like this horse!" 

No crazy bucking, head tossing, snaking, ducking and diving, just riding, with plenty of power held in reserve. She'd be fun to gallop and run, and I'll try that later. It turns out she's had good training, though that wasn't known when she was bought. Long story short, I've ridden horses that were orders of magnitude more expensive and much less good.

After horsing around I went for a shoot, and that was alright too, though my groups weren't much to write home about. Whatever, it's all rounds down range.

Stay on the horse and keep squeezing the trigger,

LSP

And Another Thing...

just kick him in the face

The Egyptian has asked:

"you around or did a horse kick you in the head?"

Interesting point. I'd know nothing about that kind of thing, whatsoever.

Stay on the horse,

LSP