This weekend we visited Sara and Jason and their boys in San Antonio. We went to the Stock Show and Rodeo on Saturday night - and Ingliston Highland Show it is not!
It is held in the stadium for the San Antonio Spurs, which are the local basketball team. The stadium can seat about 18,000, and while it wasn't full, probably about 2/3 of the seats were taken and there was a great atmosphere.
Before the main events, there was a lot of flag flying, and horses riding around at top speed. A good spectacle.
And of course, there had to be a prayer, and the singing of the national anthem. Everyone stood at that point, and all the cowboys took off their stetsons (or baseball caps) and held them to their hearts.
Then the rodeo started in earnest. There were lots of events, including bronc riding. The riders only had to stay on for 8 seconds - easier said than done! The horses were so fast, I couldn't take decent photos of this event - but here is a video if you want to see what it was like. The buzzer that sounds near the end indicates the 8 seconds are over - not everyone made it that long! It was rather scary watching most of the riders limp off after their rides - I dread to think what they do to their backs in the process, especially as the rodeo travels round the country and they are doing this every week!And then there was the mutton bustin'. No, this is not a classic Aberdonian pastime lost in translation, but is all about indoctrinating the young into this sport before they are old enough to feel the injuries. Basically they 'ride' (ie hang on for dear life to) a sheep for as long as they can. I think the youngest competitor was 4. Yes, as in 4 years old, barely old enough to walk.
The are very safety conscious, as you will see, they give all competitors a full-face helmet, and when they are trampled to the ground, a rodeo volunteer quickly picks them up and laughs in their face to show them that they are not really injured, so they shouldn't think about crying.The rodeo part of the event finished with bull riding - a much more extreme version of the bronc riding, as you can imagine. There was a rather dubious 'clown', the only black man in the whole stadium, that I could see, and during the bull riding he chose to stay 'safe' in the middle of the ring in this - plastic barrel
The event finished with a performance by some famous country and western star - but unfortunately I hadn't heard of him and can't remember his name. He was good, though!
