there was a mini series on the Country Music Tv chgannel where they had a reality show competition to crown the worlds greatest cowboy. it was very interesting. For one thing it just showed how little many people who spend their entire lives with horses know anything at all about them! Many many people on these groups know so much more than all these rodeo guys in the competition. One event was where they had 45 minutes to take a completely never handled 2 year old horse and put a saddle on it and ride it. of the five competitors only two accomplished it. 3 of them just lassooed the horse and held the end of the rope while it bucked around the roundpen like a nut for 45 minutes. these are professional cowboys now. Some bull riders, some bronc riders, all of them rodeo guys. The two men who accomplished backing the horses, one of them did it in a semi NH way and lost to the other one, who got on it and yeww hawwww hung on while it bucked til exhaustion and stopped. he was the big winner of the whole competition.
In another competition they asked them to each show something special they can do with their horse. some roped, some reined, one did cowboy mounted shooting with a bullwhip. and the one who won that event, oh my god, I was amazed. They all just raved what an incredible horse trainer he was because he could walk under his horse's belly and stick his head out between his front legs. Sorry, you guys, but i might not be the sharpest knife in the drawer when it comes to horse training but my WORSE horse, Stonewall, would let me wrap myself around his leg like a monkey and just stand there. I have many many times walked under him and out the back end. just for fun. I imagine if he had been on this show and did his fetch a cowboy hat or stand on a stump those judges would still be passed out from the shock. amazing. and he stood up in the saddle! oh my god, think of it!! I could tap dance in the saddle if I could tap dance on the ground and my horses, even stonewall , would just stand there... are we so unusual? Is the rest of the world so caught in the dark ages?!?!? I am just amazed. Janice -- yipie tie yie yo
