Californios 2012

 Cool gear!

 My favorite, favorite singer. Dave Stamey rocks! I have all his albums. Concert was awesome!

 Look at the size of that loop! Too bad the camera lady cut it off... bad me.

On Mother's Day weekend Ryan and I escaped to Reno for the Californios Ranch Roping competition. It was totally awesome to be anonymous, and so relaxing to just sit and watch. Arena seats are UNcomfortable... and concession food gets old fast. So old, that I ordered a Vegetarian Napolean from Sterling's Steakhouse in the Silver Legacy. It was a fancy restaurant. The Napolean was delicious. Hawaiian purple yams, quinoa, zuchinni, portabello mushrooms, carrots... I can't remember was else. Oh ya! Buffalo mozzarella on top. It was so good. Especially after numerous hot dogs, garlic fries, and Carrow's for breakfast. 

The people there were so great- everyone had clothes on (you know what I mean...long sleeve shirts, pants...no hoochie mamas to be seen), and the concession workers commented to each other how nice and polite every one was. There were kids wandering around every where, and they were totally cool. I want my kids to be that cool. Watching out for each other, taking care of little ones, and being totally tough enough to throw a cow on the ground for some doctoring.

The judges for the competition don't judge on how quick you are, but rather on technique, style, and how you handle the animal. It's an old vaquero style. There were lots of hackamores, two rein style. something we want to do really, really soon. I was impressed with the quality of the horses. They weren't fancy, but they were so good with the cows. Probably because they are working horses. I think my favorite part was the "off the ropes," where the guys had to take a bronchy horse and settle it down and ride it. They had 12 minutes to do it, get on, and then rope a cow. It was so interesting to watch, and it made me want to do it. Someday. Soon.