Tuesday 24 July 2012

100 years of Stampeding ...

This year, the Calgary Stampede celebrated its 100 year anniversary and there were celebrations galore all across Calgary.  As we were departing on our road trip on the Monday, we only had one day (Sunday) to get our stampeding fix.  We began with a Stampede breakfast at Heritage Park then hit the Stampede grounds where we watched the rodeo from the way-up-high seats (often called the 'nosebleed seats' here) before wandering the grounds to check out the other agricultural exhibitions as well as the cattle penning event in the Saddledome.  In the evening, we watched the chuckwagon races before calling it a (long, long) day and heading home.  I was not sure of what Mum's reaction to the rodeo events would be given that they had shocked me the first time I'd seen the events, but I was surprised ... after just a few minutes, she was well into it and by the end of the rodeo, I'm sure she fancied herself as an expert commentator!

Mum meets some of the cowboys at the Hays Stampede breakfast

Mother and daughter stampeding

Calgary Stampede Show Band

RCMP Musical Ride

More Musical Riding ... I would love to do this!

Introducing the cowboys and cowgirls of the 2012 Calgary Stampede

Handstanding off the horse

Another graceful dismount

And yet another one

That man needs an elastic band to hold his hat on

Cowboy helpers stand by ready to help out when the cowboy is ready to jump off

Yeeha!

Love the red shirt on the roan horse

Going ...

... going ...

... gone!

Calf roping

Got him!

Love the cowboy names!

But, Kaycee Feild was my favourite!

Barrel racing - I would love to give this a go!

The rodeo clown always provides a few laughs

Close call

Oh my, what big balls you have!

A more flattering picture of the above bull

Wild pony races

Calgary Stampede girls

Beautiful horses and carriage

And finally, the chuckwagon races to finish the day off

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