Gila Valley Stampede

During the first part of November, we went to the Gila Valley Stampede.  My brother and sister-in-law put the rodeo on and it was so much fun!  It was a family rodeo and had some great events!

Ashton and Devin both did the Mutton Busting.  They held onto those sheep as tight as they could! 

Ashton

Ashton

Ashton

Both Ashton and Devin said they were shaking so bad before they rode, but they said that the sheep were so soft!

Devin

Devin falling face first

Caleb was a brave soul and rode a steer.

Caleb

Caleb

Caleb

Then there was the Goat Dressing Event.  You get into a team of two people.  The first one to put the bloomers on the goat wins!

Caleb and Carson were a team.

Calvin and his cousin, Briley, was a team.

Caleb and Carson

It's harder than it looks!  Calvin and Briley almost won, but then the goat got away...

Calvin and Briley

Caleb and Carson

Calvin and Briley

Another fun event is the Grocery Race!  There are three people to a team.  You start off standing next to your horse.  When the whistle blows, all three of you hop on the horse. (Easier said than done!)  And then you ride to one end of the arena.  You all get off the horse.  And then get back on the horse.  Each one of you get to hold a glass of water, a watermelon and an egg and run back to where you started with all your groceries in tact!  So fun to watch.

Teams usually practice for this race.  My brother, James, came up to my sisters and I before the race started and said they needed another team for the grocery race that was starting in a few minutes and asked if we wanted to do it.  Brittany was the only one who has done a grocery race before.  James gave us his horse and we practiced getting on and then went to the starting line...

Brittany, me and Karlee

The race begins...

Karlee was awesome and jumped on the horse from the back! 

We were laughing because we didn't know what the heck we were doing, but we made it on the horse.

We were the only team with all three members being girls!  We were also the team that walked the whole way.  I said it's better to walk the horse and end up being able to walk after the race.

We ended up getting 2nd place because one team was disqualified because they broke their watermelon and egg.  Not bad for a bunch of girls!  

Brittany had the water in her mouth (holding the cup), I was holding the watermelon in my lap and Karlee had the egg in her mouth!

Here is the Chicken Race.  You can see Devin in the red shirt.

Here is the Hide Race.  You have a team of two people.  The adult is the horse rider, holding the rope that is attached to a cow hide.  He starts at one end of the arena.  The hide rider is waiting at the other end of the arena.  The horse rider runs from one end and circles around the arena and then runs back to where he started.  As he runs past the hide rider, the boy or girl, will jump on the hide and hold on! 

My brother, John, teamed up with Caleb for one team and Carson for another team.

Caleb waiting to jump on

Hold on Caleb!

Carson is holding on tight!

                                        

It's a fast ride!

Carson and John won first place!  Caleb and John won 2nd place by a 10th of a second!  So John gave his belt buckle to Caleb, since John already won a belt buckle in another event.

They were both so proud!

All of the boys and their cousins made some money at the Rodeo selling homemade suckers, drinks and candy.  We had the funnest time.  Thanks to my brother and his wife, James and Larissa, for putting the whole thing together!  It's definitely on ours plans for next year!