just give me what I want and no one gets hurt... The rodeo was quite fun today. I cheered when the baby cows got away (two in a row!) and I cringed when some of the horses stumbled and almost fell on their faces. froo and I couldn't figure out why so many of them were falling today - usually they're pretty solid on their feet, even when bucking. It's really a sad spectacle, when you see what these animals go through. While they're waiting for their event, they have them enclosed in some pretty small cage-like pens, and some of them kinda panic and start flailing around. But there's nowhere for them to go, so it's ugly and disturbing to see.

The worst part of the calf-roping event is that, after the cowboy lassos the calf, his rope kinda goes slack because he's pretty close to the animal, but the calf doesn't know he's got a rope around his neck and he keeps running at full tilt. Then that rope goes taut and the poor baby animal is yanked off his feet by the head and often sorta flies up in the air, landing hard. Then there's the picking up and throwing to the ground of the baby cow, and the tying of three legs. To add further humiliation, the cowboy walks back to his horse who is often pacing just a bit, so the baby cow - tied and lassod and helpless - gets dragged slowly in the dirt.

On a happier note, the bull-riding was great. Those bulls are big and spunky. And the cowboys riding them were young and cute. froo had gotten me a pass for her company box, so at this point we were really close to the action. She took some pics so I'll post 'em later.

It was hot-hot-hot in the grandstand where my firm had our seats. I was coated in layers of sunscreen but I could feel myself burning anyway. A lot of people had jeans on and were roasting, so it was good that I was wearing my teeny tiny skirt.

~End of Day 6 Stampede report.  | ¶ 10:25 p.m.