Rodeo

Sinton is a small town between Smallertown and Nowhere, there is a feeling that about 30/40 years ago a major route passed through here but that has moved elsewhere and it has reverted to being a ranchers town. The arrival of the Pro-riders Rodeo Tour is a pretty big event, part circus coming to town and part agricultural show, if you can imagine a local Point-to-Point with Frankie Dettori and his pals riding the horses you would have a bead on it.

The riders travel around the South-Western states from Spring to Fall in motorhomes which have been extended to accommodate the horses at the back; it seems a pretty punishing life, I didn't see any walk without a limp. Apart from a couple of Black guys the Cowboys fall into two types, the tall, thin Caucasians and the short bull-shaped Hispanics and the audience is the same... The last time I was in Texas, about 30 years ago, I was in a bar when a white guy started joshing an Hispanic pal about being a "Wetback", the guy responded with "Hey I didn't cross the border, the border crossed me" the racial mix in Sinton is proof of that statement.

This mix was spiced up on the Friday night of a two night show, I went to both, with a charabanc load of prisoners from the State Penitentiary (in orange at the back) and their guards.

The events included Barrel Racing, a race with very tight turns, Calf Roping, Bull Wrestling and Bronco Riding but the most exciting is Bull riding, these pictures show a guy getting thrown

... which is what usually happens and that's when the show starts; there are clowns who do fool about a bit but their real job is to get the 2000lb lumps of severely pissed off beef away from the riders (as you see in the picture above, sometimes they get gored anyway). One of these clowns, the guy in the blue shorts and orange leg brace (yeah he limped too) started controlling these enormous, irate beasts by staring them down! He was mostly successful too, it was amazing seeing the bulls switching from gods of vengeance into rather embarrassed pussycats.

There was plentiful beer and food and, this being Small-town America, there was an emphasis on children and plenty for them to do... Things like Mutton Busting (riding sheep) and Calf Stampede (below) which consists of loads of children chasing calves in order to grab a ribbon from their tail and win vouchers for food from "Whataburger" (no really)... It was fun.


Here are a couple of films...