"He's lookin' at dad, 'What am I doing in here?' 'Jes hang on,' the dad says."
No ride longer than 3 seconds? We need a montage!
No helmets in Caddo, OK's Rodeo, and it ain't never harmed them a bit. Besides, the parents all signed a waiver:
Maybe it's just the way I was raised, but if it don't involve a bull, it ain't rodeo, Besides, the kid's only three, so we got time to--
What's that, you say? Little Pat here's only three, too?
"GIVE GRANDPA FIVE! WOOOO!"
I remember as a kid going to visit my grandparents in Southern Alberta (for Americans who don't know Canada, imagine Texas but with snow in the winter and government-provided health care) who would take us to a youth rodeo (the "Lil' Britches Rodeo" if memory serves)... I can still recall how dejected my sister was when whe was 3 and she and my dad didn't get over to the registration area fast enough to sign up for mutton busting... I guess the "sport" has been around for a while.
Yep, Mutton Busting has been around for a while. The 20th anniversary of the Little Britches rodeo here was a couple weeks ago.
The Monster desperately wanted to do it, but luckily couldn't get the medical clearance. Now, he has lost interest so I only have to deal with steering Squeak away from the glamorous world of barrel racing.
[credit where it's due, mutton bustin's one of the few rodeo events where girls can compete alongside boys. perhaps because they're both equally wildly undertrained for it. Still, I resent the idea of my daughter being reduced to a buckle bunny by the time she's 8. -ed.]
Yeah, I know girls are allowed in the rough stock sports at Little Britches. Doesn't mean I have to tell her. We haven't gone the past couple years, as I just don't fancy exposing my kids to anyone who wears their jeans that tight.
I have to admit, getting the kids in to goat tying would help out a whole lot in the spring around here. At least one of us would be able to catch the damned things.
[catch the kids? I know just how you feel. -ed.]
Wow... I had no idea there was a bunch of Little Britches rodeos right across North America, let alone a continent-wide mutton busting phenomenon. I thought it was some crazy thing cooked up in a little unknown (well, unknown unless you've seen Superman III) Alberta town...
I must be out of touch with my redneck roots; living in the city has made me forget about my cowboy-garb-wearing-rodeo-going childhood. (Although I do my fair share of "mutton-busting" at the little cafe down by the beach run by some Iranian immigrant friends... going for souvlaki tonight actually.)
[I think I learned about the Calgary Stampede were the rest of the Marvel faction of the US male population did: from the X-Men's encounter with Alpha Flight. There was no mention of mutton bustin'.-ed.]