Moses Lake Roundup

For 6 years, my husband has told me how great the Grant County Fair and Rodeo are. Dusty grew up in Moses Lake and has very fond memories of the fair. He raised bunnies, sheep, and even a Cow (Big Mac) for the fair when he was younger, and loves all the animals. I think he will be a forever farmer :). This year as we did not have work to interfere we decided to make the trek east to visit the fair and rodeo.

I have to admit, I am a little slow when it comes to rodeo. I generally think of big mean bulls, crazy cowboys trying to hold on for dear life. I was quite enlighted during the rodeo to learn that there are 7 events. Yes 6 more than I was previously aware of.

They include the following

• Bare Back (On horses)
• Saddle bronc (Also horses)
• Calf roping/tie-down
• Team Roping
• Steer wrestling
  
• Barrel Racing, and of course
  
• Bull Riding
  

Bare Back and Saddle bronc are similar to bull riding, but is done on horses. All three have to stay on for 8 seconds to get a score. The other events are timed, meaning the fastest time to complete the task wins.

I think Calf Roping and team roping were my favorite events. In Calf Roping, they let the calf run ahead and they have to throw a rope to catch the calf around it's neck, then get off their horse, and turn the calf on it's back and then tie three legs together. A good time is about 9 seconds or so.



My second favorite was team roping. This task there is a team of two cowboys both on horses. They release a steer and the goal is for one cowboy to rope the steer by the horns, and the other is supposed to rope the steer by the back legs. There was only one team that successfully completed the task correctly and they did it under 6 seconds.

Steer wrestling is where two guys chase a steer, and then one guys jumps off his horse and tackles the steer to the ground. These are big animals, and I am amazed anyone can do it.





Barrel Racing is the only event for the cowgirls. They ride on horses and have to circle three barrels completely and then run back out of the arena. A good time is about 17 seconds or so.

The Bullriding at this rodeo was very intense. There was only about 1 or 2 guys that successfully rode their bulls for 8 seconds that night, and these were top ranked cowboys. Apparently Grant County raises some mean aggressive bulls.

Overall it was a great time, and I thoroughly enjoyed my first rodeo, and all the other entertainment in between events was great as well. I vaguely remember Dusty telling me his favorite part of rodeo were the clowns and this clown was pretty clever and really got the crowd involved. They also had some Cowgirls come and perform some pretty cool roping and horse riding stunts.