Morning rodeo.

© 2012 Ashley J George. All Rights Reserved. 

Karin is a cowgirl . . . a very good cowgirl so this morning I went out to West World to watch her do her thing. . . I got there, super easy to find as it is near where I grew up. Finding Karin on the other hand, was not that easy.

I walked in to a place where there are dune buggies and golf carts whizzing by you, people on horses, people walking horses and people warming up horses. You definitely needed to focus on where you were going . . . but what do you do when you don't know what is going on?!

I spent some time enjoying the surroundings. Watching people command these beautiful animals into trotting, something with using the reins to pull their heads backwards and running around REALLY fast in circles. How could something so weird be normal? and why do you do that? and don't you get dizzy?!

After taking a few photos of these people I set out to find Karin. I walked up to this information table and thought it would be really easy. "How do I find someone if I don't know where they are supposed to be or what barn they're in?" This old cowboy behind the table paused for a second, I think to make sure I really just asked that question, but then politely pointed me to the registration building.

I go inside and wait in line as people are registering and then finally the lady asked how she could assist me. I asked her the same thing I asked the old cowboy outside. She too looked at me like I was crazy. Then asked if I knew the horses number . . . I said no . . . she then said she could only look them up by number or horse. "Oh I know the horses name." "Ok what is it?" "Peaches." About ten people burst out laughing . . . apparently horses are only registered under their proper names not their everyday names.

You could tell the woman behind me was frustrated, though she helped me and asked, "Do you know what they do?" All I could remember after being laughed out of the rodeo was that Karin did cutting from a previous conversation. So the woman pointed me to the arena where the cattle events were.

I went over there and watched the men do their thing for a bit, took some pictures and then decided to try and find some information somewhere else. I walked along the barns to the other information house and no one was there.

I then asked a woman on a dune buggy if she knew where I might find out barn assignments. . . she pointed me the the place where she found hers, though apparently I was too late because that information house looked like a ghost town.

Finally, after trying to be a detective, calling Karin and texting her . . . I decided to head back to the office with Peaches' apples. Looks like you're going to have to wait to get them until next week little lady.

Even though I didn't get to see Karin ride, I did get to see a glimpse into this amazing world that you hear about. The women are dressed up in this unimaginable sparkly shirts and everyone is wearing cowboy boots. It's pretty cool. Hopefully I will be able to share some shots of Karin and Peaches from their next rodeo, when we can figure out a meeting spot.

For some photos click HERE.