Fourth of July First Weekend Rodeos
Posted on: Jul 13, 2013 by Web Admin
Big Timber, Polson, and Augusta, MT.
Cowboy Christmas! One of rodeos highest paying weeks of the year, and whether you are a professional rodeo cowboy, only go to the amatuers or go to both you usually hit a lot - A LOT - of rodeos during the week. Trevor, Orry, and I were hitting both the amatuers and the professional rodeos in Montana. Our week consisted of Big Timber, Polson, Augusta, Red Lodge, Ennis, Harlowton, Butte, and Drummond. These rodeos were spread across the state of Montana, and still required 1,926 miles of driving.
Our first rodeo was Big Timber and we were very prepared and focused to start the week off the right way and get some money in the pocket. It was also a relief to be off work and on the rodeo road. It is a great feeling to be able to pursue goals and aspirations and see hard work in the practice pen pay off. Orry and I knew that we had to drive to Polson after the performance in Big Timber so once we got to the rodeo we set ourselves up for a quick departure, filling water buckets and hay bags. We then checked our draw and saw that we may not have draw some of the most user friendly cattle. It sure turned out that way during the rodeo as well.
We all had our struggles at the Big Timber rodeo. While we all caught our calves, they were wild on the ground and did not allow us to place in the money. I waved it off short horns in the team roping, something that frustrates me beyond belief, and we did not get off to the start that we wanted for our 4th of July week. We left Big Timber about 9 PM and we were about ten miles outside of town and Orry says, "I love this." I look at him and say, "love what?", as I'm still trying to get over having two unsuccessful runs. He says, "being able to hop back into a pickup and head to another rodeo, who cares how we did at the last one because we will be competing again soon." A smile crept onto my face as I realized he was right and the mood in the pickup upgraded dramatically. We made the trip from Big Timber to Polson in about 6 hours, fueled by Town Pump Corn Dogs, Gatorade, and coffee.
At 3 in the morning we set up pens for our horses, got them feed and water and then climbed into the makeshift bed that Orry had made with a mattress in the nose of his stock trailer, thank goodness for cool Montana nights. We were able to get a couple hours of sleep and then were up ready to rodeo that morning. This rodeo was more successful than the last and we were able to take a good chunk of money from Polson. Orry managed to turn a bad situation of his horse shorting him into a good run in the calf roping for a second place finish and we made a nice run in the team roping for first. I was unable to set up the jerk down correctly on my calf and allowed him to run on the end of the rope. My calf horse had not been working the best lately and I needed to try a few alternative methods to get him to work better. After the rodeo, we went with Orry's girlfriend to eat lunch at a local cafe in Polson. This is a very beautiful town as it is surrounded by Flathead Lake, and would be a great place for anyone to plan a vacation. Specifically look into Flathead Lake Lodge in Big Fork, MT.
Once done with lunch we took off again for Augusta, MT, one of the most unique pro rodeos held anywhere. They get huge tourist crowds and the rodeo is definitaly held in an old west town. There is hardly any parking in the rodeo grounds so pickups and trailers line the highway. It is a great rodeo to be a part of ; we were up in the slack which was later in the afternoon from the Polson rodeo. We didn't have any luck here but mostly because we wasted chances on our own. I broke the barrier to win second int he tie down roping, as I drew a very good calf but did not know that he was that much slower than everything else before I ran him. I watched Orry get outrun right before me and did not expect my calf to act the way he did. So we headed home from the first part of our 4th of July run and looked forward to the rest of the week. All of us just happy to be able to pursue our goals in the sport that we love.