America

Yesterday was the 4th of July, America’s birthday. :D and what a great day it was. I went to a rodeo with my friend Cathy, and it was AWESOME! :D and after the Rodeo we saw a great firework show! :D

At the Rodeo we saw Mutton busting, where little small children ride on the back of a sheep before they are knocked off. Most the time they didn’t last very long, but one little kid, Ben, lasted a good long while. It was as if he was holding on for dear life. It was fantastic! You go Ben! :D

Similar to Mutton busting, was steer riding. Also for the kids, little older however, than Mutton busting. Little more scary to watch to be honest. Cathy said, after a six year old was announced to perform, that she wouldn’t let her six year old participate. me either. That’s scary stuff.

We also saw some other types of riding. By crazy horses, and don’t forget the bull ridding! Now when I think rodeo I think of bull riding. Scary stuff. Sometimes they get knocked off to the side, but sometimes they get right underneath the bull! There are lots of gasps when that happens.

My least favorite event however was the calf roping. A calf would be let loose and a man on a horse would follow after and jump it, tackle it, and tie up three of its legs together. So sad. one time one of the little calves tried getting up and it was super sad to watch. Sometimes the little calves would out smart the cowboy and run free without getting roped and tackled. Haha. :D You go little calves! :D

Similar to that was steer roping, which was done in teams of two cowboys. One would rope the horns and the other one the back legs. Also there was an event in which they would tackle the steer! Whoa!

Let’s see, what else did we see? Oh yes. We saw barrel racing. That was cool. two types. One was in carts, two of them, four horses each. Super cool! However there was a little oops. it was a really close race, but the one guy who was in the lead, his back wheels feel off! Oops! nobody was hurt thankfully. The second was a single rider going around three barrels. At times the horse would almost fall over. That caused some gasps as well. Man those horses are fast.

Speaking of fast horses, another event we saw was trick ridding. These four girls showed off multiple tricks. Very impressive! They would stand on the horse, flip around while riding, and sometimes just hang on by only their foot!! Whoa! Intense! The horses were super fast and very well trained. The girls must be really fit to be able to do that. so awesome to watch!

Some other cool tricks we saw were lasso tricks. Very cool! They got those lassos so big, they would jump through them like a jump rope, sit one the ground, move around in a circle while on the ground, fit it around two of them, etc. it was incredible!

Oh yes, and don’t forget the rodeo clowns. They were pretty silly with their jokes to keep us interested and entertained between the different events. Haha.

My favorite part of the night however was actually at the beginning. They had representatives of the different arm forces that protect our country come out holding their symbols on flags and then someone with the Utah flag, and then of course the American flag in which we all stood up for. A girl came out and sang the national anthem. I don’t recall the last time that I had the opportunity to stand for the flag and hear the national anthem. It was very moving with all the force representative there and was a very “proud to be an American” moment. It was awesome and so moving. I am very grateful to be an American and to be a part of this beautiful country. :) 

Sincerely,

Sarah