Galveston County Rodeo

As we were arriving in the Houston area back in March, the huge Houston Rodeo and Livestock Show was just wrapping up.  We thought about going, but with it being our first day in the area and not knowing our way around . . . not to mention the huge crowds that go to the Houston Rodeo (Brad Paisley was the headliner on Sat., and George Strait on Sunday), we decided to skip it.

Later when we saw that the Galveston County Fair and Rodeo was coming up, we decided that it was more our speed, and our friends Tom & Karen thought so, too, so we made plans to go together.

The rodeo was in the evening, and we got there a couple hours early so we could walk around and check out the fair beforehand.  It was similar to the county fair at home, with 4H animals on display, carnival rides, and fair food!

We walked through the animal barn first – the cows were getting ready for showing.

This guy was a very interesting color – I’ve never seen a stripes hide on a cow before.

I think this poor guy was some type of educational display (and no, Tom is NOT doing what it looks like he’s doing!  )

The cows are always my favorites, but there were pigs and chickens, too,

and turkeys!  We had to make the Toms pose with the turkeys!!

Just a couple of “Tom Turkeys”!!

After checking out all the animals, we still had time before the rodeo was due to start, so we walked towards the fair to see what was going on. 

We passed by these silly clowns,

and they decided that I needed a balloon hat . . . and a red nose!

Oh yes, that’s cute . . . I let Tom wear the hat for a while!

We walked through the rides,

(It was a little foggy that evening)

more rides, food booths,

and carnival games.

Beyond the carnival area, we were surprised to see a huge number of BBQ cookers set up – it looked like they came from all over Texas, and even the surrounding states! 

It smelled really good around there, but all of the areas were roped off and had “By invitation only” signs, and we weren’t sure what you had to do to get invited!

It was getting close to rodeo time then, so we made our way back to the big pavilion and found some seats.

Just in time for the Star Spangled Banner!

We saw Bronco Riding (didn’t catch any pictures of that), calf roping,

and barrel racing  --  that’s a girl’s sport . . . . and they’re pretty darn good at it!  They have to be really fast, and have excellent control over their horse!

There were a couple of events for the kids then.  The first group had to try to grab a ribbon off the tail of five calves . . .

The kids all lined up in the center of the arena,

and the calves were released . . . they did not want to let the kids get close to them!!

There were a few helpers around to help slow the calves down . . .

It looked like all the kids had fun, and nobody got run over, so that was a good thing!

The next group of kids had to try to catch a little pig . . .

that was hilarious – as soon as the cowboys released the pigs, they made a beeline for the fence around the arena and took off outside!  They eventually caught both of them, though!

The next event was a team event – it looked like mostly guys in their 20s participating in this one.  There were several bulls released in the arena, and each team had to catch one,

get a saddle on it,

and get one team member up in the saddle to ride the bull!

The team that kept their guy on the bull the longest was the winner . . . and there weren’t many who managed to stay on the bull for more than a second or two, but this guy stayed on and rode the bull all around the arena!  IT was hilarious!

The final event of the night was the bull riding, and the clowns were getting ready!

There were several guys who attempting the ride, and not too many were successful . . . and it was very difficult to get pictures. 

Some of these bulls were really feisty!  One guy got stepped on pretty bad, but he managed to get back on his feet!

This bull looked like he didn’t want anybody on his back, and he was letting everybody know it!

That was the end of the show, and we made our way out of the arena.  We were surprised at how many people were still there, riding the rides and listening to the band,

and as we were walking out to the parking lot, people were still coming in!  It was still pretty foggy, but otherwise a really nice night.

It was fun, and just enough rodeo for us!