Blood Sweat And Tears

Proceed At Your Own Risk


The very essence of any rodeo is danger.
If some cowboy wasn't inches or seconds away from getting seriously damaged, why would anyone bother to watch?
Man vs Beast, in all it's primal glory.
(Not to slight the girls--I've seen several get knocked off their mounts at the charreada and it was only luck that let them get back up instead of going to the hospital).

The main point is that it's a dangerous sport for all concerned.
And there is a rich cultural heritage that deserves to be maintained.
If we ban rodeos, what's next? Not being able to smoke in bars?


In this series of photos we start AFTER a horse was so uncooperative that it took almost ten minutes to get to a point where the ride could start.
(I would have said "Screw him" by then and gotten the show moving along, but this is the Charreada).

Someone opened the gate an inch to "help" and the horse used his big muscled butt to knock it wide open, much like Tim Duncan in the low post.
Keeping with the Spurs references, Mayhem (Ginobili) ensued:
Remember the color of the rider's shirt.

How much of the charro can you find?


I was glad to see him still in one piece, trying to stay alive:



What happened next was around 15 minutes of unsuccessful attempts to get this crazy-ass horse down the chute out of the ring:
Seeing the poor thing bleeding like this was sad and pretty much bummed everyone out at the time, but as I recall the events while looking at ALL of my photos, that horse was an asshole who nobody should have tried to ride and he nearly killed a man.
It was a fair fight, and despite a little blood the horse won.



Just so we don't end on a sour note...

This is my favorite shot of the day:
I had already taken a bunch of pictures of this miniature horse "backstage" but when the little boy rode him out during the opening ceremony I felt there was something extra special that needed capturing.
All of my other takes are cool and tell part of the story, but this one is the best by far because of his smile.

Boys And Girls And Lassos

More from the Charreada:


The SA Stock Show & Rodeo is a huge well-oiled machine.
Everything happens according to schedule, and it's very impressive.
The Charreada is anything but.
Things happen when they happen and nobody gets their panties in a bunch over delays.
Kind of charming and certainly true to it's roots, since everyone is there to have fun instead of trying to win big money.


The young girls are the true daredevils--the intermingling patterns they ride are more dangerous than trying to stay on a bucking horse or steer (most of the time).
All the more amazing when you finally notice that they ride side-saddle!


I got the impression after 2 visits that only teenage girls ride--no children or adults.
But males of all ages, from 6 to sixty-six it seemed, are on horses and throwing loops of rope.







More to come...



Technical Detour:
At the very beginning of the day I took off my favorite 50mm lens and used the 55-200mm zoom throughout.
When you're stuck ringside during the action, a zoom is the only way to go.
What surprised me a little upon seeing the photos is how much I still really like this lens, after not using it hardly at all over the last year. There's a smoothness to it's pictures that is very pleasing to my eye, yet when things get gritty it manages to hang in there and capture that contrast.
For an inexpensive zoom lens, it performs well enough for my needs and the results remind me so much of the 50mm's that they sometimes seem to be a matched pair.
(Sony's curved aperture blades are surely a big part of this).

I'm hoping that the 35mm F1.8 that I plan on buying next will exhibit the same qualities so I can extend my range into tighter spaces and maintain a consistent "look".

The Charreada

It's been four years since our last (and first) charreada. I want to go every year at this time, but it never seems to work out.
Today I got up early despite working last night, and also DVR'd the Spurs' first playoff game just so we could go.
Last time I got some decent photos so I wanted to see if I would get inspired again.












And just like last time I ended up behind the scenes, down in the dirt with the horses and the flies.
Instead of being invited into their world I just acted like I belonged there and boldly went wherever I wanted.






...to be continued

Horses, Bulls, And Cowboys

More from the 2011 San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo

Thanks to Holly we got some decent seats--much better than any previous year.

Team roping is one of my favorites.


I've never figured out how the 2nd guy gets a rope around the calf's legs.
To be honest, some of them don't.

Here's my favorite sequence:
The rider's raised hand signifies that he's ready, after a rather long time spent getting to this point.

But I would imagine he wasn't quite ready for this:


Followed by this:


He managed to hang on to that wild beast, but was also awarded a re-ride a little later.


All 4 hooves are off the ground:


The bulls were all crazy this year:


Only one rider managed to hang on for the full 8 seconds and win some money on this night, and I don't think this was him:

Barbed Wire

These are the actual photos I took during the SuperBowl last Sunday--the previous post had pics from the previous visit.





Red didn't want to hang out.



He just kept facing North, for well over an hour.



So I shifted gears.

Superbowl Sunday

We had a nice little football and commercials party at Holly's house:



Got to hang out with Red:



And Dixie:


Good food, good people, good game.
Drank wine for a change, after some whisky to light my fuse.

Dos Caballos

This is my new friend Dixie:





And this is Red:

Hang On!

Where will this guy end up?

In the laps of these people!

Let's take a moment to admire the horses.

Back to the action.

Our seats weren't as good as these views make them seem.
The Rodeo is one of the only events at the ATT Center where anyone can bring in professional cameras, so I take advantage of it.