Every year, we make it a point to go to the North Texas State Fair. It's not the one with "Big Tex" that you see on TV, but it's no slouch, either. There's the standard midway rides, photography contests, kids events, stock shows, bands, and rodeos. Well, we don't watch a lot of TV, as is evidenced by the 21" set in our living room, but on one night we happened to see a commercial for the fair. This commercial listed a website, so like any good geek, I immediately picked up the laptop to see what it was about.
Reading the website, I saw the standard events, but I saw something listed called "mutton bustin'." I had never even heard of such a thing, much less actually be aware that muttons required bustin'. I opened up a can of Google on it and ran across a video someone had taken of this very event at this very location. Little kids riding sheep in a rodeo arena. Such an event had the Hartman name all over it. It said that signup for the event closed the previous week, but I called anyway and was told there were slots left. Later that night, I showed the video to Austin & Kylie and asked them if they wanted to do it. They were both sure they wanted to. Ella was too, but it's for four to six year-olds only.
We signed up for Tuesday night and showed up early for registration. The night of, Jodi took our busters of mutton back to get them checked in, while I kept Ella and the electronic documentation devices. After getting signed up, they got suited up, which included a padded vest and rodeo helmet, provided by the Fair. Whilst they were getting ready, I was chatting it up with a lady in the stands. She was mentioning that apparently it's easier to use a rope, rather than hang on to the wool. I had never heard of a rope for this, so there obviously would be no rope for this event.
Well, Kylie is first up and the sheep bolts out of the gate. At four years old, without any rope, there's just not a whole lot to hang onto, nor are your arms long enough to wrap around the neck of the thing. She lasted for a second or two, then was down. Austin was up next and had the advantage of another couple of years of growth to put against the future lambchop. He lasted about three seconds, which was apparently enough to qualify him to come back during the main rodeo on Saturday and try for the big win.
Well, I've never roped anything other than an unsuspecting woman into marrying me, so I knew that I'd have to consult an expert. It just so happens that I work with a real cowboy. A co-worker by the name of Ed Burleson did team-roping & bull-riding and even had his own ranch for a while, until an injury from the sport caused his early retirement. He and I beseiged the Internet, finding any reference to "mutton bustin' ropes" that we could. In the end, Eddie had it all figured out and described what I needed. Since I'm new to this, he showed me the rope arrangement I needed by roping another coworker with a piece of CAT-5 ethernet cable. Well, with a slight detour, Home Depot can be on my way home, so I set about getting an 8-10' length of 3/8" nylon rope, so that my warriors might enter the field of battle with the proper weaponry.
The night of, I headed back with Austin to help him get suited up. He got his gear on and I roped up the sheep whilst whispering threats of mint sauce. Austin climbed atop his trusty/tasty steed and bolted out of there... He actually almost made it until the buzzer! When all was said and done, he ended up placing third in his first Mutton Bustin rodeo ever.
