Cheyenne Frontier Days

Every year, we make our annual pilgramage to Cheyenne for the "Daddy of em All". Cheyenne's Rodeo is the largest outdoor rodeo as well as one where a lot of cowboys and cowgirls can cash in on the purse of over $2 million. Amazing rodeo if you have never seen it before. Non-Stop action for more than 2 1/2 hours. I love to go and shoot for my own practice and timing. Here are som exciting pictures from this year. Cheyenne had more than 3" of rain the night before, so the arena and the track were more like a nice lake than something you would like to work in.



I believe the bulls won this round of bull riding. The count was Bulls 30 and Cowboys 2.

There was some very "Rough" stock at this performance.

This was one brave cowboy. Cheyenne's arena is very very long. This bulldoger hung on past the camera pit which is 1/2 way down the arena and then dove off onto his steer and threw him. Very, very brave. That is going full tilt on a very fast horse and making the conscious choice to JUMP OFF.. Kind of like jumping out of a very good airplane.. nuts. He had no chance of winning money, but man, the crowd was amazed. He had a nice laundry bill to show for it though.

Cheyenne no longer has the Indian Relay Races, but do a Match Race instead. These are quarter horses doing the 1/4 mile sprints from a walk up start. They have to be facing the opposite direction when the gun goes off. First one to the finish line advances. The prize is bragging rights, a cash purse and a horse trailer.
The final event at Cheyenne every day is the Wild Horse Race. This is one wild event to watch. There is always too much going on to watch everything. I chose this team because I captured this cowboy getting struck on the head last year and recieving a nice laceration. I can't believe he was back doing it again! He is the "Mugger" and the one that has to try and keep the horse distracted and front end on the ground. Tough job on a young horse that has not been handled let alone SEEN many humans before. After the event, there are many stories to swap and laundry to do on this day.

The lucky ones get to ride around the track and hopefully have a nice 'gentle' horse on the finish line. With any luck, the crowd won't scare the horse back around the track for another lap and the dismount won't be too painful.

More Sneak Peak

Thanks to Gardiner's for allowing us to use their place for a great backdrop!

Sneak Peak

Here is a sneak peak at Luke's pictures.

Wildlife

I haven't had a chance to get out and take many pictures this last week, so it was a joy to stop and take some time to travel around this weekend. My objective was to capture a few shots of Wagner's mares and colts along with stopping by Cervi's bucking horses again. The weather threatened me a couple of times with looming clouds, but somehow managed to miss our area. During my travels, wildlife wandered across my path...or rather, I wandered across theirs.

Coyote. Pronounced many different ways and loved and hated in as many. Their name means "barking dog", but I believe it would be better suited to be called yipping dog. Each evening just about dusk and each morning just about dawn you can hear packs of them yipping and howling to reconnect with their families. Sometimes that means that our domestic dogs also join in for a harmony of howling as well. It is interesting to note that this is one of the only animals that has been extensively hunted by man, but has managed to enlarge it's territory and hunting range. They are very intelligent hunters. I was privileged to witness a coyote and a badger cooperatively hunting prairie dogs. I even managed to capture some pictures on multiple occasions about 6 years ago. (for more info - Badger & Coyote Cooperative Hunting)

They say that when you see deer or antelope with twins it is Mother Nature's prediction that we will have an easy winter. There are many mother antelope around this year with twins. I wonder if the prediction will hold true.

And here is a sneak peek at an image from Wagner's colts. They were curious and playful, then needed a nap.

Harvest Time

It is harvest time of year again. Between the semi trucks, combines and pickups driving around for harvest along with the crews putting up the windtowers, our dusty, lonely county roads have turned into mini highways. Who would have thought we would see so much traffic on our little 'trail road'.
If you have never had a chance to hear the wind rustle through a field of wheat, you are missing out on a wonderful sound. You don't have to be a farmer to appreciate how nature can grow such a crop. It takes the right timing of rain, soil temperatures, winter freeze and hot summer days to bring it all to a harvest.
My husband has been out on the combine and helping with harvest this last week. I think his two favorite times of year are branding season and harvesting. I even climbed on for a round this year. It is nice to see the harvest bringing in a yeild after so many years of low prices, drought and disease. I hope that the blessings continue to all the farmers and ranchers this year.

Seniors 2008 and Bird Dogs

Time has flown. I was post processing Daniel's senior pictures and getting them ready for him to preview and I noticed I had written 2007 on some of them! 2008 Seniors. Wow. Daniel was a great model and has some handsome portraits to choose from.




Seniors - I only have 2 spots left, so call me soon to book your senior pictures!

I also had the privilege of photographing some bird dogs for the Panhandle Hunting Retrievers Club in Bridgeport Nebraska. What a fun day. The young started dogs were great to watch and were so excited to retrieve birds for their owners.