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.