Waiting for cutting again.

Cutting is my least favorite rodeo event, and not just because it makes me sit around and wait for it. I find it really dull, probably because I don't know enough about the skills involved to appreciate it. Cutting appears to consist of ambling a horse through a crowd of cattle. It's very calm and low-key, and everyone politely applauds with golf applause when someone ambles a horse with particular skill.

I started out liking the rough stock riding events (saddle broncs, bareback broncs and bull riding), mainly because they were exciting. There's real potential for injury to the contestants, the animals are powerful and cool to watch, and it's easy to appreciate.

As I've gotten to know rodeo more, I've come to appreciate some of the other events, like pole bending. Pole bending is horse slalom; a girl rides her horse into the arena, past six poles arranged in a line. She weaves back through them, back through again, and then out. Fastest time wins, and there's a five second penalty for every pole knocked over.

When it's done right, pole bending is as graceful as any ballet, as the girl and her horse glide and weave through the poles. Sometimes you'd swear that they're not touching the arena floor ...

Pole bending isn't as instantly cool as bull riding. But it's well worth learning to appreciate it, and I'm glad I did.

I still think cutting is dull, though.

Songs and rodeo tech

One of the things I like about rodeo, and especially about working for a rodeo is all of the stuff that's involved in running one. Some of that is because of the technology involved - I'm a sucker for interesting tech. (I sometimes waste whole hours thinking of ways to automate even more of the rodeo stuff, until eventually the humans aren't needed and we're taken over by robot overlords. Then I think about leading a small but brave band of resistance fighters in the terrible struggle against the robots. Then I think of what sort of music should be playing while we defeat the metal tyrants - probably a punk cover of Styx's "Mr. Roboto" - and then I look out the window and wonder where I am, because I was just supposed to be going to the store and now I don't recognize anything. This is why you should be careful about thinking.) A lot of what I like about rodeo, though, is the human side. The NHSRA includes not just the US, but also Canada and Australia, so I've gotten to meet people from all over the world of rodeo, and I really like a lot of them.

We begin every performance with riders carrying the three national flags as well as the NHSRA flag. They ride into the arena, circle it, and then line up in the middle. Each of the national flag carriers takes turns riding around the arena while someone sings the national anthem - if someone can be found to do so. There's generally no shortage of girls who want to sing "The Star-Spangled Banner" (I don't know why we have to have an anthem that's so difficult to sing), and there's usually a Canadian or two willing to take a stab at "O, Canada", but we often don't have someone to sing the Australian anthem. They used to play a recording on tape, but that always seemed so ... lifeless. So Bryan and I learned the Australian anthem and sing it when there's no one else. (We can also do "O, Canada" when required, and Bryan can sing "The Star-Spangled Banner". I can if I start on exactly the right note, something I'm not willing to risk in front of a couple of thousand people.)

The Australian anthem is a neat song; the range is possible for the non-professional singer, and the words really show Aussie character: "Australians all, let us rejoice, for we are young and free. We've golden soil and wealth for toil..." I like singing it. And it's something I doubt I'd have ever learned, if it weren't for rodeo.

Rodeo Geekery

I grew up overseas (that is, not in the US) for the most part, and I never thought I'd get interested in - and certainly not involved with - rodeo. My perception of rodeo was that it was a silly thing, for redneck boys who never wanted to grow up and who felt the need to annoy animals for fun.

Almost twenty years ago, my coblogger Bryan started working for the NHSRA, rewriting the computer program they used to run their national finals. It does things like randomly sort the contestants into events, track scores and so on; it's an important part of the finals. At the time, when he talked about it, I thought that it sounded deathly dull. Who cared about rodeo? I didn't see any reason, except possibly large sums of money, to get involved.

Over the next few years, it was just part of the summer schedule; Bryan would be gone for a couple of weeks in July. When he got back, I'd ask him how the rodeo went, and he would tell me that it went fine. And then he would talk about the events, and I would listen politely in that way that we do when the person speaking to us is blethering on about something dull, but we don't want to hurt their feelings by actually walking away.

Ten years ago, his regular cohort couldn't go, and he invited me. I needed money at the time, so I was happy to go along. We went to Gillete, Wyoming, for the 50th anniversary National High School Finals Rodeo, and it was a very cool trip. We spent a couple of days travelling there, including camping in Rocky Mountain National Park, which was a lot of fun.

And the rodeo went well. I enjoyed it and was quite excited about some of the geeky ideas we had, ideas for making the rodeo tech work even better. I even enjoyed some of the events. I learned about the difference between rough stock and timed events, learned that I enjoyed watching rodeo.

Flash forward a few years; Bryan called to tell me that the NHSRA was adding a junior high finals, and would I like to go? I would, as it turned out. The Wrangler Junior High Finals Rodeo (WJHFR) went very well, and I enjoyed the setting even more.

Now I'm fully a rodeo geek. I've learned a lot about rodeo and about rodeo people, those who compete and those who run the rodeo. I'm proud to be able to help out.

Cutting purgatory

Cutting is a rodeo event. Cutting involves:

1. Unloading cattle herds
   
2. Culling unloaded cattle herds
3. Changing culled unloaded cattle herds
4. Settling changed culled unloaded cattle herds
5. Raking an arena for the settled changed culled unloaded cattle herds to mill about in
   
6. Arraying 4 herdholders, 3 judges, 1 secretary, 1 event director, 1 timer and 1 announcer, and possibly an anthem singer
   
7. Ummmm....
8. Oh, yeah. Occasionally we let a contestant walk a highly trained, expensive quarterhorse into the settled changed culled unloaded cattle herd and try to separate one out to play with for 2.5 minutes per turn.

As you can see, the priorities are heavily on the cattle, and not so much on the proceeding with the competitive event. This is probably why cutting lasts so long.

< Announcer Voice >
"Cutting horse competition! Lasts 35% longer than any other event on the market!"
</ Announcer Voice >

It takes longer to have 2 groups of 20-25 cutters complete their event than to operate 5 of any other rodeo events. By at least an hour. This is why many of these blog posts are likely to appear during the long tail of the rodeo performance comet - that point after the bright chunk of rodeo rock in the timed and rough stock arenas is gone, and before we can run the cumulative award results, like all-around cowperson, state team ranks, and AQHA Horse Of The Year.

We are trapped in a cutting purgatory. Help!