The Windy Ryon

The first time I saw the name of this rodeo, I thought somebody had spelled it wrong.  But, Windy was a cowboy from Fort Worth (not a Wendy, who would've been a cowgirl), and Ryon was his last name (not Ryan).  The Windy Ryon rodeo is an annual event, held on Memorial Day weekend, in Saginaw, Texas. Today, I had the fantastic opportunity of photographing during the women's roping competition.  My friend, Betsy Kingsbury, has roped in this rodeo for the last fifteen years. She wanted me to capture the feel of it...meet her friends, and watch the action.  What she didn't originally tell me was that we'd have to start out at 4:15 a.m. to drive there and get ready!  Betsy's husband, Tim, could be excused for sleeping in the back seat, since he'd flown in from California just hours earlier.  PJ, Betsy's horse, probably snoozed in his trailer.  But not us!

It was still dark when we arrived, but the sun quickly starting peeking out, and we weren't the only ones there. Hundreds of trucks and trailers were parked and getting ready for the day, too.

PJ is a handsome horse.  His fancy name is PJ's Prophetic Step (his daddy was Obvious Prophet). He's fifteen years old, and Betsy's pride and joy. PJ got a brisk brushing and some braids in his hair, before getting saddled, and taken for a quick ride to calm him down. By the way, I think this horse uses more product in his hair than either Betsy or I...

Our neighbors were getting ready, too.  Here, daughter demonstrates how to rope mother, before doing some braidwork of her own on her Palomino.

At 7 a.m., the books opened.  Each participant stood in line and paid $150 per person per entry. This year, there were 200 teams.

After that part was done, the Team numbers were duct-taped to a wall.  Although math is not my strong point, it appears that each person has three partners, and three opportunities to ride.  It's a progressive thing, so those with the top scores get to keep on going. It's probably obvious to you by now that this WAS my first rodeo...and there's a lot to learn!

In the meantime, many of the women got their horses ready to go in the arena.

Stay tuned for more rodeo photos!