It’s Not Our First Rodeo!

It’s great to be back in San Antonio! One of the highlights of the year in this city is the San Antonio Stock Show and Rodeo, which runs from February 6-23. Sunday, we made our first visit, attending Cowboy Church. For all three Sundays during the rodeo, a service is held (in the Auction Barn), featuring a musical performance as well as a special speaker. We were fortunate to share the music of Jason Allen, a Texas singer/songwriter, whose latest album, Here’s To You, was released this past May. We were entertained by When Prayers Go Up, Blessings Come Down and then were invited to sing along to I’ll Fly Away, Amazing Grace, and A Closer Walk With Thee. The message was then shared by Mike Fletcher, a former rodeo champion who calls himself a “jailhouse preacher.” He conducts his ministries in prisons and shares the good news with inmates. His message was a very positive one, based on the assertion – “Rebuild the man and the world will take care of itself!”

Following Cowboy Church we spent most of the day cruising the fairgrounds and watching various rodeo events. We started in the Cattle Barn, watching the judging of cattle and Brahman Heifers. Not being sure what exactly they were judging, I engaged the gentleman standing next to me – definitely a true cowboy – in a discussion about cattle judging. He said it was basically a beauty contest, with judges looking for symmetry, balance, strong stance and other body structural elements. Our new friend, Carl Keel, is a heavy hitter in the field of breeding, explaining to us about frozen embryos and bull sperm – fascinating!

Moving on, we witnessed two events in the Collegiate Rodeo – goat tying and women’s barrel racing! Everything comes down to seconds in both of these events and one or two seconds can really make a difference! We wandered through many exhibits, saw numerous animals, and in my flip-flops, strategically dodged animal “flops” of all shapes and sizes – guess my shoe selection was not the wise one for the day’s activity! In fact, all day long, I felt like a Jersey girl in a cowgirl’s world – but I love the rodeo!

In addition to all of this, Bill and I never stop learning – no matter what we do! In fact, did you know…

that horses and cows have skin that is 5-7 times thicker than a human?
that horses never get full – we should all be so lucky!
that horse’s teeth never stop growing?
that horses have 16 muscles in each ear, allowing then to rotate their ears 180 degrees?
chickens can remember over 100 different faces of people or animals?
the record number of eggs laid by a chicken in a day is 7?
cows can see in color and can smell up to six miles away?

No visit to the rodeo is complete without a stroll through the midway to take in all the culinary sights and smells – and yes – tastes! You can get almost anything imaginable “fried” – butter, pickles, oreos, bologna – you name it. And look at these other delicacies – the infamous turkey leg and everyone’s favorite fair food – sausage, onions, and peppers!