All you need to do is grab the wild horse, saddle ’em and ride ’em… *No bridle provided.

Saturday was National Cowboys Day, and we’ve decided to celebrate with some photos from this year’s World’s Oldest Rodeo®. As a matter of fact, with the Arizona Cowboy Poets Gathering coming up on August 8-10, we’ve decided to feature a different aspect of the rodeo each day for the next couple of weeks. 

Both the World’s Oldest Rodeo® and the Cowboy Poet’s Gathering share an unusual characteristic – their participants are all either currently or previously part of the working cowboy’s environment and workplace. Their boots scuffle in the dirt, they groom their own horses, they toss bales of hay into stacks. They don’t just talk Western Culture, they live it.

Head to the World’s Oldest Rodeo® and after the grand entry parade and other introductions, you’ll hear a whistle, and then, all hell literally breaks loose. It’s the Wild Horse Race, and it can easily be described as pure pandemonium. After turning several horses loose in the arena, three people on each team have to grab their wild horse, put a saddle on him, and then a member of the team needs to ride the horse through a spot between a barrel and the fence. 

Here’s a video interview with a Wild Horse Race team. It’s from 2011, but it offers a glimpse into what these cowboys go through.

We call this progress…

“C’mon, baby. Don’t pay attention to that guy trying to put a saddle on you.”

“I think I’m just going to sit here. Whatcha gonna do about that?”

“WooHoo! I’m on!”

You know the old saying, “You can lead a horse to water…”

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