Howdy, this is the Chief Science Officer Jennifer Sontag reporting from Denver, Colorado with the monthly update.
I have learned that in about a week there will be a fantastic and larger then life event in Denver, it’s called the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo + horse show. It has been going on in the city for about 107 years in the same location. The show runs about 15 days starting on Saturday the 12th through the 27th. They have events for the whole family everything from wild and woolly rodeos to stock dogs to horse shows events to kids showing off their prize winning animals they have raised from birth.
Some of the more exciting events happen in the coliseum, it’s called RODEO. The rodeo has a long history in the mile hi city dating back to when Denver was still a wild west town. It has a lot of events featuring the talented cowboys and the animals.
Two of the more exciting events in the rodeo are the bareback and the saddle bronco riders. In both events it pits the cowboys against the specialty breed the bucking bronco. The horses they use in each event are specialized bred horses that have come from a long line of broncos (i don’t mean the Denver ones). In the first event the bareback riders, have no saddle just a rig they call “rig” that is basically a ring attached to a strap that goes around the horses withers. The cowboy inserts his hand into the rigging and attempts to stay on the bronco for 8 seconds. In the saddle bronc events the cowboy are sitting on a small specialized saddle that just has a small pad and small stirrups. The cowboy is holding onto the horse by a strap that is attached to the horses halter. In the saddle bronc event the cowboy once the gate swings open must kick his legs in the air to the rhythm of ht horses buck if he doesn’t he doesn’t get any points for the ride.
The highest point ever recorded for the bareback bronc riding was set in 2002 by Wes Stevenson at 94 points.
After having observed this phoneme for the last couple of years, i can’t wait to see what happens when the USS TIburon docks for awhile and the crew gets to take in the show in Denver a week from Saturday.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddle_bronc_and_bareback_bronc_riding
Signing off until next time