We had a great time Sunday at the prison rodeo. Sorry there's no rodeo pictures; cameras, cell phones, food, coolers, etc are not allowed in the prison. The place was a sell out (9400 seats) and there were acres of inmate crafts for sale. The most common were wood (chairs rockers, bird houses/feeders, basic furniture), leather (belts, purses) and jewelry. The rodeo was interesting, there were traditional events such as bareback riding, barrel racing (the ladies were not inmates), bull dogging, & bull riding. Considering that all of the 5200 inmates are there for a minimum of 40 years if not life or execution ....they have nothing to loose and free health care. The fun events were pinball, buddy pickup, convict poker, and guts & glory. I really enjoyed pinball! 8 inmates each stand in 8 hoola hoop and a 1500 pound bull with very big horns is turned loose. The last man inside their hoop wins. The first pass by the bull usually takes out 4 or 5 inmates. It wasn't unusual to see 2 or 3 inmates 10 feet in the air at once. One time there were 2 inmates left, the bull was 20 feet from them, it's head down & kicking dirt with it's front hoofs. It was a stand off for 15 or 20 seconds, can you imagine what those 2 convicts were thinking while they stand there with a 1500 pound bull getting ready to send them flying? They have to be thinking of their buddies that limped or crawled or were carried out of the area. Sometimes the inmates think with their heads and run like mad to get out, sometimes the guys have more guts than I could imagine and stand there staring back at the bull.
Buddy pickup has one inmate standing on a barrel while another rides bareback to have him jump onto the horse and ride out of the arena, most made the jump successfully but ended up falling off the horse as the rode out. Convict poker has 4 inmates sitting on plastic chairs around a table and the bull is again released. The last mad sitting wins. Again tables, chairs and inmates go flying, mostly inmates. The guts & glory event has 25 or 30 inmates in the arena trying to get a chip off a bulls forehead tied to its horns. The fellow who gets the chip gets $500, a lot of $$$ for an inmate.
I haven't mentioned the monkeys riding dogs herding the goats.
Just wish I had some photos, there's a good chance we'll go again.
