Big Sky Equine Marketing Services

The air was heavy and warm last week as we attended the Ranch Rodeo in Bozeman with our own team. The rodeo was held the 19th of July, 2008 during the Gallatin Valley Fair. The crowd was anxious and filled the entire grandstands waiting for the excitement of the evening. Their was four events that each of the eight teams had to compete in and at the close of the night they held the saddle bronc riding. For those unfamiliar with Ranch Rodeos they are different from traditional rodeos in several ways. Teams compete instead of individuals and the events vary. Some require a woman or child be on the team, others require only those from the same ranch compete. These events are collaborated from everyday ranch jobs such as team doctoring, team branding, team penning, and non-traditional events sometimes are added in for more entertainment such as the relay race where they all run full bore on horseback and pick up another rider at the other end of the arena- dust flying, horses bucking and the crowd going wild. A usual favorite is the wild cow milking where the team has to rope a cow (beef not dairy) and attempt to collect milk from her in a bottle and proceed to race across the arena's deep sand to hand the milk bottle to the judge - it is a timed event and quite a riot to see four grown men trying to hold a not so cooperative cow still enough to collect milk in a tiny bottle hole. As the sun sheds hues of purples, pinks, and oranges across the darkening sky and mountainous backdrop we all leave, each of us secretly longing for the excitement and romance of the life of a cowboy.

Congratulations to our team- the Bull Mountain Boys from Custer, Montana for your overall second place in the 2008 Bozeman Ranch Rodeo!