Last week, I met a group of Canadian fire fighters who are going to school here in College Station (We have the best fire school in North America) and one of them came over one afternoon to watch the Stanley Cup. I was enlightened with an abundance of knowledge of hockey...It also became a joke that they were going to take me ice skating, and being that I am from south Texas, and have little to any coordination, this would be a site to see!
But back to the story- When my friend walked in, he was immediately shocked by the cowhide rug on my floor. "What kind of animal is thhhattt?" he said. I explained to him that it was a cowhide was given to me during my year as Miss Rodeo Texas.
Then he noticed my boots and spurs by the door, and said:
"Oh my gosh! What are those metal things? You kick the bull with that?"
I explained that I used my spurs to cue my horse, as well as for encouragement to increase speed. I told him that rough stock cowboys use spurs to help enhance bucking action in the ride.
"But doesn't it hurt?" he said.
With that, I took my finger and kind of poked his rib and asked him, "Well, does that hurt?" and he responded "No, but those spurs are metal." This gave me a GREAT opportunity to go back to the cowhide. I picked it up and showed him how much thicker a cowhide is compared to a humans.
I was enlightened about hockey. He was enlightened about rodeo. A neat trade.
Although this wasn't at a rodeo, it simply goes to show how uninformed so many people are in regards to the factual aspects of the sport. I was so excited that he got to physically touch a real cowhide to see in perspective the thickness.
On a different note---I am heading to San Antonio today! The Miss Rodeo Texas Pageant has been going on this week, and tomorrow the Miss Rodeo Texas, Miss Rodeo Texas Teen and Miss Rodeo Texas Princess will be selected.
Not only is it exciting to get to go back and be apart of such an amazing organization that completely changed my life, but I also have the incredible opportunity to EMCEE the coronation with Fox News's Mike Oesterhage!
Along with the other exhilarating events, I will be gathering LOTS of interviews and video footage to help challenge other rodeo misconceptions. I hope to chat with the new rodeo royalty, Keith Martin, Ben Bendele, and Tooter Waites, just to name a few!!!
Hard to believe that just one year ago, I was finishing up my year as MRT...
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