Tucson Rodeo Underway – Mud takes its toll on contestants.

I am officially a blog slacker. I was on such a real roll before I left the country. I’ve been hanging out in Arizona for a few weeks now and for some reason I haven’t had much inspiration for blogging. I have been on dial up here which makes everything a little more difficult. I feel for all of you who are still stuck on dial up all the time. You guys are real troopers! I do want to share some information with you on scammers, but that will have to wait until next time. Please accept my apologies and please keep checking back.


Today I thought I would fill you in on some fun I had on Monday. On Monday we took the day off from riding and went down to Tucson to watch the slack. This is no ordinary slack. You get to watch the best of the best compete from 8 in the morning till late in the afternoon if you are up for it. We were slowed up by a couple accidents getting into Tucson but were able to watch a handful of barrel racers bog through the mud. I didn’t get to watch any Canadian girls go, but there is no question the times would be outrun the next day. Several hours later the ground was much better. The desert sun can turn ground around in a hurry. A lot of the girls were running their back up horses and just breezing through. Results from the first round show Linz Sears winning the first go. Running in Tuesday’s slack would have been a big advantage ground wise. I watched Janna Jarreau run on Monday in the muck. She ran a 17.87 for 6th. A great run considering the conditions.

Exciting update since writing this...Canadian Barrel Racers are first and second in the second go that started Wednesday – Traci Dawson leads the second round with a 17.30, Lindsay Sears, second with a 17.37 (and is leading the average on 2 runs)

Following the barrel racing was the steer wrestling. Many of the doggers looked like contortionists at times as part of their bodies were going in different directions. A very long score line with steers that could cover ground quickly left most of the cowboys getting down at full throttle. Once hitting the dirt, there was no give. Legs heading everywhere, summersaults and face plants unfortunately the round would have made for a bang up bloopers video. Hit wasn’t long before the ground ended up hurting one of the Cowboys. Canadian cowboy Lee Graves was carried out of the arena in much pain. Before being carried from the arena it was clear it was his right knee that was hurt. I’m not sure the extent of his injury but do know he was taken to the hospital. Hopefully it won’t keep him down for long.

Several Canadian Tie Down Ropers were up Monday morning, but none of them made a move into the money. Before my trip down I purchased a new camera. The nicest camera I have ever purchased (but far from top of the line). I was impressed with some of the action shots I was able to capture. By the time the team roping ran the ground was improved. It’s too bad they didn’t run the barrel racing last, it would have been a lot better.


I’m not sure who the calf roper is as I wasn’t writing them down, but the team ropers are Trevor Brazile and Patrick Smith.



If you are in to watching timed events and you happen to be in Arizona during the Tucson rodeo I highly recommend taking in the slack. It is great watching.

Here is a link to the results