One of the delights of Osage County is rodeo. The season really gets going in May, though winter sees many indoor ropings. This morning, jonesing a bit for rodeo since it has been months since I've been to one, I headed over to the Bartlesville Roundup Club's first playday of the year.
Cowboys, as you can see, come in all sizes and colors. Indians are often cowboys, old men are cowboys, and young girls are cowboys. Well, maybe they are really cowgirls. They often have great names. Cowboy Jones was one of the kids at today's event, for instance. One of my favorite cowboy names is Boop Williams. If you hang around this website long enough, you will surely run into Boop one day at a Chuckwagon race or a roping.
So, our first installment of May: Osage County.
Cowboys can be very small indeed.
Usually, they wear boots. But not always.
They learn to rope at an early age, and practice on what are called dummies.
Just like the rest of us, sometimes they get scared, as this kid did when his horse started to buck.
And, of course, cowboys love their kids. It is always heartwarming to go to these events. Tough guys kissing their babies, tending to wounds imagined and real, and somewhere nearby grandpa and grandma are standing by as back-up.