The Chickasha rodeo went off without a hitch. The two-day event was quite an adventure, from bull riding to barrel racing. It was a great time with great people. I would like to say a big congratulations to everyone who help put on the amazing rodeo.

The night started out with a very traditional, and patriotic, Pledge of Allegiance, a prayer, and then the National Anthem.

To start out the events with bucking horses, a very fun and exciting event to watch. It was definitely in my top three favorite events for the night.

 Another event was calf roping, a really fun event where cowboys rope calves from horses and attempt to hogtie them. The cowgirls followed them up with the challenge of roping the quick-witted calves.

          An event that was one of the crowd-favorites of the whole night, the “Buffalo Blanks,” a mounted shooting competition. This gun-handling competition where they had a setup of balloons and where they were trying to get the best time while also shooting all the balloons. The event started with an eye-catching lady coming out on her horse tossing candy to the crowd. Then the other members quickly joined in with t-shirts in hand. Like a jump into an old Western movie, the hype posse started “shooting” guns into the air. I would like to mention that the guns did not have actual bullets in them but instead were mostly made up of gunpowder.

The cutest events were for the younger cowboys and cowgirls, there was calf scrambling, and mutton busting. Calf scrambling is where they put a ribbon on three of the calves and whoever gets one of the ribbons wins a prize. Mutton busting was an event where kids get the chance to ride sheep and whoever holds on the longest won a prize.

Next up was the barrel racing where they even had a rider at the age of two years old. This cowgirl was not only super adorable, but she also had the skill level that left the audience cheering. Barrel racing is where you ride around three barrels, in a triangle formation, and try to be the fastest without knocking over any of the barrels.

Now the second to last event of the nights was bull riding. This is my favorite event by far. It was nerve-wracking to watch someone get thrown off a bull, but it is also exciting to see who stays on the bull longer.

          Now at the end of the night, they do an event called the Ring of Fire where you stand in a circle, and they let a bull out to chase the participants out. Whoever stays in the circle longer wins $100. The Trend’s managing editor, Harrison Stone, decided to partake in this event. He surprised his crew when he appeared in the middle of the arena. When the bull was let out, you could hear the gasps. Lucky for Stone, the bull chose the other brave soul and Stone emerged with $100 in hand.

          Congratulations to Stone and all the other winners at the Chickasha Rodeo.

Mary-Grace McNutt is a sophomore at the University of Science and Arts.