The Cowboy Lifestyle Network travels around the country to bull ridings and rodeos all across the United States. Recently, the CLN made a stop at the 5th Annual Ak-Chin Masik Tas in the Ak-Chin Indian Community for their Bull Riding Bash.
The Bull Riding Bash was a good time for all who attended and had something for everyone. The events were as follows:
- Open Bull Riding
- Sheep Riding (Kids ages 0-6)
- Calf Riding
- Steer Riding
- Novice Bull Riding
- Wild Horse Race
- And Calf Dressing (3-member team that must include one male and one female)
The event started out with one of the most exciting, dangerous and wild events to be seen at any rodeo: the wild horse race. Teams attempt to keep a wild bronc fresh off of the range from rearing and kicking while placing a saddle on the horse’s back. A member of the team then climbs aboard and holds on for a wild ride while racing around the arena. In this case, there were two rounds of wild horse racing: the preliminary round and then the finals.
Next up was the Open Bull Riding with livestock provided by Arizona’s own Mercer Rodeo Company, LLC. The Mercer family has had a long-standing family tradition of being stock contractors, and they brought out some of the finest animals in the pen to the Ak-Chin Indian Community. Riders fought to hang on to the kicking, jumping and whirling beasts, yet only few succeeded in making it the full eight seconds needed for a qualifying ride.
Up next was the sheep riding. For those who have never seen sheep riding before, a young child anywhere from 0-6 years old is placed on the back of a wild and wooly sheep. The child’s goal is to hang on for a six-second ride. Some of the young riders even had chaps and sheep rope complete with mini-bells. These youngsters were tough and took a beating as they were drug, dumped and stepped on, yet most of them cowboyed up and walked out of the arena.
The day continued with calf riding and steer riding, which are the next steps up from sheep riding. Calf dressing was a thrill with teams of three attempting to put clothes on a calf, then carry it to the finish line. As you can imagine, the calves aren’t exactly thrilled with the concept and put on quite a show dodging and evading their personal dressers.
Throughout the day, there was also food, rides, concerts and more across from Harrah’s Ak-Chin Casino. Kids delighted in the many carnival rides there including a bounce house, slide, tilt-a-whirl, Ferris wheel and more. There were several vendors selling everything from clothes to food and jewelry.
The 5th Annual Masik Tas was a great time for the entire family. This “birthday” piast commemorates the day that Ak-Chin was formally organized as a Community. The Cowboy Lifestyle Network looks forward to attending the “birthday” bash next year!
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