&: Stock Show Roundup

I am a cow girl. Not a cowgirl, though I'd like to be one (a real one) someday. I'm a cow girl as in I like cows a lot. Better than horses, that's for sure. And I suppose if I had to name my biggest complaint about the National Western Stock Show (even though one of my New Year's resolutions was to not complain anymore), it's that there weren't enough cows. It's a *stock* show, after all.

I guess I was expecting the Stock Show to be more like a county fair than a mecca for shopping and corporate sponsorships--there were too many stalls selling clothing and jewelry and knick knacks and overpriced food (though where were the fried cheese curds?!), and not nearly enough animals. I didn't come to shop, but I suppose many people do. I'll admit, though, that I did fall in love with a blanket covered in John Deere tractors and liked checking out the farm equipment.

But back to the cows and horses. J's mom and sister and I spent a lot of time walking around the cow barn, oohing and ahhing over the various breeds. Hairy Highlanders? Hilarious. Miniature Herefords? Yes, please! Who knew Herefords existed in miniature form? We certainly didn't. I was fascinated by all of the grooming and shaving and blowdrying and fluffing that goes into showing a cow...and I've never before seen such clean cow butts! Amazing. I peppered J's mom with questions about the times that J and his sister showed their bucket calves. Our hypothetical children will definitely be in 4-H.

After checking out the cows, we headed over to the horse barns. J's mom and sis were in heaven and especially loved this enormous Percheron (a breed of draft horse) that was being readied for the show taking place later that evening. Me? Not so much. I like riding when there's a purpose to it, e.g., gathering cows and checking windmills, but hanging out with horses doesn't get me excited...especially when they're all dressed up, their manes and tails plaited with ribbons and their chests adorned in shiny, decorative breastplates. Call me boring or unrefined, but I'm just not into fancy.

We capped off our day by going to the Evening of Dancing Horses with Aunt D, Cousins J and E, and family friends S and L. Girls' night out. The show was...interesting. Impressive definitely, but dressage and reining don't really do it for me. I appreciate how much skill and technique and talent it takes for the riders to train their horses to perform the different gaits and appear as if they're treading air. Trust me, I can barely get Comet to stop eating grass when we're in the middle of trying to gather cows, though I've gotten better at reversing him. These horses were goosestepping and cross-stepping and pirouetting all over the place, and it was nothing short of amazing. But women dressed in sparkly outfits riding around in carriages? Junior Olympics equestriennes performing dressage on horses decked out in Christmas lights while a male vocalist sings the sultry bossa nova rhythms of "The Girl from Ipanema"? And you can win prizes for this? It was more than a bit surreal for me.

Two things about the dancing horses show that I really did enjoy: first, watching an 85 year old man perform dressage. He had participated in the Stock Show every year for the past 61 years and this was his last show. Love it. Second, watching a horse follow only voice commands issued from a distance and jump into the back of a moving pickup truck. Now *that* was impressive.