The Great Escape!

Remember these guys from the Longhorn Drive last week?

Well at 4am Saturday morning the cops having breakfast opposite the rodeo ground spotted 51 of them making good their escape!

Now these cattle were about 16 miles from their home on the Chain Ranch, but no problem, they just headed off in that direction like they had GPS navigation guiding them!

Wes Sander caught up with them 4 blocks north of Main, across the Canadian River bridge, which is about 2 miles from the rodeo ground. Not being able to get them turned around on the highway, he and the cops herded them into a field and settled them for the night.

The next morning there was a second impromptu 'drive' through town as they were herded back to the rodeo ground. So much for cattle not being too bright!

Cattle, Cowboys & Cops!

The big event of the day was the Longhorn Cattle Drive to celebrate the start of the 78th Woodward Elks Rodeo, which runs for the rest of this week.

This is a huge tradition in the area and these beautiful Longhorn Cattle live on a ranch a few miles out of town. We believe they are the largest remaining herd in the USA and their owner Wes Sanders (that's him in the pink above) travels all over the country with them. But their home rodeo is this one and they always play a big part in the weeks events, starting with the drive in from the ranch, down Main Street and out to the rodeo arena.

Driving cattle is an unpredictable business so we had quite a wait in the heat of the day, but it was SO WORTH IT! Both my mum and I were just in utter awe of this huge spectacle, the beauty of the animals and the whole Wild West feel of it all.

Not only were the Longhorn Cattle stunning to look at, but incredibly docile and well-behaved as they moved within touching distance.

But we also had 'real' cowboys thrown in trotting alongside the Cop cars for good measure, whip cracking skills (see below) and all. Plus alot of other outriders and some beautiful horses and cowboy attire to admire.

We also got quite a kick out of this mom on her cellphone and then texting, technology is truly everywhere, and with her own special little cowboy on his pony! Get a load of his cute little red chaps and cowboy hat.

We have tickets to the rodeo on Friday night and this will be my mum's first rodeo experience and after today she can't wait. I have loved rodeo's since the first time I visited here and got to go to one, they are just as good as you have ever imagined they would be from 'across the pond'.

Personally I think this beauty above is the 'Heidi Klum' of the Longhorn world and a real 'supermodel'! Even the Hubster was mightily impressed by this stunning specimen!

I am really delighted my mum was here to experience today and will also get to see the big show later in the week. Today was a stunning and rare photo opportunity, so if you would like to see more then pop over to my photography blog here for more pictures.

And finally here's a cute baby for you all to oooh and argh over ;-)