Buckeye, Arizona.

This week, Patti Moed asks us to “Capture nature, people, objects, or animals on the move. You can read Patti’s entire challenge post here. Coincidently, I am gathering action images for an upcoming blog post on my “Travel Tuesday” posts, a review of how I use my Nikon D500 for action shots, one of its best capabilities. In the shot above, a barrel racer in the National Senior Pro Rodeo Association rounds a barrel on her way to the finish line.

For this challenge, I’ve decided to feature a handful of action images captured at the rodeo. The D500’s capture rate makes it easy to catch specific moments as in the above shot where the bull’s four feet are all in the air. You can read my review of the D500 for action shots on September 11 if you’d like to see action shots in other venues.

Having access to high speed, almost video, frame capability brings out something that you might not otherwise notice. In the shot of the team ropers, for example, I noticed that the two horses were in synchronous step. Other images of other teams at work showed a similar characteristic. By coincidence, a team roper is a member of our hiking club. I mentioned that I noticed the horses apparent choreography and asked if the horses are trained to do that. His comment is that they synchronize naturally, no training necessary.

My final image for this series is of a young “mutton buster”. Sheep riding is open to those young ones who are typically between the ages of 4 and 7. While it looks like the young man is merely hugging a sheep, he’s actually hanging on with all his might and the sheep is in high speed transit across the arena.

John Steiner

This week, Michelle Weber asks us to find a little irreverence. Her term is “cheeky.” I admit to assuming a definition from sentences in context I have heard over the years. Still, I was glad that Michelle included the dictionary definition which read, “Cheeky (adj): impudent or irreverent, typically in an endearing or amusing way.” You can read the entire challenge post here. Reviewing my gallery, I wasn’t having much luck until I thought about the few animal shots at the zoo. I was about to focus in that direction when I remembered the rodeo I attended last spring. Heading for my Buckeye folder, I found the shots of the National Senior Pro Rodeo and those plucky kids who rode the sheep.

The sport is called Mutton Busting and is open typically to those youngsters between 4 and 6 years of age and weighing less than 60 pounds, though rules may vary with the specific rodeo. They all start out like the girl in the photo above, hanging on to the wool on the sheep’s neck or chest area and using their legs to hold themselves upright for the ride. Rules vary around the country, some given to the winner of the longest ride in seconds, others judged like bronc or bull riding, scored after a successful six-second ride. In Buckeye that day, the prize went to the rider who stayed on the longest.

All participants wear protective head gear and try their best to stay upright. The rides are short, however, and eventually the rider will lose their vertical position and roll around as shown in the photos directly above and below, eventually to let go and drop to the ground.

On this day, there were 20 participants split into two heats. At the conclusion of each heat, the winner of that heat is interviewed. The winner, below, is also invited to say a few words. This young lady, like many rodeo participants was a person of few words. It was fun watching the interviewer try to coax a complete sentence, (something more than ‘Yup’ or ‘Nope,) out of the participants.

John Steiner