<\/p>\n
January 29, 2015<\/p>\n
It is stock show time in cowtown.\u00a0 As a child, this was an exciting time of year for me. It meant that my Dad would take a day off and we would go to Fort Worth.\u00a0 My Dad\u2019s only brother also lived in Breckenridge and had a son my age.\u00a0 For several years, the two brothers made the fat stock show*\u00a0an annual trip.\u00a0 It was something to look forward to each year.\u00a0 We always went on a weekday and my cousin and I were allowed to miss school. \u00a0This was a special privilege.<\/p>\n
Every year I would ask my Dad if I could wear jeans even though I knew what his answer would be. He would tell me that only city \u201cwanna be cowgirls\u201d wore jeans to the\u00a0stock show.\u00a0 My mother would help me choose one of my favorite school outfits and I would wait another year\u00a0to ask again.<\/p>\n
Fat stock show day was full of activities and always began by going through the livestock exhibits.\u00a0 I dutifully observed every animal and listened to my Dad\u2019s comments.<\/p>\n
The most anticipated event of the day was the rodeo in the afternoon. \u00a0It was an awesome experience for a little girl to enter Will Rogers Coliseum and see all those rows and rows of seats.\u00a0 I thought that it was surely the largest building in the United Sates, possibly in the whole world.\u00a0 It was years later that I realized with sadness that the building was beginning to shrink.\u00a0 It is not nearly as large now as it was when I was a little girl.<\/p>\n
The\u00a0rodeo began with the Grand Entry.\u00a0 It was magnificent in itself.\u00a0 My favorite\u00a0 event was the trick riders.\u00a0 Every year I decided that I wanted to be a trick rider when I grew up.\u00a0 I knew that this would be a problem for two reasons: \u00a0I had no one to teach me,<\/p>\n
and my old horse\u00a0undoubtedly would not cooperate with anything unusual.\u00a0 Realizing that it was unrealistic did not keep me from dreaming.\u00a0 I knew the names of the riders and had my favorite stunts.<\/p>\n
Another favorite was the clowns.\u00a0 I remember a tall clown and a short clown.\u00a0 The short clown had a barrel he would jump into during the bull riding.\u00a0 I would hold my breath as the bull rolled the barrel around. \u00a0It was a relief when\u00a0the clown\u00a0jumped out of the barrel. \u00a0One year he did not jump out.\u00a0 The bull had somehow gotten a horn inside the barrel and gored him.\u00a0 The entire audience was gasping while people ran to his aide. \u00a0As we watched in horror, I remember my Dad wondering what part of his body was gored. He feared it might be his midsection. \u00a0I envisioned\u00a0the man\u00a0bleeding to death right in front of us. The clown was carried out on a stretcher and eventually the show went on.\u00a0\u00a0 I believe we learned that he was gored in the thigh, but I am not sure.\u00a0 He did survive.\u00a0 I do not know if he chose another line of work after that.\u00a0 It certainly impressed me and gave me new respect for those helping the cowboys escape after being thrown from a bull.<\/p>\n
It gives me satisfaction that\u00a0the event continues to be popular to this day.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
*In those days the name Fat Stock Show was the only term I ever heard.\u00a0 Later when the name became Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show, most people still referred\u00a0to it as\u00a0the Fat Stock Show.\u00a0 Everyone in this part of Texas knows what it is and where it is regardless of the name.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
January 29, 2015 It is stock show time in cowtown. As a child, this was an exciting time of year for me. It meant that my Dad would take a day off and we would go to Fort Worth. My Dad’s only brother also lived in Breckenridge and had a son my age. For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[18,16,19,21,20,17],"class_list":["post-305","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-early-days-to-1955","tag-cowtown","tag-fat-stock-show","tag-fort-worth-fat-stock-show","tag-memories-of-rodeo-clowns","tag-memories-of-rodeo-trick-riders","tag-will-rogers-coliseum"],"yoast_head":"\n