What a fun, wonderful day

Trucks, horse trailers and campers from around the state dotted the grounds after arriving the day before. Portable pens, with hay bags tied in the corners, were tucked in wherever possible, often next to the trailers or campers of their owners. Wheelbarrows, rakes and shovels stood nearby after pens were cleaned and manure was dumped in the designated area, ready to be moved to the mulch area by fairgrounds workers with a tractor and scoop the next day.

It amazes me how memories from more than six decades ago — from my own joyful high school rodeo days — rise up and lay over the scene. I am thankful that the excitement of our favorite sport has not changed. I can still feel what these fine young competitors have done before coming to Newcastle and what they are experiencing in each moment.

They have spent weeks and months at home conditioning both themselves and their horses, physically and mentally. They have put in regular, careful practice sessions, repeating each task until every detail was right and always ending on a positive note. They have fed proper rations to keep their horses in calm, peak condition. Hooves have been trimmed or shod for agility. All of it adds up to horse and rider being in sync and ready to win.

Their job today is to relax in that preparation. Take slow, deep breaths. Loosen every muscle and settle into their horse until every nerve and every heartbeat are in rhythm. They keep moving, free of stress, unaware of everything around them, as if they and their horse are wrapped together in a quiet cocoon.

Those thoughts draw the horse into that same cocoon, so much so that the noise of other people, other horses and the loudspeaker fades into the distance. Rider and horse move together like a guitar string struck on the same note.

Long before their turn — at least a half hour — they have checked the draw to see how many contestants go before them. They memorize the last two names ahead of theirs, and when they hear the first of those names, they move to the arena entrance. Still settled into that quiet focus, they remain loose but ready, guiding their horse into a calm, coiled spring, waiting for the moment to enter and let everything come together in one smooth performance.

The Schwenke family — my adopted kids and grandkids from Wright — were here for the second day of Newcastle’s rodeo, and the weather could not have been more perfect. I found myself moving right along with their hoofbeats, reliving hundreds of days like these that I was blessed to experience so many years ago.

Thank you, God, for the chance to hitchhike along in their saddles once again. Amen.