ECBRA Cowgirl's Up!

 Beautiful Cowgirl Up Ranch in Canaan, NY was the sight of the East Coast Bull Riding Association's (ECBRA) first event of the 2014 season.  It was a fun time of Bull Riding, Calf Sorting and Speed Penning (the previous two sports I'd never seen before).  On Saturday afternoon, Cowgirl Up Ranch's owner Sherrie, and her team, treated us to a Calf Sorting event, in which 10 calves had to be sorted and run in individually, in numerical order, in under a minute.  WOW! that was some fast work, by skilled teams of horses and humans.  After the calves came the bulls!  And the big boys put on quite a show for all.

Cowboys and arena crew during the National Anthem.  Sherrie and her horse, Squirrel, proudly waved our flag during the anthem.

SNOT ZOMBIE got the event started with a buck off.  This bull displayed direction changes and jerk downs, that are quickly becoming his specialty.

Loved this shot of PAPARAZZI as he showed off a bit after his buck off.

Our cowgirl Hannah made a great attempt on BUCKSNOT, but in the end the bull was victorious.

IRON MAN

DOUBLE VISION sent Bradley and his hat flying before 8 seconds!

VLAD THE IMPALER thrilled the crowd and took years off my life as he reared up in the chute.  He's not done this for a while but I guess he knew it was show time!

IRON MAN

SNOT JAMMER looking impressive!

VLAD THE IMPALER with his signature tongue hanging out bucked well and threw his rider off!

My artistic shot of THE SPOOK, while he was waiting in the loading chute.

Bradley went out again, this time on HEMI.  Bradley had a wild ride as HEMI went straight out across the arena, and turned right at the fence.  Bradley received 76 points for his effort.

THE SPOOK and his nemesis Bryan Clements.  SPOOK won this go round but these two will meet up again!

 The winner of this event/jackpot was Pedro Mansilla, who had a great ride on Snot Jammer for 86 points.  Congratulations to Pedro!  The rest of the scored rides are as follows: Alberto Reyes 81 points vs Snot Jammer; Allan Mansilla 80 points vs Hemi; Carl Paterson 78 points vs Snot Jammer; Bradley Burroughs 76 points vs Hemi; Saul Cotufa 76 points vs Iron Man; and, Eduardo Corleto 74 points vs Iron Man.

Speed penning is a new sport here in the USA.  Two teams take off from the start line, and as they start running a number is called out and that is the calf, and only calf, they need to sort out and pen.  Whoever pens the calf first wins, and overall, fastest time is the winner.

One of the absolutely adorable calves used in the sorting and penning competitions.  Lots of snotitude, this little guy had! ;)

On Sunday, after the Speed Penning competition, The ECBRA riders and students from Let R Buck Bull Riding School got back in the arena for some practice bulls.

SNOT ZOMBIE vs Bradley

HEMI vs Hannah

VLAD THE IMPALER vs Mike

VLAD won this round, but Mike is a promising talent.  He has a great attitude and growing love of this sport. 

PAPARAZZI vs Mike

It was a great first event of the ECBRA season!  Many thanks to Sherrie, Cowgirl Up Ranch and her team for hosting this event.  The bull "fighters" did an awesome job, as the event closed with no serious injuries.  Congratulations to all the winners.  So proud of the bulls and the job they did, even though there were some rides (you'd expect one of the bull owners to say that!).

Looking forward to the next event on August 16th at the "House of Pain" Arena at Let R Buck Bull Riding School in Canaan, CT.

                 
A HUGE thank you to all who made this event happen!  Y'all ROCK!!




Photographs by Susan Hanrahan