It started out as just another two hour practice, with a jackpot following, on a weekly practice night. It was at a local arena where everyone knew each other. It was really an uneventful practice until some things started to get a little bit out of hand.
We are used to people having a little horse trouble. There are always horses that are fresh and may buck someone off or rear in the box and make everyone feel a little uneasy for a bit, but what happened this day was a whole different sort of thing.
A guy started having trouble with his horse in the box and one of our young gun ropers got off his horse to help the man get his horse under control. As he ran to the box, from the place where we were all watching and waiting our turn, everyone noticed his backside. He was wearing a pair of those jeans with sparkles on the pockets. I heard someone yell, “look at all that glitter!”
Now it had started. I felt that I needed to ask him why he was wearing “glitter britches?” He abruptly went off on the fact that he was protesting Wrangler for taking their manufacturing out of the country. He stated that these jeans were made in the good ’ol US of A, and that he was no longer wearing Wranglers. I commented, “Well, that’s all fine and good if you want to take a stand, but ‘glitter britches?’ ”
It went on from there with most of the guys now calling him Glitter Britches. It was a great laugh for all, at his expense, that continued for the next hour or so. Even the announcer called for “Glitter Britches” on his next run. Getting irritated now, the wearer of the jeans was beginning to miss steers (which he rarely did) and that produced more comment and laughter about the “Glitter Britches” being his problem.
About this time he rode up beside me and said that he hoped we were all having a good time making fun of his jeans. So I began to explain the purpose of the glitter on jeans. I said that we all appreciated those sparkly jeans on women. The purpose of all that glitter was to draw attention to a woman’s backside as she walked away. That was normal I said, and I had even encouraged my wife to buy a pair. Our eyes were drawn to the glitter on the back of your jeans as you ran to the head box and we didn’t want to be looking at that. No guy wants to see that! (most guys anyway).
Now I wish I could come up with something very spiritual to wrap this story up, but I can’t. It was just plain funny and you would have had to be there to enjoy it as much as we did.
Ecclesiastes 3:4 says, “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven... A time to weep and a time to laugh...” We really did get a lot of laughter out of that practice session. It made a really fun practice for most of us. Roping should be fun. Don’t forget to laugh at yourself once in a while. Rope great! Thanks for your feedback and prayer requests: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.