Nov. 3, 2011
Hello my friends… I am excited to sit down and do this blog. I apologize for it taking me a while to get a new one cranked out. So much has been happening, and I’ve been so busy with trying to practice and get all my work done on the school front. I hope this blog finds all of you enjoying life, and I wish you a happy holiday season with Thanksgiving right around the bend.
As I mentioned in the last blog, I had the privilege of going up to the 101st Annual Pendleton Round-Up in September! It was one of the coolest experiences I’ve had. You hear about the Round-Up, but there’s no way to really know how wild, reckless, and unique it truly is until you see it for yourself.
At Pendleton bucking chutes with my "Papa" Frank Santos and mom, Kendra Santos.
The thing about Pendleton is that it doesn’t matter what is going on out there in the arena, there is always a good possibility of a wild wreck. The Native American relay races may have been the most thrilling event for me to watch from the grass infield. They’re fearless. Or possibly the bull riding, when they just post up a PVC fence around the bucking chutes, and a bunch of cowboys go sit around it on the grass to get a good look. On occasion the wind, or a bull, knocks the fence down causing everybody on the grass to scatter. I just always made sure to sit next to somebody I could outrun. Kyle Lockett seems to get a good kick out of the falling fence, so he kept trying to get bulls’ attention to run through the fence. It was a pretty good time.
I even decided that I wouldn’t have gotten the full Pendleton Round-Up experience unless I found myself in a wreck of some sort. On short-round Saturday -- just like every other performance -- I sat out on the grass infield in front of the roping chutes during the saddle-bronc riding. We’d all sit there, and about every day some of the bucking horses would head our way, but we’d merely toss our hands in the air and holler. The horses would just casually circle around us, the pick-up men would pull the flank, and out they would go. Except Saturday afternoon, after bucking Heith Demoss off, “Domino Theory” didn’t circle around us. That big ol’ sorrel (which Jesse Bail was 87 points on in the first round at Pendleton) kept on bucking and snorting right into us. Right into me. I got caught thinking he’d circle around, but as I pushed off his neck I realized he wasn’t going to turn back away from us. It was wild, and he skimmed my leg as he bucked past, and I pushed off of him. I was fine, except it was ironic that it happened to me because I was the first one to jump up all week when a bull or horse was near us. They finally got me to relax out there, then I got to meet “Domino Theory.” I’ve still been taking some heckling, but shoot, what a memory of Pendleton to have.
I got to do a lot of really fun things up there. I went to the Pendleton Round-Up Hall of Fame, and saw all the legends. I got to see the iconic bucking horse “War Paint,” who is stuffed in bucking motion right inside the door. I got to see the downtown area come alive at night, where they block off many of the roads for the Round-Up. I was lucky enough to go see the legendary Severe Brothers Saddle Shop. It was so cool to see all the old pictures on the wall, hear about the history, and see some of the old west. Among others, Cody and Heith Demoss still had their bedrolls out at Severe Brothers. Those guys are real cowboys, and spent the week playing their guitars, reminiscing, and Cody even made a headstall at the saddle shop. There is so much history up there, and Pendleton really comes to life during the Round-Up. It was so great to have my papa, Frank Santos, up there with my mom and I, too. He entered the Round-Up one time, in 1958, just before entering vet school at Davis. He knew a lot about what all we saw, and was like personal info guide on it all. I even got him on the mechanical bull of my buddy’s downtown one day for a photo op. I have so many memories from the Round-Up that I will never forget, and I hope you enjoy hearing about these few. The only way to truly understand, though, is to get up there and see it for yourself. I know I’ll be back.
In my last blog I also mentioned that I was entered in my first PRCA rodeos on my permit, and they were a lot of fun. I have learned a lot in just going to four of them so far. Besides winning second at Watsonville in the team roping with Jordan Ketscher, having Bob Tallman say our names at the Cow Palace was pretty awesome. It was fun to ride up the moat with Tallman announcing, and Jade Corkill, Justin Davis, Spencer Mitchell, and Broc Cresta all in the same performance. Jordan had a lot of success in the calf roping too, so it’s a lot of fun when your truck is winning. We are entered at Brawley, California, the weekend of November 12-13.
In more recent rodeo news, Corkill has made a switch to heading. I was there for his first PRCA heading run on October 15 at the Grand National Cow Palace in San Francisco, where he and Justin Davis were 4.8 to win the rodeo. He and Justin have plans to rodeo next year. Jade just won over $60,000 in a matter of days between winning the Open roping at the USTRC Guthrie Championships with Luke Brown, first at the USTRC National Finals Preliminary Open roping (with Brown), third in the Open Prelim with Chad Masters, and then capping it all off with the Open Championships win with Chad. That’s not a bad few days.
As for me, I am enjoying college here at Cal Poly. Gave a speech on Joe Beaver the other day in a communications class, and had people come up to me after class really interested in him. He’s the man. The college rodeos are done out here until about March, so I’m going to try to load up on classes during the winter quarter and get some stuff knocked out. I am really excited about going to a muley roping this Sunday in Paso Robles. I will be going out to the NFR the last weekend, so I look forward to seeing many of you out there in Vegas.
Until next time, thank you for following this blog at roperssportsnews.com. I really appreciate all your support and interest in this game and what I have to say. I wish you all the best.
This is my journey, and your experience.
Lane Santos-Karney