NFR Opening Ceremonies

The trip to Las Vegas went well for us. We drove up on Friday morning leaving at 0600 and arriving about 1500 local time which was an hour behind Arizona time. We arrived about the same time as all the rodeo contestants who were competing that evening. We unloaded our horses, parked the trailers, picked up our passes for the arena, and headed to the hotel. We had been put up in the Orleans Hotel and Casino which is a truly immense place--crowded and loud. We eventually got cleaned up and reassembled downstairs for dinner at one of the numerous restaurants in the hotel. We didn't stay up very late (about midnight, I think) as we were all pretty tired from the drive up.

The next day we got to the stables about 0800 and took care of the horses. We had a rehearsal at 1000 in the arena. We needed four horses for the ceremony but I brought two spares also. I had our two veterinarians ride the spares so I could get them desensitized to the arena. When we finally got into the arena, which was inside the Thomas & Mack Center, I noticed that my mount, Regent, wasn't enjoying the experience. He was very agitated--shaking his head and arching his neck. However, I also noticed that one of our spares, Charlie, wasn't having any problems at all. I switched horses with the vet and rode Charlie instead. It turned out to be a good decision. Even though Charlie had undergone colic surgery a little over three months before, he was steady as a rock through the whole thing. After the rehearsal we put the horses away and headed back to the hotel for lunch and a quick combat nap.

After an early dinner, we were back at the stables at 1700 to feed the horses and to go to the rodeo. We had been given tickets so we could watch the rodeo and then afterwards we were to attend a dress rehearsal for the following night's opening ceremonies. The rehearsal was pretty intense. We had to get the horses used to standing in a darkened tunnel with laser lights and loud music being played in the arena. They also added a fog machine to create a mist curtain through which we were supposed to ride for dramatic affect. The horses struggled with it at first but eventually got used to the fog. Getting them to go into the arena was another matter. We were arranged in a column of twos with the flag bearers up front. As we entered through the narrow gate into the arena, the second two riders split out to take positions on the ends with sabers drawn to act as the color guard. However, the first two horses would try to back up into the tunnel so the two in the rear would have to push them forward. After we got this down, we practiced escorting a stagecoach into the arena for the halftime show. This was less traumatic, so it went quicker. We practiced for several hours until the NFR people were satisfied we could pull it off. We finally got back to the hotel about midnight and had a quick bite before going to bed.

The next morning we went in at 0800 to feed the horses and prep our equipment for the show. Unfortunately, Las Vegas was holding a marathon that day and the city was split in two with no detour signs showing us how to get to the other side. It took us forever to get to the arena and then we had to endure the same ordeal on the way back to the hotel for lunch. We were to be back at the arena that night by 1730 for a 1745 ceremony. The live show was even more crazy than the rehearsal. The tunnel was lined with chutes that had broncs in them for the opening ceremonies and bulls in them for the halftime show. Plus, they added pyrotechnics to the opening ceremony that we had not experienced in the rehearsal.

However, it all went well enough. It was a great experience to ride into the arena with 18,000 screaming rodeo fans cheering us on. It was a lot of work getting to that point, but worth the effort. The crew was in the mood for celebration after the ceremony but I was pretty tired and knew I had a 10 hour drive in the morning so I begged off at midnight while the rest partied on. The trip back to Arizona the next day was uneventful and we finally got back to the fort about 1800. It was a good trip and I guess we did well enough that we might get invited back next year. Here's hoping.