Let’s play catch up from the last half of my summer shall we?! This year we got to make a couple trips down to New Mexico to rodeo. It was a great opportunity packed with new friends and action but, the downside was the 105 degree weather and the 3 am finish time.
Yep, you read that right. We were invited to New Mexico’s largest open rodeo that takes place every year in Basque Farms, New Mexico. This beautiful river valley town just outside of Albuquerque was a great spot for rodeo action but the heat was almost too much. When we arrived it was a whopping 105 degrees. It was muggy and you broke into an instant sweat the moment you got out the of the pleasant AC.
The rodeo began around 7:30 pm due to the amount of people waiting to enter. We were late on our start but not light on the contestants or rodeo action. There were multiple sections of every event. As the sun went down the sunset created some stunning photos I don’t get an opportunity to capture at most of my regular rodeos due to how the arenas face. The arena lights came on and the challenge began. The lights weren’t your typical arena lights, they were construction lights. They were low creating a new and different environment than I am used to. I worked my best through the low light conditions and captured some fun photos with the lights.
The next challenge would be keeping my eyes open. The hours ticked by, it was 10 pm, 11 pm, then it struck midnight and we still had more to go. I was exhausted from the heat, running around the arena and even holding up my heavy camera. We also don’t have anyone to bring food. After my many years of experience I packed some snacks. I hurried over to the car and brought out my snack bag that includes some mixed nuts, chips and some food from our grocery deli. I also broke out an energy drink but I don’t think it could help out my exhaustion.
We finally wrapped up the rodeo and headed to the AirBnb a little after 3 am. We debated on making the 4 hour drive home as we were so far past tired we struggled to crash out. After a short 4 hour nap we were up again and hit the road towards home. We reminisced about the evening, the bulls, the people and the things in between. I hope we can go back next year!
Here are some highlights from the Bosque Farms Open Rodeo. Produced by Law Rodeo Productions and Stock provided by Whitley Buckers
