Kennewick's Horse Heaven Roundup

This is Jon. I've made three different rodeos over the last couple of weeks leading up to Labor Day weekend's Ellensburg Rodeo and Saturday's trip took me to Kennewick for the Horse Heaven Roundup. It pays good money for a cowboy and is a relatively short trip for those who call the Northwest home during August and September. In a couple of weeks, they'll all head home, but not before hitting up Ellensburg, Puyallup and Pendleton, all three rodeos that I will attend with my Brittany.

This is a look behind the roughstock chutes. They're pretty much enclosed and this is the first arena I've seen where they're not out in the open exposed to the elements. Of course, the only elements in the Tri Cities in August is the sun. The guy facing the camera is New Mexico's Taos Muncy, he was the 2007 saddle bronc world champ.

Trick rider in the Grand Entry.

Wesley Silcox getting ready a few minutes before his bull ride. Silcox lives in Payson, Utah and was the 2007 world champ. Exactly one year ago this weekend, he broke his leg, but it doesn't bother him anymore and he was back riding within a couple of months. In order to score a ride, a rider has to stay on for 8 seconds. By my unofficial count, Silcox rode Backdraft for about 7.9 seconds. It probably cost him a couple grand in earnings, plus the couple hundred he had to pay just to enter the rodeo.

This is Taos Muncy the moment he nodded his head to open the chute gate. For me, being able to see a cowboy seconds before his ride sometimes is more exciting than the ride itself since you can see the absolute intensity in a guy's face. Muncy ended up riding Kool Toddy for 88 points, tops at the rodeo, earning him a few thousand. Like Silcox, Muncy broke his right leg in 2008 and came back a few months later. Earlier this year, he broke his right ankle, but he's riding like a champ. If you're not hurt in rodeo that's when something's wrong.

RC Landingham in bareback riding. Landingham is a successful Columbia River Circuit cowboy who mainly sticks around the Northwest all year. He scored an 81 on Faded Dice.

This is actually from the Moses Lake Roundup a week before Kennewick. I'm the good looking guy on the right. Rodeo clown JJ Harrison is out of Walla Walla. I've seen him three times now - Yakima a few years back, Moses Lake on the 22nd and Kennewick on the 29th.