Pendleton Round Up, the Native Americans

From the Pendleton Round Up website:

Native Americans have been an integral component of the Pendleton Round-Up since its inception. Members of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation – the Umatilla, Cayuse, and Walla Walla Indians who live on a reservation eight miles east ofPendleton -host a grand tribal village that annually includes more than 300 teepees. Indians from around the Northwest travel to Pendleton where they gather in the village to visit with friends and relatives, take part in the Happy Canyon Pageant and dance in the arena during rodeo matinees. Additionally, the Round-Up serves as the forum for two Indian beauty contests – the American Indian Beauty Contest, which is held Friday morning prior to the Westward Ho! parade on Main Street in Pendleton, and the Junior Indian Beauty Contest, held Thursday morning at the Roy Raley Park adjacent to the Round-Up grounds. Another key event during the week is a Round-Up Pow Wow dance competition, which occurs at 9 a. m. on Saturday in the Round-Up arena

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

The Pendleton Round Up -- Roping

The roping events at the Pendleton Round Up--calf, steer, team--demonstrate  intense concentration, incredible skill of rider and horse. The calf or steer bursts out swiftly with the rider in pursuit.  Swinging his lasso, the rider uses exquisite timing to rope the animal, bring it down, and then either tie its legs, or keep it on the ground, all in less than ten seconds.  These events is not a pursuit for the faint of heart.

From Wikipedia: Team roping also known as heading and heeling is a rodeo event that features a steer and two mounted riders. The first roper is referred to as the "header," the person who ropes the front of the steer, usually around the horns, but it is also legal for the rope to go around the neck, or go around one horn and the nose resulting in what they call a "half head," the second is the "heeler," who ropes the steer by its hind feet, with a five second penalty assessed to the end time if only one leg is caught. Team roping is the only rodeo event where men and women compete equally together in professionally sanctioned competition, in both single-gender or mixed-gender teams

Pendleton Round Up  Steer wrestling

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up Team Roping

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up Team Roping

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up Steer wrestling

Pendleton Round Up Team Roping

Pendleton Round Up Team Roping

Pendleton Round Up 

The Pendleton Round Up. Let'er Buck. Bronco riding

Every year, during the second full week of September, the people of Pendleton and surrounding areas of eastern Oregon, give the world the Pendleton Round Up, one the major rodeos in the United States. Started in 1910, the Pendleton Round Up draws roughly 50,000 spectators each year. Run by well organized, dedicated volunteers, the planning for each each year begins as soon as the rodeo is complete. The entire Pendleton community closes down for Round Up week so that hundreds upon hundreds of volunteers of all ages can make this fantastic event happen. The Pendleton Round-Up is, naturally, a member of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, and attracts the best of the best competitors who come to this "let'er buck" challenge. 

I very much enjoyed shooting this event.  The action is faster than the eye can follow, and each picture represents a milli second of frozen action.

From Wikipedia:  Each competitor climbs onto a horse, which is held in a small pipe or wooden enclosure called a bucking chute. When the rider is ready, the gate of the bucking chute is opened and the horse bursts out and begins to buck. The rider attempts to stay on the horse for eight seconds without touching the horse with his free hand. On the first jump out of the chute, the rider must "mark the horse out." This means he must have the heels of his boots in contact with the horse above the point of the shoulders before the horse's front legs hit the ground. A rider that manages to complete a ride is scored on a scale of 0-50 and the horse is also scored on a scale of 0-50. Scores in the 80s are very good, and in the 90s, are exceptional. A horse who bucks in a spectacular and effective manner will score more points than a horse who bucks in a straight line with no significant changes of direction.

Pendleton Round Up

Let'er buck

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Let'er buck

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up

Pendleton Round Up