Mutton Busting

Ok, when I said that we were "all in" on the cowboy thing, I didn't even know what I was talking about. NOW we are all in. I know you'll want to see this before you finish reading, so I'll go ahead and tell you, scroll forward to the 4:15 second point. Jackson was the second rider. He participated in "mutton busting" at the rodeo yesterday. It was by far the most hysterical thing I've ever seen. It started out by us watching the 11:00 showing. Jackson leaned over to his grandpa and said, "I can do that, I want to ride." Heath dutifully signed him up, sure that he was wasting $10. They got in line. Silence ensued. Heath: "Jackson, are you sure you want to do this?" Jackson, nodding. Heath: "Ok buddy, let's do this." Jackson, pumping his fist down: "YEAH!" And then suddenly, my baby boy was fitted with a helmet and padded vest and placed on a huge "wild" mutton. Connie was jockeying for position to take a picture, I maintained that there was NO way he was going to get out that chute. Imagine my surprise when he shot out of the chute and just held on for dear life and lasted 4.75 seconds. He came in 3rd place, behind a couple of 6 year olds. As you can see from the video, most kids don't make it out of the chute; he stayed on longer than most other kids! We obviously felt the need to buy the video...and the T-shirt. The shirt is great, it says "Mutton Busting...toughest sport on wool." Jackson wasn't even all that impressed with himself afterwards, he just looked at me after he got off and said, "mommy, can I have popcorn now?" However, later on in the car he told us that he was a "real cowboy now." Grant thought he wanted to mutton bust. Grant screamed bloody murder when we placed him on a camel. Maybe next year. I'm sure for the next several springs we'll be out at the Livestock Fair and the boys will be vying for the World Championship of Mutton Busters!