BY THATCH ELMER

Summer is here, and so is the heat. Let’s talk summer rodeo ways to beat the heat and summer rodeo etiquette.

• First thing is to pack the cooler with favorite drinks on the bottom, ice in the middle, and a couple waters on top: it’s the perfect combination.
• If you are hauling very far, make sure you are watching your horses carefully for signs of colic or stress from hauling. Keep their bellies happy, and they will take you to the pay window.
• If you make it to the pay window, fill the truck up with diesel. Pay for the next rodeo and save the rest just in case that Dodge breaks down on the way home.
• Pack a jacket and pack a blanket. You never know when the weather might just change and leave you in a hail storm.
• Plan for the best but prepare for the worst. Pack a medicine box and keep it in the trailer for you and your horses. I can’t stress the importance of keeping this with you.
• As far as rodeo etiquette goes, keep your distance and don’t park so close they can’t tie up. Don’t drive behind a trailer too closely, and don’t walk behind a stranger’s horse.
• If you make your way into a crowded warm-up arena, do your best to stay close to someone you know. That’s the danger zone and unpredictable territory. Watch your back for runaway flag horses and steer wrestling horses.

I’m sure everyone else is just as excited as I am to be back into the swing of summer rodeoing. Good luck to the competition. Bring your family and support your local performance.

Buy a funnel cake and a bag of cotton candy, enter the 50/50 raffle, and help make sure there is going to be another rodeo next year.

As for me, I’ll see you at the next one!