I’d like to talk about the appeal of the sexy rodeo cowboy. We love them ‘em, don’t we? I sure do. I fell in love with my first cowboy many years ago when I was on a business trip to Tucson. But it’s not just the cowboy that we’re drawn to in romance novels. It’s the rodeo cowboy.

I’ve often wondered what it is about the rodeo cowboy that has such appeal to a New England gal like me. I think it’s the fearlessness about them. It makes a woman feel safe. Let’s face it. You have to have some pretty tough cookies to get on the back of 1200lbs of dusty, sweaty bull, and hang on for dear life for 8 seconds. And have you ever seen these cowboys ride bronc bareback? It gives tall, dark and dangerous a whole new meaning.

The hero in NOTHING BUT TROUBLE is this kind of cowboy. Fearless and fiercely protective and he does his best to keep a determined debutante safe for 1 month in the Wyoming wilderness. It makes a great combination for romance.

I love writing stories featuring cowboys. NOTHING BUT TROUBLE was my first and is currently available online at Amazon, iTunes, Barnes and Noble, Sony and Kobo. Keep your eye out for HER HEART FOR THE ASKING, book 1 in my Texas Hearts series, featuring sexy bronc bareback rider, Beau Gentry.

Excerpt of NOTHING BUT TROUBLE.:

His jaw tightened. Yes, there was something definitely wrong here. And money had nothing to do with it. It had everything to do with this beauty standing in front of him, who was clueless about what she was getting her pretty little hide into. “No,” he replied tersely.

“Mr. Buxton, I need your help.”

“Tourist season is in full swing. I’m sure you’ll have no trouble finding someone else.” He turned his back to her and began walking along the fence toward the barn, almost forgetting…

 Abruptly, he glanced up and saw the charred remains of the barn. The place where all his troubles had started just one year ago. It hadn’t taken but a second for him to hear her boots digging into the dusty gravel behind him, jarring him from his thoughts.

“Then I’ll do it myself,” she said to his back.

His whole body stiffened. He angled back to read her face, to see if she was just being a spoiled rotten rich kid, trying to get her way, or if she was actually serious. Seeing her head held high and her arms crossed in front of her, he realized she was dead serious. And dead she’d be if she stepped one boot into those mountains alone.

 “You’ll do no such thing.” Frustration flaring, he lifted his dusty hat and forced his fingers through the thick crop of black hair before returning the hat to his head.

“You just don’t get it, do you? You’re not asking me to take you on a theme park ride where you’ll get to see the wonders of the world at a nice safe distance. This is God’s country. The creatures that live up there don’t know civilization, and you are no better than them. You could–probably will–get killed if you go out there alone.” His lips twitched, taking a good long appraising look at the woman in front of him. “You might even chip a nail on that pretty hand of yours.”

Remember, I’m giving away a copy of NOTHING BUT TROUBLE to TWO commenters today. So don’t be shy. Leave a comment and tell me what you love about the rodeo cowboy.

Stampede Royalty usually refers to the Stampede Princesses, but this year the celebration is a little extra special. Because a new Princess is in town with her new husband: The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge! A lofty title for the couple the world knows best as “Wills and Kate”.  And the gorgeous pair helped kick off the Stampede on Friday!

Upon their arrival in “Cowtown”, they were presented with the equivalent of the keys to the city: the White Hat. Custom made thanks to measurements provided by the palace, the Smithbilts were given to the couple filled with the good wishes of the people of Calgary. They didn’t put them on right away, but later wore them during their Stampede appearances.

I know Catherine gets the majority of the interest as Princess, but I have to say Wills is looking AWFULLY good in his plaid shirt with rolled up sleeves, jeans, and hat. What I love about Will is that he looks great in a suit as a Prince – but just as much at home in his flight suit (man in uniform! Gah!) and now – in cowboy gear (double gah!).

And look – here they are with our Prime Minister (also a Calgarian!) watching my favourite Stampede event – Mutton Busting! There’s something so gosh-darned cute about kids on sheep!

But the couple actually arrived in Calgary a bit earlier, taking a helicopter west for a secret night away in a remote cabin in the backcountry around Lake Louise. Reports say that a special “loo” was built in the rustic accommodations just for the occasion. A friend of mine took her kids to the airport to catch a glimpse, and her son (same age as my youngest!) snapped a photo of the couple chatting with the helicopter pilots on the tarmac.

Stampede is always special, but this week it’s a little extra special for that touch of royalty.

Thank you for having me back here at Petticoats and Pistols. I enjoy hanging around with like minds.

I have a confession to make…while I live in the west, grew up riding a horse as much as walking, and one of the best small town rodeos is held in the county where I lived…I can count the amount of rodoes I’ve attended in my lifetime on my two hands.

But that didn’t stop me when I decided my hero in my next contemporary western would be a bareback rider. Luckily for me four time and reigning world champion bareback rider Bobby Mote lives in Central Oregon. I contacted him and asked if I could interview him and his wife to learn the life of a rodeo athlete. We e-mailed back and forth and finally came up with a time when he would be back in the area between rodeos.

I arrived at his rural house just as he was finishing up his run and exercise routine. Yes, did you know that rodeo cowboys actually have a set routine of strength and flexibility training they go through during the rodeo season. That’s how they can survive some of those falls that make me queasy.

Bobby explained how to stay on a horse and what his hectic season/routine was like and then his wife, Kate, let me in on the family aspect of the rodeoing and some facts about the National Final Rodeo that only participants would know.

After over an hour of visiting and questions, I wandered around the living room browsing at the glassed in belt buckles and trophies this young man has amassed over his rodeo career. My conversation with him changed a whole lot of misconceptions I had about rodeo cowboys.

Do you have any misconceptions? Tell me what you think about when you think of a rodeo cowboy and I’ll not only see if I can answer the question but you’ll have your name put in the drawing for my newest release, Bridled Heart.

My January release Bridled Heart is not only about the rodeo lifestyle but about a woman who has finally found control over her past and looks toward a brighter future.

Blurb: A specialized placement schedule and self-imposed vow of celibacy keeps ER nurse, Gina Montgomery, from getting too close to anyone.  Music is her only solace and release from a past laced with abuse.  But when that music draws the attention of a handsome bareback rider, her chosen solitary life-not to mention her vow-gets tested to the limits.

Holt Reynolds let his younger sister down when she needed him most.  With the similarities to his sister far too evident in Gina, he can’t get the woman out of his head or her poignant music out of his heart.  But how can he find a way to free her bridled heart before the past resurfaces to destroy their one chance at happiness?

This book is available in e-book and print at The Wild Rose Press or any e-book and print outlet. Click Here to order.

Thanks!

Paty

www.patyjager.net
www.patyjager.blogspot.com

A certain kind of man –

Throughout history there has been that certain kind of man—the hero?  The daredevil?  The fool who risks death?  — Who rushes in when other men would have hesitated.

In my writing I often create heroes who fight for what is right, who win battles, who save the day, but there is another kind of man born for adventure. In flight, we call them the barnstormers.  In the Army, they might be the Special Forces who go in when the odds are against them.  And in rodeo, they are the bull riders.

I once did research on pre-WWI pilots. I found that some were gamblers playing with death but most loved the thrill of skating on the razor’s edge. (The book was CHERISH THE DREAM)  These kinds of men are like mountain climbers and people who do extreme sports.

For the past few months I’ve been doing research on bull riders. Just by accident one afternoon I was talking to a man in his early forties who was a fireman. We were both waiting for a play to start. I mentioned that I was writing about rodeo bull riders. He tugged up his sleeve and showed me a long ugly scar running up his arm.

“That’s just one,” he said. “There are others.”

The character in my latest book is named Noah. I watched this fireman sitting beside me and in my mind my Noah came alive before my eyes. All at once this man became an older version of Noah. The fireman might be older and wiser than my young man, but the love for the rodeo was still there.

I watched him move to the edge of his chair as he talked, widening his long legs as if getting ready for the gate to open.

“I started college,” he said. “Into my sophomore year I got to going with a friend to rodeos. At first we rode to pick up a little extra money and for the thrill. Then we got our cards and took it seriously. School became less and less important as I began to ride every weekend. It was almost like a drug. We lived for the ride.”

He laughed and said, “It’s been almost twenty years but I can feel the adrenaline running through my body just thinking about the ride. If I thought I could still ride, I’d be in line to draw a bull right now.”

I kept talking to him because I was no longer in Lubbock waiting for a play; I was talking to my Noah from Harmony, Texas.

Only my Noah is 21 and he’s been hurt for the third time, and this time he’s afraid to climb back on and ride. His dad was a national champion. The whole town thinks he’s a hero living the life they’d all love to live.

Once in a while reality and fiction mix for me and I love it. 

Noah was called Preacher in WELCOME TO HARMONY because when he rode in high school rodeos he got religion. In SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY coming out on Nov. 2, 2010, he’s started riding pro. In my third Harmony book, he’s hurt.

Come along with me and Noah and Reagan’s journey. I promise you’ll fall in love with them and the town of Harmony, Texas.

 Contest:  In my story Noah rides once using a Suicide wrap.  Leave a comment and tell me your stories of attending or being in a rodeo. If you include the definition of this kind of wrap, you’ll be in the drawing for a copy of SOMEWHERE ALONG THE WAY.  We’ll draw a winner on Sunday.

And let me know how you like the video.

MANY BLESSINGS,

JODI THOMAS

*************

Jodi Thomas is the NY Times and USA Today bestselling author of 31 novels and 8 short story collections. As of July 2006, she was the 11th woman to be inducted into the RWA Hall of Fame. She is also currently serving as the Writer in Residence at West Texas A&M University in Canyon, Texas.

 You can visit her at www.JodiThomas.com.

Rodeo started when cowboys from different ranches engaged in friendly, and not so friendly, cowboy competitions of skill after long cattle drives in the late 1800s. Such a cowboy gathering was a good place to blow off steam and a form of needed entertainment.  When the Homestead Act and barbed wire fences brought an end to the open range and cattle drives, cowboys would gather at stock shows to compete just like they do today at Denver, Houston, San Antonio, Fort Worth and many others.

Where and when was the first rodeo held? This is a hotly contested subject.

Payson, Arizona, claims it has the oldest continuous rodeo (1884).  But when the game Trivial Pursuits upheld Prescott, Arizona’s, documented claim as the oldest organized rodeo (1888) it was Pecos, Texas, that threatened to sue based on recorded eye-witness accounts of a rodeo that took place there in 1883.

At that first Prescott rodeo on July 4th, Juan Leivas cinched the title and was awarded a trophy for all-around cowboy having won both the steer roping and bronc riding contests at the “cowboy tournament” as it was then called. Leivas was a Date Creek Ranch cowhand, and Date Creek is still a working ranch raising grass-fed beef and still employing descendants of Juan Leivas, according to his grandnephew, David Leivas Chavez, who worked there when he was fifteen.

The Arizona Weekly Journal-Miner recorded Juan’s steer roping win as follows: “His steer turned toward the herd at breakneck speed…Libas (sic) made a beautiful throw with his rope, bringing his steer to earth so suddenly that he spilled his horse over, also throwing him to the ground, but quick as a flash of lightning he was again in the saddle.” His winning time was one minute, seventeen seconds.

However, all three towns cited above might have lost out in their claim as the first ever rodeo by over a decade, according to the New York Times and ProRodeo.com. It appears Deer Trail, Colorado may hold those bragging rights. They held their event also on July 4^th but in 1869 when two ranches got together to compete. An Englishman, Emilinie Gardenshire, successfully rode a horse named Montana Blizzard and took home a new set of clothes for his troubles.

After 140 years, rodeo is still going strong in big cities and small towns, not only out west but throughout the United States.  Some say it’s now the fastest growing sport in America with pro bull riding and shows such as America’s Toughest Cowboy (Spike TV) leading the way. My own eastern town throws a rodeo the first weekend of June every year. Even New York City hosts an annual rodeo event at Madison Square Garden.

Unlike most sports athletes, however, rodeo cowboys, despite the danger, still don’t make a whole heck of a lot of money.  First off, they have to pay an entrance fee to even compete. Before national sponsors, the cowboys would actually compete for a part of the entrance fee purse and nothing more. At some of the smaller rodeos, that is still the way it works. If that cowboy gets bucked off or doesn’t place, he not only doesn’t get any money, but he’s out his entrance fee. Then there are the travel expenses, which given the price of gas and the expanse of the west, can be formidable. Rodeo cowboys tend to “buddy up” in order to save on those expenses.  It used to be two or three traveling together, now it is more like four or five cowboys spending 200 days of the year on the road with each other.

And then there’s the gear.  Outfitting cowboy style isn’t cheap. They need a quality hat, a good pair of chaps, leather boots with spurs and protective vests, all with price tags to rival merchandise on New York City’s Fifth Avenue.  If you’re in timed events, you’re also saddled with the expenses of your partner, the horse.

Trevor Brazile has been the top earning rodeo cowboy for the last two years, earning about half-a-million a year.  He reported his annual expenses in 2007 to the New York Times as follows: event fees $65,000, fuel cost $31,000 (and rising) and horse feed another $15,000.  And that doesn’t include room and board for him and his wife and young son who travel with him. You can just imagine where that leaves cowboys lower on the winnings ladder.

Rodeo cowboys clearly do it for the love of it.

In my new book, Re-ride at the Rodeo, available now at The Wild Rose Press, rodeo is the element that brings the couple together and threatens to tear them apart.  The hero, Clay Tanner is a saddle bronc rider and rancher looking to make some quick money and have a good time. He spies a pretty little blonde who looks like she could use some fun. Trouble is, she turns him down.  Dusty Morgan wants nothing to do with rodeo riders.  Her late father rode broncs and he was never there for her—until he learned he was going to die. Now she’s looking for happily ever after, and despite her attraction to the strapping cowboy, she’s not interested in a hit and run with a footloose rodeo man.

In the story, Dusty grills Clay on why he does it.

He shrugged. He knew she couldn’t appreciate it. But he sensed she was trying to understand because it was important to her. He gave it another shot. “There’s also knowing that you’ve faced a difficult challenge. A challenge a lot of other people wouldn’t be able to meet. And you’ve succeeded. Against pretty significant odds. Done what most people in the stands wouldn’t even attempt, much less pull off.”

“Why not team roping or tie-down?”

He smiled. Those were safer sports in many respects, though they took a lot of skill. “I’ve competed in those events during ranch rodeos. But besides the money, rough stock is more of a challenge for me.”

She cocked her head. “It is about guts then.” She tossed in two pennies.

“Some, but I think there are other factors. Hell, sitting on a bull or bronc is nothing compared to facing down the enemy in a place like Iraq, or saving people from a burning building. There’s an element of courage involved, sure, but it’s more like you’re testing yourself. Most rough stock riders aren’t really competing against each other. Rodeo riders are a pretty tight bunch even though we play for each other’s entrance fees when the purses aren’t supplemented like here in Wayback. You try to better your own score, increase your standing. It’s a way, I guess, to measure yourself against the rest of the world. And if you measure up, you can take home some serious money. Does that make sense?”

Having been bucked off both a burro and a horse, it certainly doesn’t make a whole lot of sense to me. 

My burro incident came when my sister convinced me to ride our neighbor’s burro in the town’s Fourth of July parade. She was always talking me into something. She clapped a sombrero on my head, gave me a colorful shawl and there I was riding a reluctant burro with the marching band providing the beat. Unfortunately a bystander’s dog decided he’d like to play with that burro and dashed out into the street and started barking. Well, you can guess the rest. Next thing I knew I was down on the hard pavement, scraped, bruised and bloody. My mother burst from the crowd, scooped me up and took me home—ending my parade career. Along with a sprained ankle, I was sore for days.

Of course, that didn’t deter me in the least from riding, particularly since my oldest sister had just gotten a horse. Dusty (yes, I named my heroine after our palomino) had been a wild mustang when our neighbor got her. Unfortunately, wild seemed to be in her nature since no one, no man that is, could get near her. My sister could. The neighbor told her if she could break that horse, he’d give her a good deal. My sister spent every day for weeks working with the palomino, until she was finally able to ride her. Well, one day my sister announced it was time I rode Dusty. She didn’t have to convince me on this one; I’d been yammering at her for weeks to let me on.  My mother hadn’t yet agreed to it, however, since I was many years younger than my teenage sister. But Mom wasn’t around that day so up I went on Dusty.  We pranced around that corral and I felt like I could conquer the world.

But Dusty was easily spooked and something–we never did know what–spooked her and up she went on her hind legs and off I went—landing with a thump on the hard packed earth. It was the first time I had ever had the wind knocked out of me and I remember panicking for breath as my sister stood over me yelling, “Don’t tell Mom. Promise you won’t tell Mom.”  Tell Mom?  Couldn’t she see I wasn’t even breathing?

Even though I tasted blood in my mouth and had bruises all over my back and legs, I never told my mother.  I was too worried she would insist we get rid of the horse.  Dusty eventually calmed down—some. Enough to compete with my sister in barrel racing anyway.

Those two experiences, however, have convinced me that riding animals born to buck doesn’t make much sense—but I still love to watch those cowboys do it.

What about you? Any horse encounters you care to relate? Any rodeo memories you’d like to share? What do you think of the sanity of rodeo riders? And if you have any questions regarding the rodeo, I’ll do my best to answer them.

Leave a comment and you’ll be entered into a drawing for a free e-copy of Re-ride at the Rodeo.

Click on Anne’s book cover to go to The Wild Rose Press: