Peoa...

My mom called me on Saturday morning and asked, "Do you want to go visit the cemetaries with us?"

"I'd love to, but I can't. I'm going to Peoa!!"

"You're going where?" she asked.

"To Peoa!"

"Where is Peoa?"

"I don't know. But I'm going there!"

She thought I seemed awfully excited to go somewhere I had never heard of before and but she told me to have a good time and she'd talk to me later. I then met up with a couple of my friends and we headed to Peoa.

Where is Peoa, you ask? Well, it's somewhere between Oakley and Kamas. It took us about an hour to get there.

What were we doing in Peoa? What else is there to do in a small hick town other than go to a rodeo?!?

Yep, I went to a rodeo in Peoa, Utah. And I've never had so much fun in my life. Okay, that's an overstatement. But it was a really fun time. The little arena was located in the middle of nothing but farms and lots and lots of open space which was surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was such a beautiful place. I really loved it.

The rodeo was small, but it took about three hours to complete. Despite being there for so long and having to stand for the last half (we got rained on and the bleachers were soaked), I never got bored. It was a really fun rodeo. There was an exciting/horrifying moment towards the end of the event though that still has me a little freaked out. Here's the story...

The competition we were watching was for saddled broncs. A guy and his horse went out, the guy got bucked off and the horse just kept going crazy. The three men on horses chased after the bucking horse to catch it and calm it down but before they could get to it, the horse bucked right into a gate post - HARD! His head went right into it. The horse stopped, completely dazed, took one stumble backwards and then fell straight over onto it's side. The second it hit the ground it started seizing, its body going crazy in massive spasms. The three guys on the horses jumped off, ran over to this seizing horse, knelt down on it to keep it controlled and took off the saddle, bridle, etc as fast as they could. They then started hollering for something. About 10 other men ran over, some with ropes and started working around this horse. By this point, the horse had completely stopped moving. I looked at my friend and said "Is that horse just unconscious or something?" He looked at me and without trying to freak me out said "I think this could be a case where the horse has possibly died". "What?!?!" I said. And he said, "I don't know. I just don't see it breathing...at all".

The accident happened only about 10 feet away from us so the horse was pretty close to where we were standing. I looked at the horse and focused my eyes on it's abdomen. I saw no movement either. I looked at the horses face and it's eye wasn't moving either. Honestly, the horse did look dead. The men working around the horse continued to quickly tie it's front and back legs together and then they rolled it over onto a fence gate, picked it up, loaded it into the back of a horse trailer and drove off. The rodeo then continued as if nothing ever happened. It was all handled very professionally and so quickly! I think it was only 5 minutes from the time the horse went down to the time it was loaded on the trailer. They never announced the fate of the horse but I have a horrible feeling that I may have witnessed the death of a beautiful horse.

Other than that, it was a great rodeo in a beautiful small country town. I think I may have to go to Peoa again! :)