Houston Rodeo and Cousin Crysta

So, my cousin--Crysta S.--was in the calf scramble at the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo over the weekend. For those of you that may not know---that's a BIG deal. Serious business. It works like this: 28 high school kids are selected to participate. They are given strict instructions and white shirts and are told to go catch one of the 14 calves running around the arena-- in front of thousands of people. They have to tackle the calf, attach a rope to its head and lead it to the square in the center of the stadium. Sounds easy, right? Well, Crysta certainly made it look like a piece of cake...like she had done it a hundred times. I was completely impressed. She took complete control over that animal. Showed it who was boss. Amazing. As she crossed the white chalk line, the announcer said her name and the town she is from and then then interviewed her on the big screen. It was fantastic. The best part is, she buys a steer back home and raises it for a year...has to keep a detailed log of everything she does to care for it and even has to make a scrapbook. Next year, she will come back and compete against the other 13 kids that also wrangled a calf. What's the motivation, you ask? The winner this year brought $300,00 at the auction. And the 16 year old that raised it gets $85,000. No wonder my dad wanted me to get involved in 4-H when I was a kid....
Way to go Crysta. You can bet I will be there next year cheering you on...