STORY BY KAREN BOSSICK

PHOTOS BY JOHN BOYDSTON

An enthusiastic stomping crowd greeted cowboys and cowgirls taking part in the Sawtooth Rangers Days of the Old West Rodeo over the Fourth of July.

While some oogled the pretty horses, others took note of the fashion statements wandering around the Hailey Rodeo grandstands.

Oops! Missed.

The youngsters did their best to stay on wooly sheep during Mutton Busting contests, while Casperson Mini-Bulls provided the pre-rodeo entertainment on July 3 and 4. There was a lot of rough riding but no serious injuries.

Those attending the rodeo on Fourth of July got the additional bonus of fireworks lightening up the sky as dark settled. But those who attended the other two nights didn’t do too shabby as golden light from the setting sun left the foothills around Hailey swathed in alpenglow.

The Sawtooth Rangers Riding Club have been riding, dancing and rodeoing since 1947—the same year U.S. Secretary of State George Marshall outlined the Marshall Plan to rebuild Western Europe following World War II and aliens were alleged to land at Roswell in a nifty UFO.

They staged their first rodeo—the Wood River Roundup—in 1948. And today it features cowboys and cowgirls in the Intermountain Professional Rodeo Association (IMPRA) who compete for generous cash prizes.

This bucking bronco had a tail a peacock might be envious of.

Frank Lockyear tries to hang on.

A bucking bronco hee-haws as his rider tries to hold on for eight seconds.