The lights were bright on the Crooked Creek Horse Park on Friday night in Ford City, Pa., during the 23rd Annual Fort Armstrong Rodeo.
When Cody Sauls, 26, of Villa Rica, Ga., gets ready to climb atop a bull he manages to tune everything around him out.
Whether it’s the crowd noise, the announcer, the huffing of the 1,500lb bull beneth him, “when you slide into the shoot everything fades away,” Sauls says.
When he’s all set he gives the nod. The chute door is swung open, and all the eyes in the horse-park are squarely on the Western Georgian cowboy for a moment.
“You won’t be able to hear anything else, but I can hear that one voice on the back of the chute.”
That one voice was fellow cowboyand friend Justin Bates, 24, of Drinktown, Ga. enouraging Sauls on what was a full 8-second ride which scored him 76 points.
Just his second ride back after twisting his knee a few weeks ago, the ride - the highlight of the night- gave Sauls and Bates something to smile about on the long road back to Georgia.
Nate Smallwood is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Nate at 412-400-9630, nsmallwood@tribweb.com or via Twitter @nsmallwoodphoto.
