First You Laugh, Then You Think...Then you Laugh Again.

OK, let's start with the laugh. Go to the link and watch the video.

Rodeo Queens On Stick Ponies

Kinda funny huh? Little kids gussied up just shy of a toddler beauty pageant contestant running around on stick ponies! You stare in disbelief at this girls pretending to canter between traffic cones while waving around their hands showing off (and hopefully not dying of shame in the process). Then you get to snicker at the "old" Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen Contest queens trying to pretend the whole exercise isn't silly. Or maybe you giggled at the picture of a lonely barrel of stick ponies waiting to be chosen by a Davis County Sheriff's Mounted Posse Junior Queen and imagined a Toy Story-esque inner life for the stick ponies.

Unfortunately all this comedy is the result of an outbreak of equine herpes. A fatal and highly contagious version of herpes only transmitted between equine species (horses,donkeys, and zebras). The event organizers started by postponing the contest for a week in the hope that the quarantine would work and the disease would run its course. Unfortunately for the kids this delay wasn't enough.

What makes my inner skeptic happy is that the organizers absolutely made the right choice. Holding this event at this time would be a grave danger for the horses. There was no short term thinking of "Oh, but if we don't go on with the show the kiddos will be devastated." Someone realized that the kids would be more devastated if their horses died. They made the best of a bad situation and tried to encourage the kids. Despite the silly costumes and overly bubbly adults (who still wear their sashes?!?) these kids put in a lot of effort in learning their routines. They were rewarded as best was possible for their patience and what they learned without putting their animals to an unnecessary risk...

But that doesn't change the fact that it's a pretty funny video. :)

Hopefully this will tide you over until Episode 008 is posted.