Its Saturday afternoon and we’re at the women’s rodeo where ladies are competing against passive goats instead of bucking bulls.
We watch them goat tying, and as ever there are a list of exacting rules. It is a test of skill and speed. She may be disqualified for undue roughness, touching the goat after the tie, or if her horse comes in contact with the goat or tether. If the goat becomes untied before six seconds have passed, she receives no score. It’s all about touching and tying.
The term goat-rope or goat rodeo has a secondary colloquial meaning in American English:
n. a messy or disorganized situation.
US military jargon ca. 1970s-1980s, referring to an operation or undertaking involving an unnecessarily large number of people, most of them contributing nothing or actually impeding progress.
