SANTA ANA — Watching the Hyatt Regency Tamaya Resort rodeo on a Thursday evening, one can’t help but remember snippets of the 1991 movie “City Slickers.”

No, Billy Crystal’s not hanging out at Tamaya, nor is Daniel Stern, but the way the whole event is assembled seems familiar.

Each Thursday evening, Tamaya guests are hauled on a horse-drawn wagon out to the stables and arena, about a mile north of the luxurious hotel north of Rio Rancho, where cowboys and cowgirls, most of who work for the resort, put on a small-scale rodeo. After a grand entry, there are team roping, barrel racing, calf roping and chicken race events, plus a few extras aimed at the kids sitting in the stands with their city slicker parents, sitting in the bleachers, sheltered from the evening sun and whatever hellacious wind is blowing that way, as it was the evening of June 26.

Adult guests (non-guests are invited to watch, too) pay $15 for the rodeo, while children 16 and under are admitted for free. The admission fee includes hamburgers, hotdogs, soft drinks and water.

Nina Santillanes, Tamaya’s director of sales and marketing, said the rodeo’s been well received by guests, some of whom have never seen a rodeo except on TV.

The response has been “excellent,” she said, “very, very positive. Last week we had 45 of them (watching).”

Connie Collis, the stables director, who also oversees the 4-H Club in San Ysidro and is on the Sandoval County Fair board, Response, echoed Santillanes’ remarks.

“We get letters about how much they enjoy it,” she said, recalling letters from satisfied guests in several states.

“(The rodeo) is not scary and mean to the animals, it’s not a full-blown rodeo. It’s fun and the kids love it. It’s guest-interactive — they like that.”

Having a weekly rodeo is fairly new to Tamaya. Collis said the arena was built a few years ago but until they came up with the idea to stage a rodeo, all that had been available were trail rides for guests.

Now, guests can even register for rodeo training of sorts, learning how to ride and what is expected in the events the first two days of the week and later competing in the arena in timed events. Massage treatments are included.

Watching the action from a chair, his camera hanging on his chest, Tamaya guest Nick Olbrysh, who lives in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, said he was having a good time.

“It’s fun, it’s enjoyable,” he said, noting this wasn’t his first trip to New Mexico.

He and his wife had already visited Old Town, planned to take a trip to Santa Fe, and ultimately end up in Las Vegas, Nev. Rising gas prices didn’t deter their trip, he said.

Another guest, Rod Hall of Georgetown, Texas, said he, his wife and their two children, were on their first vacation in New Mexico.

His previous stops in the state had been for gas on his way to and from California and Texas.

They had driven the “Turquoise Trail” and stopped in Cerrillos and Madrid, he said, and ridden the Tram.

“This has been fantastic,” he said of the rodeo. “It’s very kid oriented.”

Like Olbrysh, he didn’t let gas prices keep him from taking a summer vacation.