American Rodeo

One of the greatest benefits of world travel is that it helps you recognize and appreciate what you have at home.
 
I can distinctly remember the feeling I had 24 years ago when I returned to Utah after living in Spain for two years. We drove down State Street in Salt Lake City and I felt like I was in a ghost town. It wasn't for the lack of people that lived there, but because the streets were wide, the buildings low, and everything spread out. In Spain all the buildings were at least five-stories tall, streets narrow, and everything crammed together. For the first time I appreciated the space we had in our humble state of Utah.
 
Other things came to mind that suddenly felt unique to my corner of the world: dutch-oven potatoes, homemade root beer, bugling elk, the scent of sage brush, and the dusty competition of rodeo.
 
Rodeos can be found all across the state, from the Cache Valley to Dixie. I will admit that I wasn't raised going to rodeos. In fact, I didn't attend my first rodeo until after I was married. But it only took once to hook me.
 

Rodeo can be very dangerous.  This cowboy was dragged across the arena during the bareback competition when his hand became caught in the handle.

Last night my wife and I attended The Great American Stampede, a rodeo in my home town. There's a certain feeling that can be felt just walking into the arena. Horse trailers are scattered along the back side of the parking. Steers are being herded into stalls. Men and women wear tight jeans and cowboy hats. The scent of hamburgers and horse manure waft through the air.
 
We sat on the back row of the bleachers next to a woman from Jensen, Utah who was quilting a blanket. Jensen is a small town in the Uintah Basin and I've noticed that a lot of these young cowboys come from podunk farm towns. She asked if went go to the rodeo often. When we said that we try to go once a year, she responded that she goes once a week. Her daughter attends Colorado Northwestern Community College and was competing in Breakaway Roping.
 

The steers wait their turn.

We've never been personally involved in rodeo competition. The closest we got was one year when we entered our 8-year old daughter, Kaitlyn, into the mutton-busting event. To qualify you must weigh 65 pounds or less. They put a helmet on the poor little kids, then put them atop a fat, woolly sheep. The kid holds on for dear life while the sheep takes off like a bullet out of the chute. The longer you ride, the better your score. Kaitlyn didn't score too high.
 
From what I gather, very few mothers want their sons to go into rodeo. They pick up disgusting habits, the pay is low, and it is very dangerous. I've listened to enough Chris LeDoux songs to know this is true. They live out of their car, spend all their time on the road chasing a dream, and become so physically broken down that it takes a toll on family life (or so say the songs).
 

It's bulls and blood, it's dust and mud . . .

The very first rider last night proved that point. It was the bareback riding event. Horse and rider came out of the chute, the cowboy digging his spurs into the neck of the horse and the horse kicking high. When the rider succumbed to the jolting and tossing, he flew in the air, but his right hand became trapped in his handle and for the next five minutes he was dragged twice around the arena like a helpless rag doll. Two other men on horses were finally able to stop the wild bronc and get the hand untied. The poor cowboy limped across the dirt in a lot of pain, holding his arm like it was a piece of meat.
 
In addition to the cowboys and cowgirls, there are a lot a personalities during the evening. The announcer is the one who sets the tone and can get the crowd riled up. The clown pitches in with his antics. The clown also has additional skills with barrels and bulls. And of course, there is the rodeo queen and royalty. Later in the evening we saw the queen on the front row signing autographs for kids.
 

The many faces of rodeo.

Your typical rodeo includes bareback riding, breakaway roping, tie-down roping, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, goat tying for the women, team roping, barrel racing, and bull riding. But sometimes it's the stuff in between that gives it extra flavor. Last night we enjoyed a trick rider who twisted and twirled like a pole dancer, but on a speeding horse. And then there was the mutton-busting. I couldn't help but to think of Kaitlyn. I think I've figured out the secret to a long ride. If you straddle the sheep backwards, lay on your belly, grab the wool, and lock your feet around the sheep's neck, then you can stay on pretty well.
 

A young girl competes in the mutton-busting event.

And the winner is . . .

Saddle bronc is probably my favorite competition. It is similar to the bareback. Even though there is a saddle to sit upon and stirrups for the feet, there is no horn to grab. Instead, all the rider has is a loose rope. Therefore he must be an expert in the balance and rhythm of the horse. Last night we watched as one saddle bronc rider was bucked upside down into the air and landed straight on his head. Pretty bad. The injury put the cowboy writhing on the ground for several minutes. At last he got up and walked away.
 

A cowboy successfully binds a calf in the tie-down roping competition.

Perhaps the most iconic event in rodeo is bull riding. It is certainly the most dangerous. In some aspects, it is slightly disappointing. First of all, the riders are required to wear helmets, at least on the college level. This detracts from the cowboy image. Second, the bulls never make it far from the chute, unlike the horses, who seem to go bucking all across the arena. This makes the action more distant. Then, when you couple this with darkness, it makes photography quite difficult. 

Having said this, bull riding is nothing short of spectacular.  Anyone willing to ride a three-quarter-ton angry bull has a stroke of bravery that I will never have.  The goal of bull riding is to stay on the animal for eight seconds holding onto the flank strap with only one hand.  The bull is the most difficult mount of all rodeo animals.  He is the heaviest, and the only one with horns.  It is the only one that will try charging the cowboy after he has bucked him off.  Hats off to anyone who has the courage to attempt such a feat.  The bull riding event is the perfect finale to any rodeo.

During one of the breaks the announcer walked onto the dirt and drew raffle tickets from a jar. They handed out several twenty dollar bills and tickets to a John Michael Montgomery concert. He read the name and city of each winner. All were local except for one, a man from London, England. I don't know this guy from Adam, but my guess is that he was a tourist visiting the area and saw a poster advertising the rodeo. Good for him! I think far too many people come to our beautiful neck of the woods only to go to the National Parks and take in the beauty of Mother Nature. That's fine to a degree, but in my opinion, to obtain a deeper understanding of the culture, you must get off the far too-beaten tourist trail. ♠

Bull riding is the most dangerous event in rodeo.