Stevens 1
Jake Stevens
English 1010
George
30, March 2015
Rough Stock101
The Wild West is something people think of when we think of history, with cowboys
riding around on horses everywhere you look. With the Wild West having such a strong presence
in our history how do we forget how things were back then, luckily there is something that takes
us back to this time in history. Well it takes us back as close as we might ever get. For it is the
dust, the mud, the blood, sweat and tears, the roar of the crowd, and the thrill of it all, is just one
way to try to describe the thing they call rodeo. Rodeo is one of the oldest sports around. For
some it is just something you go to once a year when it comes to town, for others it is a way of
life. This is just a few things that rodeo means for people. Rodeo is a looking glass into the past,
something that takes us back to the Wild West days. The days where cowboys broke their own
horses to ride, roped and branded their own cattle, and herded the cattle to the stock shows. From
the beginning the sport of rodeo has been a rough and exciting contest between man and animal.
For generations not much has changed in how the rodeo is ran. They are the same today as they
were twenty, even eighty years ago. The only thing that has really changed is what the cowboys
wear for safety. The style and techniques are the same as they were in the beginning. The style of
Stevens 2
rodeo has been passed down from generation to generation. With the sport of rodeo having so
much to talk about we are going to focus on the roughest events in rodeo, which is bareback
bronc riding, saddle bronc riding, and bull riding.
We’ll talk about these three events in order of that of which they occur in the actual
rodeo. So the event that gets the whole rodeo going is usually bareback bronc riding. In this
event a cowboy tries to riding a bucking horse with nothing more than a riggin strapped to the
horse back. A riggin is basically a suitcase handle that is stiff and made out of rawhide and
leather. The cowboy wears a glove that is stiff so he can wedge his hand in the riggin handle so
it will not come out. This process is called taking a bind. It is exactly as it sound the cowboy
binds his hand in the handle so it will not come out. As the cowboy and the horse leave the chute
the cowboy’s feet must be in contact with the horse above the front shoulders. This is called the
mark out rule. Then the cowboy tries to move his feet from the point of the shoulders to his
riggin handle replacing his feet in the point of the shoulder before the horse front feet hit the
ground. This is called spurring a horse this is what the cowboy is judged on. The motion of his
feet, the control he has in the ride, some people would say bareback riders have no control. The
horse also gets a score for how hard it bucks. The two sets of scores are added together to make
up the score you hear from the announcer. That’s the basic idea of bareback riding and how it
works. As someone who has rode bareback from the time I was 14, I can tell you that this is the
most physical demanding event in rodeo. You are sore after every ride. The PRCA (Pro Rodeo
Cowboys Association) says “Bareback riding has been compared to riding a jackhammer with
one hand.”(parg.3) This is probably the best way to describe it. When you are out of timing with
the horse you are getting yanked on the whole time just like as if you were trying to hang on to a
1500lb jack hammer. The horses that buck in bareback riding they are usually smaller than
Stevens 3
saddle bronc horse. They are usually wirey as cowboys would say. This just means that they
throw more at cowboys in the ride, they duck and swoop more and throw their head around while
bucking. This is just a simple break down of everything that happens in the 8 seconds of the ride
while riding bareback broncs.
Saddle bronc riding came from the days when cowboys had to break their own horse. The
cowboys would get together with one ranch bringing a horse that couldn’t be broke and the other
bringing a cowboy who couldn’t be bucked off. They would then pair the two together to see
who would win. This is what started the event of saddle bronc riding with is the most classic
event in rodeo. Some might say that saddle bronc is just like bareback riding except you use a
saddle. To the untrained eye this might be true. They are pretty similar but there some major
differences they both have the mark out rule. They both have to ride for eight seconds. They are
both scored by two judges with 50 points going to the rider and 50 points for how the horse
bucks but the spurring motion is completely different. Saddle bronc goes from the point of the
horses shoulders to the cantle of the saddle which is the back part of a saddle. Cowboys use a
saddle and a bronc rain instead of a riggin. The horses the cowboys ride are usually bigger and
have a slower bucking motion. The different style of bareback and saddle bronc is one that no
one could miss. When riding saddle bronc correctly it is compared to sitting in a rocking chair.
Doug L. Simcox who rides in the PRCA says "It's a lot less physical than bareback, a lot less
dangerous than bull riding. We're a gentle breed, when you're doing it right, it looks like you're
sitting in a rocking chair."(parg. 17) This is why you see so many saddle bronc riders careers last
longer than any other event in rodeo.
Stevens 4
The roughest sport on dirt as many call it would have to be bull riding. What other sport
do you try to see if you can stay on a 2000lb animal for 8 seconds just for the fun of it? There is
more money won in bull riding than in any other event in rodeo. Bull Riding came from Mexican
bull fighters but they would ride them till they die with spurs that went through the skin and
would stink in the sides of the bull. Now days cowboys ride with dull spurs that won’t even cut
the bull. The object of bull riding is to say on top of the bulls back for 8 seconds just like in the
other two rough stock events the cowboy and bull are scored and added up to get the total point.
With a maximum points possible of 100. Unlike in both bareback and saddle bronc riding the
cowboys do not get scored on how well he spurs the bull, though cowboys can spur for bonus
points. Unlike popular myths bulls aren’t there to kill you, the late Lane Frost once said, “ Naa,
the bulls don't want nuthin' to do with ya. They just wanna buck you off and get on with their
business. A'sides... people'll heart you a lot sooner” Lane was a PRCA bull riding world
champion in 1987. Bulls usually only run cowboys over when they get in their way. Even
though there are some bulls that will hunt you down that is why they have rodeo clowns or now
days called bull fighters there to help the cowboy get to the fence safely.
This is just a basic look at the rough stock events of rodeo. This is just a glimpse in to
what the Wild West could have been like, with cowboys breaking horse and bull running down
the street. The rodeo now day are mostly for entertainment and many cowboys choosing to make
rodeo a lively hood. The roughstock events are what the fans pay to see. This is why they are at
the first and the last of the rodeo. To get people in the gates and make sure they stay to the very
end. Rodeo is something that has been passed down from generation to generation and will keep
giving us a glimpse of what the west once might have looked like.
Stevens 5
Work Cited
Anderson, Lisa E. "Ride 'em, Cowboy, In The Wild, Wild East." Philly-archives. 16 June 1994.
Web. 19Mar. 2015.
"Bareback Riding." Bareback Riding. PRCA. Web. 20 Mar. 2015.
IMDb. IMDb.com. Web. 21 Mar. 2015.<http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0058746/quotes>.