Tag Archives: rodeo

Jumping The Bull

Posted on by

There is a phrase used fairly often, though not as much as it used to be, called Jumping the Shark. It loosely means something that was very popular and trendy that is now losing its popularity and beginning to fade away. TV shows that were ground breaking in some way, sensational due to their unusual and surprisingly defiant approach to current norms, now are becoming stale and outdated. The exact point where the decline started is where they jumped the shark and became irrelevant.

What we have here is a new phrase born out of the rodeo community, Jumping The Bull, which is the exact opposite of Jumping The Shark in every way. When you Jump the Bull you are doing something that is so extraordinary there is no chance that it will become dated or boring. You can watch that over and over and not get tired of it. When a two thousand pound ferocious and dangerous animal runs by you and you decide to jump over it knowing full well what the catastrophic consequences are if you screw it up, that’s Jumping The Bull.

The participants in this event are one of the rodeo clowns and his angry companion, an American fighting bull. Having just ejected his original rider and still filled with the blood lust of the battle, wanting nothing more than to destroy anyone near it, the bull races around the arena looking for anyone to vent its fury on, especially the fallen rider. It’s the rodeo clown’s job to keep it distracted while the original rider gets to safety. In this case the rodeo clown felt there was nothing left to do to get the animals attention but to jump over it. That may sound like the least likely approach to handle the situation but then this is not your normal situation. Anything goes in a deal like this. So the message here can be if you find yourself in a similar situation of being in a hot dusty arena with a maddened two thousand pound fighting bull charging down on you, well, simply jump over it and go get a coffee. It worked for this guy.

Misplaced His Hat

Posted on by
American Bullfighting

What we have here is an example of an age old conflict between a bull that cannot abide seeing a cowboy standing and wearing a hat, and a cowboy standing and wearing a hat that is not about to take that attitude from any bull.

When the two come together, usually in an arena where there is the possibility of a confrontation, such as an event that features American Bullfighting, and say, the bull says something off color about the cowboys hat, and the cowboy says “Oh yeah, why you don’t you do something about it then, hamburger walking”, the situation can get explosive.

In the image above we see the aftermath of this provocative exchange. The bull is happy to provide a direct physical response to the cowboys’ taunt and the cowboy is making absolutely certain to note where his hat has landed so he can retrieve it when he hits the ground. It is very likely that this situation will repeat itself over and over again due to the inability of the opposing sides to come to any type of agreement.

It could be that this situation can be seen as a metaphor for life in general where there are two opposing points of view and no good way for one side or the other to work it out in a less violent manner. Remember when everything is said and done the bull does most often wind up as hamburger, and the cowboy loses his ability to wear his coveted hat due to the knots on his head from his many hard landings, so it’s a non-win for both points of view. It begs that age old question “Why can’t we all just be friends.” I guess the answer for me is “I don’t know, really. I like hamburger and I like wearing my hat. That’s a tough one to answer.”

Leaps and Bounds – Bull Riding at Crow Fair 2018

Posted on by

Bull riding is the crown jewel of rodeo. There are other more cultivated, genteel rodeo events where skill and practice determine the outcome, but for sure-fire knock your jeans in the dirt excitement it is bull riding. What you have is a 1800 to 2000 lb. animal with skin two sizes to big for the body it covers. If you were brave you could grab the skin on the back of the bulls hide and shove it 6-8″ in either direction, and a cowboy who is determined to ride him holding on to a single rope tied around the bulls body and hang on for eight seconds. He has to stay on while the bull uses every trick it knows to unseat him while not touching the animal with his free hand and not speaking harshly or using rodeo slurs of any kind to the bull during the ride.

It all starts behind this innocent looking chute. Behind the soothing lavender colored gate is a bull. It is not happy. On his back is a cowboy tying himself to that bull by wrapping a single rope that encircles the bulls body around his hand and willing his butt to stick to the bulls back like superglue. He has to stay on this whirling dervish for eight seconds to get paid. This seldom happens as the bull has other plans.

The chute is slammed open and the enraged bull emerges with the hopeful rider on its back.

In seconds, in this case maybe 2 to 3 of them, the rider is flung from its back.

The bull not content with unseating the rider wants his pound of flesh and attempts  to do great bodily harm to the rider. He prefers to pin the rider to the ground with his horns or perhaps jump all over him with his hooves neither of which is good news for the rider. Not only does the rider go home broke but maybe to the emergency room for a cast and some traction.

That’s where the angels of the arena, the rodeo clown, earns his money. His job is to distract the bull from its murderous intentions and save the cowboy from any more distress. Here he is giving the bull the well-known rodeo command to sit. This gives the cowboy time to scramble out-of-the-way and climb the fence to safety.

Another cowboy tries his luck. The bull tries his. This is known as air time where the bull levitates before returning to earth. The longer his air time the harder he lands. Almost always this results in the cowboy not finishing his eight seconds.

As you can see due to the abnormal amount of air time this bull managed to hold it resulted in the immediate dislodging of his rider. No pay for him today either.

If the ride was a very short one it will occasionally cause the bull to feel unsatisfied, as if it didn’t get its money’s worth. He will then not return to the holding pen until he runs around the arena for a while. That’s where the mounted cowboys working the arena come into play. Their job is to make sure the bulls return to the holding pen in a timely manner usually by roping it and encouraging it with gentle phrases of admiration to get out of the arena so the next bull and rider can have their eight seconds of glory.

This is called the “Shot from Guns” style of bucking. The bull run out for a few feet then points it horns at the sky and leaps, no, bounds into the sky.

While airborne it twists and turns its body in an amazing form of acrobatics while flinging its robust butt in the air.

This almost always results in the cowboy leaving the bulls back to keep his appointment with the ground. As this happens in less than eight seconds the cowboy does not get paid.

Knowing he’s going home broke causes the cowboy some unhappiness and he will often take a few moments to pray, sad at going home unpaid but thankful to be alive.

He only takes a very few moments though for his communing with his maker as he realizes the bull has not forgotten he is still in the arena and fair game.

The bull intent on retribution for any indignities it feels it has endured tries very hard to make some one pay.

Running around the arena after dislodging it rider the bull kicks up its heels in celebration. This triggers the arena men to go to work and roping soon ensues.

Many ropes in fact as it is not simple to rope a two thousand pound bull and just lead it off like a dog on a leash. More and more ropes are used until the sheer weight of them causes the bull to decide to return to the holding pen.

In some cases when the bull is particularly stubborn and unruly the cowboys will go into what is called the helicopter effect where they constantly whirl their ropes causing a helicopter sound which can freeze the bull into submission where it can be properly roped.

This whirling of ropes and unusual noises confuses the bull stunning it momentarily into immobility.

So it can be led away after being helicoptered. 

Having successfully removing the bull the arena man returns to his station for the next  event.

Sometimes the bull and rider will interact in unusual ways. Here having come to an understanding where neither of them was injured or humiliated they do a little disco dancing where each gets to show off their moves. The crowd of fence sitting observers likes this and gives both very high marks.

Look closely at this bulls eye. He knows that he has got this riders number.

Sure enough moments later the rider begins his short but soon to be painful departure from his back.

Unfortunately some bulls just get unruly and have to be manhandled. The rodeo clown is about to perform a dangerous but necessary maneuver where he will grab the bull by its horns and using a type of ancient bull jujitsu will flip this bull over on its back where the other cowboys will each grab a leg then push it out of the arena. This maneuver is not often seen but is known to be very effective if embarrassing for the bull.

These unsung heroes of the arena, the working cowboys, or peace keepers of the incredible spectacle known as bull riding, watch carefully for the next pair of competitors to enter the stage. This is bull riding in all its excitement, drama and adventure. See it when  you can.

Whoa! Legless Bronco Busting

Posted on by

Legless Bronco Busting!!!

Hang on to your hats ladies and Gentlemen! Here’s the latest in Rodeo events, the newest, the wildest, the craziest yet, its LEGLESS BRONCO BUSTING!!! That’s right we said it, you heard it, Legless Bronco Busting. The new event that’s sweeping the rodeo circuits from Texas to Oklahoma, Wyoming to Oregon, Colorado to, well you get the picture. It’s everywhere. Are you bored with the same old wild mustang bucking horses that come out and jump around the arena for a while doing stupefying flying leaps and incredible horse-like acrobatics while trying to unseat its rider. The spectacular has become boring. You’ve seen it all before and you’re tired of it. So all that’s left is to head to the refreshment stand and drink some beer to break the boredom. Better to go hammer back a dozen longnecks then watch the same old Crow hop, sidestep, Sunfish, swap ends, flip over backward, bite you in the loading chutes, tired old antics of conventional buckers. If that’s where you’re at then this newest of the new events Legless Bronco Busting is right up your alley.

What’s wrong with the old stuff? Why do we need a new event? Well that’s easy. If you’ve been to a World Championship rodeo, say like the one in Vegas or Tucson with all that prize money and seen the same old dusty world champion cowboys riding the same old tired world-class bucking stock. Staying on for 8 seconds, throwing their hats in the air, wearing those big fancy belt buckles, lip packed full of Skoal, you know that deep down you’d like to see something fresh, something new, something that puts the shine back on your chaps. Well Legless Bronco Busting is just the ticket.

A little history about the event. Bronco busting has been around since way before Gene Autry or Roy Rodgers. It goes way back. Back even before Lash LaRue. Some say it was the first event ever held and prepared the world for what we now know as RODEO. Don’t know if I’d go that far, but it has been around for a long time. Way before TV anyway. But it’s gotten a little stale. The Boomer generation, which has practically ruled the world ever since they came into being, is getting a little long in the tooth. Aging, getting old. Some of them are way into their late 60’s 70’s and even their early 80’s and they still want to rodeo. They still want to ride the big rides. They still want to go the saloon for a shot and a beer and a fistfight. They want to chase, or at least shuffle, after those long-legged but buxom cowgirls that hang out in those smoky, whiskey infused places. They want to win those big belt buckles to complement their wide suspenders. They’re not done yet, not by any means. But what to do? They can’t even crawl up the sides of those loading chutes to board a bronc let alone stick on anything but a toilet seat for 8 seconds.

That’s where the genius of modern technology comes into play. Science in other words,  the same stuff that brought you global warming. You all heard of genetic modification, or the cloning of that sheep, Dolly. That’s all done with science. You put some DNA into the hopper, usually about 6 or 7 pounds depending on what you want to make, dial-up what new  animal you want, flip the 440 electrical switch and stand back as out pops a new sheep or goat or in this case a new kind of horse. That’s the secret right there to this newest of new rodeo events. A Legless horse. They made a legless horse! Cool beans, right? Well to be accurate the horse isn’t totally legless, that wouldn’t work, those suckers are heavy, no, it’s just a horse with radically shortened legs. Like only 6-8 in. long not counting the hooves. Using a mix of DNA from Lipizzaner stock out of Austria, known for it’s jumping ability, some Percheron stock out of France for its wide back, some Black Forest Horse, also called the Black Forest cold blood or Schwarzwälder Kaltblut, because it’s the rarest horse in the world and the guys doing this had a lot of money, and last but not least some DNA from a few broomtails out of the west Texas hill country because there was some left in the bottom of the bucket from another experiment.

What they got was the Legless horse, the meanest, orneriest, most unforgiving bucking stock on practically no legs. Now boomer cowboys can march up to the chutes, park their walker next to the gate, sort of lean over the back and fall on. It’s like getting on a Roomba that eats hay. The chute door opens and they hang on for dear life as the horse wallows and pitches and jumps dizzyingly into the air, leaps are often as high as 6-8 inches before slamming back down to earth in a bone-jarring crash, twirls slowly, rears back and does its damnest to throw that octogenarian rider into the next county. As you can see in the image above it’s a wild ride. Dust is flying, the horse is trying to rear up, it’s rolling and leaping, the ride is terrifying. So much so that you can see the rider clutching one of the stanchions of the chute gate thinking to save his life. Disqualifying for sure, but better than dying. No score for him today.

There it is folks, Legless Bronco Busting, the newest most electrifying rodeo event to come down the road since *Horse Spinning. Watch the PRCA circuit for its inclusion in its next major rodeo and don’t be surprised if it becomes a world-wide sensation. I know I will be.

*http://www.bigshotsnow.com/horse-spinning/

That Third Barrel – Blackfeet NAID Rodeo Barrel Racing

Posted on by

This post has been moved to OpenChutes.com. All future postings of Powwows, Indian Relay Races, Rodeos and Rendezvous will be posted there from now on exclusively. So if you’re looking for new images and posts for all those events attended this year, plus all the old posts posted on BigShotsNow.com check out OpenChutes.com. See you there!

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4812

One of the more interesting competitions in a rodeo is the barrel racing. This is especially true at the annual Blackfeet rodeo during their NAID (North American Indian Days) get together. This is an event where the women participants shine. It takes skill, a good mount, a little bit of luck and a willing motivated rider and horse to win.

The horse and rider need to be as one to excel at this event as it takes a special communication between them to run this simple appearing course without causing any errors. Errors result in penalties, and a penalty adds time to their final result. Lowest time for completing the course wins. This is a chance to see perfection in both the efforts of the horse and the skill of the rider.

The course is laid out with the barrels placed at the three points of a triangle, with the base of triangle being the entry point. The rider enters and heads for barrel number one which is at the right point of the triangle base as she enters and crosses the starting line. She circles it and heads for barrel number two which is at the left of the triangle. She circles that one and heads for barrel number three which is at the point of the triangle farthest away from the entry point. This is where things get really interesting not to mention exciting. If the rider has had a successful ride to this point, which means she has circled the first two barrels without knocking any of them over causing her a penalty, she must circle this last barrel as fast as she and her mount can get around it, always being careful not to knock it over, then she and her horse must accelerate out of the turn and race like the very wind to the finish line.

Watching them come out of that last turn with the horse leaning into the corner nearly parallel with the ground and the rider leaning over her horse’s neck encouraging her mount to put everything it has into the race over the long straight away to the finish line, is about as exciting for participants and onlookers as it gets.

Here are a few images of riders and their mounts at various points during the event. These have been chosen primarily to show the form of both the rider and her horse. The skill of the horse in making these tight turns and the skill of the riders in guiding it through the event.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4798

Rider coming into Barrel one. Tight turn, get close but miss the barrel.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4721

Bad luck. This rider knocked over the barrel so seconds are added to her score. It is hard to recover from a penalty as far as getting a winning score. But everyone who completes a run is a winner. They just may not be in first place.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4826

A young rider and her horse coming out of barrel number two. This event is open to all ages, and they start young here in Blackfeet land.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4801

A rider and her mount coming ‘hot’ into the last and final barrel, barrel three. Have to hit it hard to get ready for the final run to the finish line.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4767

Ploughing hard into barrel three. Horse is skidding hard to make the turn. The rider is focusing on the finish line.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4833

Riding like the wind. Manes on both horse and rider flying as they rush into the turn. This is poetry in motion. If you love a beautiful horse and seeing the skill of its rider as both perform to their utmost, then this is an event for you.

2016-01-24NAIDbarrelRacing4851

” I know you don’t want to hear this but I’ve got the best time in this event. That means that my rider and I win. That means extra hay, and OATS. And rubbed down every night for a week. And I get loaded in the trailer first. Every time we go somewhere. What was your time? Oh I’m sorry, is this bruise from hitting that barrel in turn one? Did I mention that we are the winners?”

Some winners are a little less gracious than they could be, but after all winning is a big deal to the horse so you might forgive a little gloating. Especially if the one you’re gloating over won last week. This is a fun event and exciting to watch and even more so if you have a beer bet on your favorite rider and horse partners.

Cowboy’s Monday Morning – Bull’s Saturday Night

Posted on by

This post has been moved to OpenChutes.com. All future postings of Powwows, Indian Relay Races, Rodeos and Rendezvous will be posted there from now on exclusively. So if you’re looking for new images and posts for all those events attended this year, plus all the old posts posted on BigShotsNow.com check out OpenChutes.com. See you there!

Last year at The Blackfeet’s annual North American Indian Days or NAID we had a chance to observe this interesting phenomenon during their rodeo. It was a short little presentation of how the cowboy’s and the bulls get along. If you had any thoughts that bull riding was like professional wrestling you might think again as both the cowboy and the bull would try and convince you otherwise.

2016-01-04Blkfeet2015Rodeo4935

The title of today’s post is Cowboy’s Monday Morning – Bull’s Saturday night. The cowboy is having a Monday morning due to the fact that for whatever reason he neglected to hold on very tightly to the Bull rope, his lifeline and anchor point to remain seated firmly on the bull’s back, and to maintain the proper posture required to look good to impress any ladies watching. This lack of attention on his part meant he would soon be leaving the safety and comfort of his seat on the bulls back.

2016-01-04Blkfeet2015Rodeo4936

The bull being very, very sensitive to the rider on his back has been waiting impatiently for this slight error to occur. When it does that is the beginning of the Bull’s Saturday night as things begin to become very entertaining for the bull. There will dancing and singing and prancing in the street as the bull capitalizes on the cowboys lack of attention.

2016-01-04Blkfeet2015Rodeo4937

As the bull causes the separation of the cowboy from his back he just glances back slightly to make any corrections in his form and to check that the cowboy will land in the spot where he can bring his hindquarters squarely down on the cowboys chest. This is called “stomping the cowboy silly” in rodeo parlance. The bull enjoys this part very much.

2016-01-04Blkfeet2015Rodeo4940

As the cowboy lands perfectly and shows the proper amount of discomfort the bull raises his hindquarters for a perfect two point landing on the cowboys chest. This is called scoring and usually gets the bull big points. The cowboy not so much. His score is rapidly going down the tubes right now.

2016-01-04Blkfeet2015Rodeo4944

Here we see the bull performing his trademark happy dance, similar to when a football player scores a touchdown. He is very pleased at this point. The cowboy isn’t as thrilled with how things turned out and is actively thinking that the job down at the Post Office doesn’t sound too bad at the moment.

This is just one little story of the constant battle between man and beast and rodeos and photographers and Blackfeet bull riders and rides to the ER and extra hay for the bull and all things rodeo. This time things went in favor of the beast. Next time Man might prevail. It’s up to you to decide who you want to vote for. In this particular battle the odds are slightly in favor of the bull. But every once in a while the cowboy wins. That’s nice too. How’s your Monday morning going. If it is better than the cowboys, well hell, go get yourself another cup of coffee. You deserve it.

Crow Fair 2015

Posted on by

This post has been moved to OpenChutes.com. All future postings of Powwows, Indian Relay Races, Rodeos and Rendezvous will be posted there from now on exclusively. So if you’re looking for new images and posts for all those events attended this year, plus all the old posts posted on BigShotsNow.com check out OpenChutes.com. See you there!

CrowCamp7640

Crow Fair is here again. This is the 97th year that it has taken place on the banks of the Little Big Horn river. It is billed as the Teepee capital of the world and it lived up to its name again as there were over 1200 lodges set up. That would be one thousand two hundred teepees. That is a lot of teepees. The camp is located between Custer’s Last Stand, or the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument as it’s officially known, and extends along the river to the edge of the town of Crow Agency in Montana. That’s a distance of a little under three miles and maybe ¾ of a mile deep.

The official starting date for all the ceremonies and festivities was August 12th  and lasted until August 17th, but as you can imagine an endeavor this large didn’t happen overnight. For a couple of weeks in some cases, the participants began moving in and setting up their lodges, creating a camp that hasn’t been seen on this scale since probably 1876. All of the teepees have been set up according to family groups and were usually grouped in a circle if possible with an arbor made of poles set in the ground to form a rectangle in the middle. This framework was then covered with fresh-cut branches with their leaves still green to cover the framework and provide shade. As you walked through the camp you could see family groups sitting at the tables having a meal or simply talking to while away the hours between activities.

They also brought their horses and they were kept in pens set up near the lodges where they could be fed and cared for. In the morning and evening the kids were given the task of seeing that the horses were watered. This meant riding them bareback, usually while leading another, down to drink out of the Little Bighorn river. The only difference between now and a hundred years ago were the clothes the kids wore. Lots of jeans and t-shirts and tennis shoes. Lots of smartphones too. It was not unusual to see a youngster riding a horse down to the river texting on the way. Many of the horses seemed to find relief in the cool water and would venture out midway into the river to stand for as long as they were allowed to. Some of the kids were not averse to jumping in the water either as there were several days when the temperature was over 100°.

Over the next few days we’ll be bringing you highlights from the Crow Fair and Rodeo. There was singing and drumming and non-stop dancing. People dressed in regalia that many made themselves. There was ceremony and traditions paid homage to, and most of all a gathering of the Crow people to celebrate their lives and history. Stay tuned.