Bull rider Kip Huddleston long dreamed of one day finishing an 8-second ride on ol’ Poor Boy. Destiny finally put the young cowboy on the back of that terrifying red and white bull on its retirement day.
But that dream ride didn’t go as planned.
“He bucked me off and split me open,” Huddleston says, noting the bull’s handiwork above his left eye with a hint of admiration.
He refuses to hang up his spurs, however. Even today, the Skiatook rodeo judge treats getting flipped onto a fence and hanging upside down as ‘just another day at the office.’
Early on, Jim Dewey Brown, two-time saddle bronc champion, general manager of the World’s Oldest Rodeo in Prescott, Ariz., and National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association Commissioner, cut his bull riding career short.
“When I got off or got bucked off,” he says, “I didn’t want to have to run for my life.”
Here are tips on how to enjoy rodeos … without risking your life.
Power and Rhythm
“The most exciting is not always the best ride,” says Bruce Addington, a former bull rider and current rodeo judge from Stilwell. “I’ve seen exciting rides that … the cowboy was just barely hanging on.”
In the 100-point system of judging bull or bronc riding, watch for the animal’s power, speed and difficulty, and the rider’s control, balance and rhythm.
Saddle Bronc Riding
To win this dance of, at once, mutual respect and annoyance, the cowboy must ride the saddle bronc for eight seconds. That was a long time on a bronc named Timberline, Brown recalls.
“He was a little cantankerous bay,” says Brown. “He liked to rear out but … you could get in time with him really good and really show off on him.”
As a professional, he drew the horse five times in one year, placing each time. He happily accepted the owner’s offer to take Timberline home to live out his retirement years.
Barrel Racing
Viewed as Western traditions “heart and soul,” barrel racing is a race against time around three barrels in a cloverleaf pattern.
“A great barrel racer maintains a balanced body position while using leg pressure and rein pressure to guide her horse around each barrel,” says Ann Bleiker, media director for the Women’s Professional Rodeo Association. “The closer the horse circles the barrels, the faster the time – but the riskier the run, because proximity makes it more likely that either horse or rider will knock over a barrel.”
Knock-overs get a 5-second penalty.
Team Roping
In team roping or “heading and heeling,” the header ropes the steer’s horns or neck, while the heeler ropes both hind legs.
“You have to be in sync with one another in order to make a legal run. But it’s hard,” says Addington. “Some of your best team ropers can do 4.4 second runs, which are pretty quick.”
Top rodeo pros can earn over $1 million per season, with elite team ropers taking in around $300,000.
“You can do it from ages 5 to 95,” says Brown, “You’ll see all age groups and all skill levels.”
