# Rodeo



## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

I was wondering what your thoughts are on rodeos. I love them! Maybe it has something to do with competing in barrel racing and some bull riding and having friends who are bull riders, but I live for the thrill. Tomorrow, I'm going to watch one and I was a little worried that the animal rights people were there. They make me madder than...well let's not get into that. I mean seriously, what do they think the riders are doing to the animals? Rodeos (that I've been to at least) have strict rules and they treat the bulls and horse pretty darn good. Sorry this is kinda a rant. =)


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## Kansasbarrelracer (Sep 30, 2009)

I love running in them, but I honestly can't watch them. My fiance loves to watch the PBR, etc. on tv and I'll actually leave the room and go read a book.

In some ways its cruel, yes I'll admit, but mainly most of these animals are very well taken care of.....especially bucking stock.


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## bethsone (Feb 22, 2010)

In Australia i know that the RSPCA will always attend the rodeos that are held to ensure the animals are treated well however i myself have never witnessed the animals being treated in a way that would warrant them being shut down completely which is what there main aim is!!

both the horse and bulls that are used are in excellent condition' granted the horses are not in show condition but they don't have to be do they as long as they are healthy and not roughed up' which if you have ever been behind the scenes of a rodeo you may notice the horses and bulls are quite humanized and will come up for a pat at a fence! this is not the behavior of an animal that is abused and consequently un trusting of Humans!
I have a few close friends who ride the broncs and also a friend who rides bulls and have been to a few practice's with them usually held on a private property and all the animals are quite at ease and are looked after as well as most pony club horses in fact some even better as a good buck horse can be quite pricey. As long as there is a regulating body and the standard is upheld within the sport i see no reason for it to cause concern.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

I really enjoy watching the rodeos. I think my favorite events are the roughstock and I like the saddle bronc more than anything. That is one of the only bucking events that actually evolved from our history. That is how many of the ranches used to break in their horses back in the old days. I personally have a bigger problem with how many of the speed event horses are handled (poles, barrels, even roping) than how the bucking stock is treated.


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## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

I talked to the guy who handles the livestock and I was asking him a few questions and I asked him if the bucking horses could be trained to be a rding horse. He said that all the livestock but mostly horses, are raised on the ranch and the horses that wont buck or won't constinantly buck are made into the horses that the cowboys use to herd the bulls or horses back to the gate and the ones that the cowboys jump on aftet there 8 seconds is up. I totally fell in love with one of those riding horses, buckskin paint had the temperment of a saint and you could tell that cowboy loved her. =)


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Yeah, and after they are retired from the circuit, some of them can be retrained as riding horses, but they would never be suitable for a rider that is less than an expert. My brother traded Robert Etbaur for a gray TB that they had been using as a practice bucker. He made a really nice ranch horse but if he ever got panicked, the first thing he would do is go to bucking (fortunately, he couldn't buck hard. That's why they got rid of him). My Dad always said that in a moment of crisis, a horse will almost always return to its original training and react how they were taught to react when they were first started.


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## Moe10 (Mar 9, 2010)

I went to a Longhorn Rodeo last month and PETA was there. I understand why they are there because some calfs broke their necks a couple years ago during the calf roping event. I do not like rodeos because how SOME of the people treat the bulls. They make these animals mean.. There not born like that. I have a friend that her boyfriend rides at all the superkickers and lives on a bull farm and when the bulls lay down in the shoots, they taz them and poke them in their eyes to get them up. Some of the events is cruel, but I love watching rodeos for the barrel racing and team penning events.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

Moe10 said:


> IThey make these animals mean.. There not born like that.


They are born like that. I have seen 5 month old calves that had never had a hand laid on them come after a person and try to butt them. They are aggressive animals and that is why they buck so hard. Some bulls have nice dispositions but I would say easily half are indifferent to aggressive toward people. I have never seen a person poke a bull in the eye to get it to stand up. I think you're wrong about that.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

I don't mind bucking horses or bulls but I HATE calf roping. I feel that it is cruel to have a little calve running full out chased by a 1200 pound horse and then suddenly brought to an abrupt halt and flipped over by a rope around it's neck.
I also don't like barrel racing or pole bending. To me is totally screws up a horse's mind.


A friend of my son rides bulls and broncs and he is so broken up all the time and only in his mid 20's. Stupid kid.


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## Moe10 (Mar 9, 2010)

kevinshorses said:


> I have never seen a person poke a bull in the eye to get it to stand up. I think you're wrong about that.


 I've seen this first hand a superkicker rodeos and at a bull farm. Never seen it at PBR events or Longhorn Rodeos and they train the bulls to buck and be agressive. Yes, some of the bulls are born with that agressive nature but some are not. Just like us as humans, are born agressive in sports and others are not.


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## kassierae (Jan 1, 2010)

I love rodeo. I love to compete in rodeos. I run barrels and poles, but I also love to watch the bucking events. 

RiosDad: Just so you know, not all barrel horses have fried minds. The majority that I know make excellent walk-trot horses. I can get on my horse and have her act all nutty and run a full out pattern, get off, stick a kid on her and she'll walk-trot the pattern. Most of the horses I know around here are like that, and some get pretty nutty at shows. I can also take my horse from a show, get home and hop on her for a bareback trailride. And she's been doing this for 10 years-ish.


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## spence (Nov 8, 2009)

wow, what a simple, complex question. yes, an oxymoron, in a big way.

why would folks feel the urge to be cruel to bucking stock that's often worth LOTS of thousands of dollars? those critters pay their owners' bills. 

i find nothing cruel with rodeo as long as animals are handled correctly. which does include to roping and barrel horses. a rider who wants a decent horse, and not a brain fried one, has GOT to do more than just ride that animal doing more than just that one thing. my boss's husband up north brought up a good point. a horse can be taught to "neck reign" where it's nothing more than putting SO much force that the horse has no choice but to turn to a given side, where if a "normal" rider got on would say that it's not capable of anything more than plow reigning.

as to those who ride bucking stock, i wouldn't do it because i like being in one piece. however to those who are good at it and love doing it, by all means. the potential ensuing health risks are at their own risk. if a fella's willing to take the risk, fine.

personally, i love rodeo. i wish i had the skills and the stock to compete some in some events.


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## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

My uncle used to raise bulls for local rodeos and if any of his workers or any of us tried to poke a bull in the eyes or taz it he woulda killed us. All barrel racing horses brains aren't fried. My 17 year old mare lives for barrel racing and she runs like she's 2...without all the rearing and other stuff you see burn out barrel racers do. You can't seriously bash a discipline without recognizing the good riders out there that have **** good horses. I don't use my 17 year old mare much anymore but younger kids do and she loves them and I trust my little 2 year old on her.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

I like rodeos, ya, theres some animals that arent treated very well, but you can find that anywhere, not jsut rodeos.
haha i have always wanted to hop onto a bull and go for a ride, that would be the coolest thing ever. it would be scary, but thrilling, lol.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

Can anyone say this calf was not abused?? Anyone?? Please enlighten me. It was chased down by a 1200 horse, ran wide open into a fence, was trampled on by said horse, then roped and thrown, notice the dangling broken leg and tell me it is going to be all right. Then to top it off a man steps on it's neck to hold it down??
To me that is abuse. Anyone want to differ??
This really bothers me, this is outright abuse.


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## ridergirl23 (Sep 17, 2009)

^ yes, that poor calf got really badly hurt and that was way to rough, it was abuse. BUT the thing is, I was at a rodeo and ONE calf got hurt, there were SIX men out there to carry it out on a stretcher thingy, along with two vets, they were out there faster then you could blink, i watched a cowboy break his arm...guess who came out to help him? his buddy. thats all. 
there ARE AND ALWAYS WILL BE people that abuse animals in ALL animal related sports, no, i dont actually like calf roping that much, or any rodeo sports with calves in them, but unless your actually doing something about it i dont really care to hear any bashing.


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## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

ridergirl23 said:


> I like rodeos, ya, theres some animals that arent treated very well, but you can find that anywhere, not jsut rodeos.
> haha i have always wanted to hop onto a bull and go for a ride, that would be the coolest thing ever. it would be scary, but thrilling, lol.


At the rodeo I got to sit on this really sweet, docile old bull. It was awesome so then I asked the cowboys if I could ride a bull for real. They were like yeah why not and my mother was like, "heck no! are you crazy!!!!" lol


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

RiosDad said:


> Can anyone say this calf was not abused?? Anyone?? Please enlighten me. It was chased down by a 1200 horse, ran wide open into a fence, was trampled on by said horse, then roped and thrown, notice the dangling broken leg and tell me it is going to be all right. Then to top it off a man steps on it's neck to hold it down??
> To me that is abuse. Anyone want to differ??
> This really bothers me, this is outright abuse.
> YouTube - Rodeo Thugs Abuse & Injure Calf in Garden City, Kansas


I'll differ!! First I doubt that was a PRCA event like the video implied. It also was not trampled by the horse. It looked to me like the horse was trying like hell to NOT step on it. When he finally gets the calf roped his horse was keeping the rope tight and that is why he was trying to drag the calf toward his horse. Finally he tied the calf and remounted his horse so he could ride forward and put slack in the rope. The man that untied it put his foot on the calfs neck to keep him from struggling and straining while the man untied him. I have done this many hundreds of times and it doesn't hurt the calf in any way. I think this was more a case of an accident than abuse. Also the roper was probably fined because you can see the judge waving him off with a no time and he ignored it and roped the calf anyway (He probably was only seeing the calf and wouldn't notice if an ostrich ran through the arena).

I'm suprised that you couldn't see the video for the propaganda that it is. Shark is just an arm of PETA and they would like nothing more than to put us all afoot. What do you think these people would say if they saw you ride a horse for the first time or two. I'll bet they would have to have a half a dozen youtube videos to cover your "cruelties".


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

kevinshorses said:


> I'm suprised that you couldn't see the video for the propaganda that it is. Shark is just an arm of PETA and they would like nothing more than to put us all afoot. What do you think these people would say if they saw you ride a horse for the first time or two. I'll bet they would have to have a half a dozen youtube videos to cover your "cruelties".


Kevin over the years I have become extremely soft when it comes to animals. I even pick the dew worms off my driveway after a rain to keep me from backing over them.
I hate Veal, young calves killed after a few weeks, never had a chance in life because they were born males. I think bulls and broncs are fine, they are big and inflict more damage to humans then they receive themselves.
I don't care about the riders, they have a choice but a poor calve, scared stiff, chased by a demon, roped, snaped to the ground and maybe maybe goes away without damage. What do you think happened to that poor calf after he was out of the arena??? Do you think he lived to see tomorrow?? Kevin at times I may come across as rough but I won't abuse an animal. We are their champions and we have to speak out for them.


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## RoadRider / Rios Dad (Jul 2, 2009)

ridergirl23 said:


> ^ but unless your actually doing something about it i dont really care to hear any bashing.


I don't have the power to stop it or else I would. Enough of the right people speak up and maybe it wills stop.
I also don't like to see 3 year old horses racing.


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## TheRoughrider21 (Aug 25, 2009)

RiosDad said:


> Can anyone say this calf was not abused?? Anyone?? Please enlighten me. It was chased down by a 1200 horse, ran wide open into a fence, was trampled on by said horse, then roped and thrown, notice the dangling broken leg and tell me it is going to be all right. Then to top it off a man steps on it's neck to hold it down??
> To me that is abuse. Anyone want to differ??
> This really bothers me, this is outright abuse.
> YouTube - Rodeo Thugs Abuse & Injure Calf in Garden City, Kansas


I seriously doubt he really tried to run the calf into the fence. As anyone knows, a 1200 lb horse cannot stop on a dime. The horse was doing its best not to step on the calf. Obviously, ropers are not perfect all the time and you cannot expect anyon in their intire career, not to foul rope a calf. SHARK also believes that riding horses is wrong. I've seen these people at more than 1 rodeo and they tried to accuse me of abusing my horse for when she tried to bite my friend, I smacked her neck with my bare hand. Seriously now?!?!? Like Kevin said, this probably isn't a PRCA event. SHARK will do everything and anything, even lie, to make people feel sorry for them. And I also doubt this calf didn't receive any medical care. If you grew up around rodeos, everyone cares about the animals. I've seen cowboys make friends with the bulls they ride or the bucking horses they ride. If this woulda happened around here, you could bet that the whole crowd would be very vocal that that calf needs care, which it probably did recieve.


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## kevinshorses (Aug 15, 2009)

RiosDad said:


> Kevin over the years I have become extremely soft when it comes to animals. I even pick the dew worms off my driveway after a rain to keep me from backing over them.
> I hate Veal, young calves killed after a few weeks, never had a chance in life because they were born males. I think bulls and broncs are fine, they are big and inflict more damage to humans then they receive themselves.
> I don't care about the riders, they have a choice but a poor calve, scared stiff, chased by a demon, roped, snaped to the ground and maybe maybe goes away without damage. What do you think happened to that poor calf after he was out of the arena??? Do you think he lived to see tomorrow?? Kevin at times I may come across as rough but I won't abuse an animal. We are their champions and we have to speak out for them.


I've watched several rodeos a year for many years and I have seen maybe 4 calves that didn't walk away sound. The ropers try not to jerk the calf to the ground because they have to have them on thier feet before they throw them down to tie them. It may not be the gentlest sport but in most cases it's not abuse.


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## smrobs (Jul 30, 2008)

Many of the calf ropers I know will put sliding plates on horses that stop too hard, just to soften the stop for the calves without compromising the horse's training. The ropers genuinely don't want a horse that will consistently yank a calf over backward, it makes too much work for them (having to get the calf back up before they can throw it and tie it down), and they will almost always finish out of the money.


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