Pro tip: do not confuse bull riding and rodeos. Bull riding events are strictly for bull riding. Rodeos, however, provide an array of entertaining events including bull riding. Barrel racing, team roping, bull fighting, and bareback riding (a personal favorite) are all events one could also expect at a Rodeo. While it is my job to entertain, it is also my job to inform.
In Brighton, CO, I attended a bull riding event on one weekend and a rodeo the next. I have already exhausted your eyes with past blogs pertaining to bull rides. You don’t want that again. It is too soon. Plus, there are so many more that I will publish for y’all. Rather, I would like to dive into my experience at my first ever rodeo. Another pro tip: don’t stand in a canoe.
The Weigh-Ins
The day started off with a glass of Pendleton Whisky, a BuzzBall, 3 for $3 7-Eleven taquitos, and a scenic drive up to beautiful Brighton, Colorado. As someone only familiar with mountains as high as the Catskills, my mind was perplexed. If New York has skyscrapers, Colorado has heavenscratchers. The height of these mountains surpassed the clouds enough to have its own weather forecast. Even sitting in a car, I could feel myself breathing heavily. I chalk that up to the lack of oxygen and not indicative of my overall health. I hope.
Once there, we hung around the truck deleting a few silver bullets from the universe and enjoying the view of the Colorado Rockies while kicking up dirt with Dustin’s pup, Rizzo. The first event didn’t include any riders. The bulls were saddled up with weights that imitated the weight of a bull rider. These tests were to gauge the bucking ability of the bull. Simply put – longer the weight stayed on the bull, less bucking power of the bull.
It was common to hear sighs heaved amongst the crowd when the bull hit the dirt before the weight fell off. This meant the bull is disqualified and cannot compete in any near-future P.B.R. events. A ton of behind-the-scenes work go into making sure these bulls are fit and ready to buck when a qualifying rodeo like this comes along. You can imagine how devastating this is for the owners that have come from miles around to watch their bull compete well enough here to hopefully become a qualifying bull.
Bareback Riding
While all of this is transpiring, Dustin, Charlie, and Pokey were all gearing up for their own rides. Cangro bounced around shooting photos of them that have all since come out crispier than belief. That left me to my own devices. I figured if I was being useless, and the Coors Lights were also being useless, it was only right that we should be useless together. I stayed by the truck with Rizzo watching the bulls buck and tangle up with inanimate riders. Suddenly, a deep southern voice with a heavy drawl came over the PA to announce the next event up, and boy, I was not ready for that one.
Bareback riding is an event that I had not quite prepared myself for mentally or emotionally. While I’m not someone who is any bit qualified to comment on the mechanics of bull riding compared to bareback riding, I did notice a few differences. For starters, one is a bull, and one is a horse. That one definitely caught me by the tail. These bareback riders also have zero equipment, therefore nothing to compensate for any lack of coordination. As opposed to bulls, bareback riders are in a much more horizontal position.
To make the event more difficult for the rider, they are required to lean back and spur in a highly stylized manner that was never historically used in actual practice. The cowboy's spurs must be above the point of the horse's shoulders at the first jump out of the chute and touch the horse on every jump for the full-time required for a qualifying ride.
It’s fraught with danger and certainly a perilous sport. How one finds themselves in taking the first step in the staircase that is Bareback Riding, I could not begin to tell you. I can tell you, though, that these riders have their heads uncomfortably close to smacking the metal gates that encompass the arena. One hit would put them in a coma lasting for the entirety of the next presidential term. Then again, maybe I’m just speaking for myself. I’m sure these riders would have actually made the metal wish it were never casted.
My Main Event
As the bull riding was about to begin, the fellas were behind the chutes and flipping that damn switch. What’s one more silver bullet?, I thought to myself. As I settled into my seat on the bleachers, a little wind started to pick up. Then a little bit more. And by the worst of it, hats were air bound, babies were sobbing, and the bulls were caught in a tornado severe enough that it would eventually drop them on the yellow brick road. Finally, it slowed enough for the riders to nod their heads and the show began.
Many went, many were bucked. Of course I was interested in the rides, but I was more interested in watching the lads I broke bread with the night before. Unfortunately, their rides came, and they went without reaching that qualifying 8 seconds. As I said, no one rides every single time. While other riders might have walked off and sulked the rest of their day, these Cowboys shook it off and within minutes were ready for the next. It takes an incredible amount of mental fortitude to do what these guys do, and even more to be able to keep seeing the glass half full after. It is beyond admirable. If there is any right way to look towards the future, it is the way Dustin, Charlie, and Pokey do.
Special Shoutouts
These events are entertaining for myself for two reasons. #1. I’m a big dumb baby learning new concepts in this new world at every single event I attend. #2. The people I meet are unmatched in every single sense of the word. They are kind, knowledgeable, and most of all, they don’t mind that I am big dumb baby. There are two people I met that day in Brighton that really reflected the welcoming spirit of this sport – Linda Burd & Chad (Last Name). They were just great people to interact with, people to ask questions to, and for lack of a better term – shoot the shit with. I truly look forward to seeing the both of them down the line.