Abuse in a Rodeo

Wrestling a steer is a business for certain cowboys but what does one do with a cracked rib and a pierced lung? Saw a cowboy wrestle a steer down and grimace in pain. He had had a pierced lung and a broken rib 10 days earlier and you wonder what drive it takes for him to be back in competition so soon. Scientists say that endorphins would have kicked in after the injury causing him to forget the pain at the moment of the injury, but getting back into the arena and twisting his side while the steer goes to the ground; wouldn’t that cause some excruciating pain? What the heck was that cowboy doing in that competition with such a fresh wound when he should have been mending it at home? How do organizations like the Canadian Rodeo Tour allow an individual get back into competition so soon? There is something the average person does not know and that is if the cowboy wants to get paid he has to be back in the arena with or without an injury. There is the pressure of not getting enough points to get into the prestigious Calgary Stampede.Why not take the man directly from the hospital bed then, I mean he hasn’t had the time to heal! Worse yet is that the on going commentary of the man’s work in the arena makes no mention of where the man should have been and instead all you hear is something like “there he goes grimacing in pain.” There was a follow up commentary on the inability of getting the steer to the ground that the cowboy just did not have enough strength to do so. Well isn’t that a fact? It is a pity one has to watch people who are under the additional stress of dealing with a physical injury in addition to the normal stress of twisting the steer’s neck and bringing it down. I think this is a situation of gross abuse and the cowboy should be compensated for the additional stress of competing with healthier colleagues.