The Sport of Rodeo

Spring, summer, and fall bring about a sport that is thrilling and exciting. It is about skills, timing, and perfection. This sport is called rodeo.

There are several different events that make up a rodeo. They include steer wrestling, team roping, steer roping, saddle bronc and bareback riding, break away roping, and at last what seems like everyone’s favorite event, the bull riding.

Image by The Library of Congress via Flickr

Steer wrestling is where a mounted rider chases a steer and then dropping from the horse to the steer, the rider wrestles it to the ground by twisting its horns. In steer wrestling, a steer is led to a chute with spring loaded doors. The hazor, who is on one side of the chute, makes sure the steer runs a straight line. The steer wrestler is in the other chute waiting behind a fastened rope. As the steer wrestler says that he’s ready, the doors are opened, letting the steer break free. Once the steer wrestler has caught up with the steer, he leans over the side of his horse to grab the steers’ horns. The rider is then pulled off their horse due to the steer slowing down. Once down, the steer wrestler takes one hand and grabs the nose of the steer to help throw it to the ground. When all four legs of the steer are off the ground, a rodeo official waves a flag to mark that time be taken.                     

Team roping features two riders, one is known as a header and the other is known as a heeler. The header ropes the steer around the horns while the heeler ropes the steer’s hind feet. Once the steer has broken out of the barrier, both riders take off. The header is the first to try and rope the steer and then get it turned so that the heeler can get the hind feet roped. Once the steer is roped and stretched out, an official waves a flag to get a time. A penalty of five seconds is given if only one leg is roped or a ten second penalty is given if the barrier is broken.

Steer roping involves one steer and one mounted cowboy. Once the roper says that he is ready, a lever is tripped and the steer breaks loose. As soon as both steer and roper are out of their chutes, the ropers goal is to throw is rope around the steers horns. Once this is done, the roper jumps off their horse as the horse slowly pulls the steer along the ground to tighten the rope. When the horse stops, the roper then ties three of the steers legs together with a pigging string. When he has finished, the roper gets back on their horse and moves it forward to release some of the tension. At the end of six seconds and the steer is still tied, an official time will be taken.

Saddle bronc and bareback riding involves a rider and a horse, at times a bronc. The bronc attempts to throw off the rider before 8 seconds is up. There is a difference between the two though. A special saddle is used with no horn and stirrups that are free swinging in the saddle bronc event. During the bareback event, no saddle is used. The rider uses one hand to grip a handle that is placed at the horses withers.

Breakaway roping features a calf and a mounted cowgirl. Once the calf has been moved through the chute, the breakaway roper leaves their chute to try to rope the calf. The rope must be thrown in a loop around the calf’s neck. The rider signals the horse to stop quickly once the calf is roped. During this time, the rope is tied to the saddle horn by a string. The string is broken when the calf has hit the end of the rope. This also marks the end of the run.

The final event of the rodeo is the bull riding. Bull riding involves a cowboy mounting a bull in the bucking chutes and gripping a flat braided rope. The rider announces they are ready and the chute is opened from the side where the bull then goes out into the arena to try and throw the rider off. During this time, the rider must attempt to stay on the bull for 8 seconds while holding on with the right hand. A buzzer goes off at the end of 8 seconds. If the rider is still on, a score is given combining the performances of the rider and the bull.

When the next rodeo comes around, and if you decide to go, you’ll have a little better understanding on the sport of rodeo.