I think rodeo may have gotten out of hand.

Went to the first day of our weekend rodeo here to take some pictures.

I understand more than most probably the traditions here ... it's a competition of cowboy skills, basically; other than bull riding, which probably came about from too much to drink, rodeo events are all tests of things working cowboys need to be good at.

So I was doing OK until the calf tie-down. If you've never been, the event is simple, but represents a lot of skills.

- Calf is let out of the gate, it runs like hell.
- After a delay, cowboy on horseback is let out of the gate, chases down the calf, ropes it with a lariat tied to the saddle.
- Horse stops, cowboy jumps off, calf is at the end of a taut rope.
- Cowboy runs to the calf, flips it on its back, ties its legs together, and stands up.

All of which makes sense from a ranching perspective; calf needs shots, takes off, cowboy chases it down, etc.

But today it seemed particularly bone-jarring:





...This guy won, by the way. Did the whole thing in 9.6 seconds. Fast as hell.

And that's the problem. I think the cowboy skills part is still amazing, but with the competition becoming so fierce over the years, its become unnecessarily hard on the animals. I know rodeo livestock are some of the best-cared-for animals out there. And don't get me wrong, the calf got up after and trotted off seemingly nonplussed.

Am I being overly sensitive? Or not nearly sensitive enough?

ya, some kind of fun :thumbsdown:

should the tables be turned

I told them no f***ing thanks; I don't get my kicks watching animals being tormented

A Sport? Coliseum Conscience exists everywhere.

Boxing is properly known as "The Sport." Anyone who doesn't recognize this deserves compassion and patience: it's possible they will outgrow this phase of confusion.

this is b.s. mistreatment of animals for pleasure, just pure stupidity as more and more cattle is raised on feedlots anyway. So very sad some jerk-off could do this to a baby animal for sport.

edit: posted this in the wrong place, oops, it's to the OP.

I've hated them all my life, so cruel and unnecessary, like bullfighting and other "manly sports". I guess it's about the animals tortured in practice, nobody ever thinks about that.

than tormenting, then killing them with swords - people call THAT "bullfighting" ???

Besides, in bull-riding, the bull also gets points for how ornery they are. It counts for part of the cowboy's score.

:shrug:

...I'm just wondering if the competition to do it faster makes the process harder on the calf than it might be, say, on a working ranch.

The calf is PRODUCT to cattlemen. Best not to risk damaging the product. It can be done in manners easier on the critters.

and that means treating EVERYTHING as humanely as possible. Which includes the animals who have their lives taken away for my sustenance. It is hard sometimes to think about when I have so many problems so much closer to home, but I try to buy free range, UN-factory farmed meats and dairy products. If you ever saw something about how feed lot cows live, you wouldn't be able to eat anything for awhile, much less meat.

And NOT reflective of real ranch work done by cattleMEN. The cowBOYS we know who do rodeo are generally sorta hostile, impatient and not really interested in raising cattle. They are more into using/hurting cattle, traveling around drinking and blowing off steam while pretty much being self-centered Peter Pans whose hobby of throwing bovines around generally ends up costing the ranch a lot of money, if it doesn't cost the ranch entirely.

But, maybe I'm just being too sensitive ;)

Havocdad just plain HATES to go to some ranches due to the way the animals get treated. He knows that well treated animals are better products and a hell of a lot easier to work.

Being with the critters should lower one's blood pressure, not be a 'sport' to make stars of semi-sadistic adrenalin addicted cowBOYS. If two chaps wanna go at whomping on each other by mutual consent, by all means, have at it. Leave young bovines out of it.

and concur totally. I cowboyed for 5 years and a working cowboy can lose his job, and I've seen it happen for "cowboying the stock". I'm currently (13 years and counting) an SPCA Investigator and have inspected hundreds of rodeos. The cowboys seem to agree that calf roping, now renamed to the softer sounding "tie-down roping" is on its way out.

On edit: I was a worker rather than a performer and it was the hardest work I've ever done, some of the most satisfying and the ballet between a working horse, a working dog, a herd that knows what to expect and a person with the patience to let the animals do their part is magic.

Saddle broncs, bareback broncs, steer wrestling and bullriding are events where the human is at a disadvantage. Rodeo cowboys know that roping (whether team roping, calf roping or steer roping) while a very technical skill (and one used quite frequently in the old days) is what will get rodeos closed down.

He also tended cattle a long, long time in the west. Grew up around dairy cows as a boy in the east. He knows the animals are sensitive and a gentle, thoughtful hand is gonna get along fine with most of them. He works with ranchers now and there are some he just won't go out to see when it's calving or branding time because they are just too mean.

There are many ranches around here where a stranger can walk into the calving shed and corrals with first time mothers and their calves and find it like visiting some friendly dogs. Good treatment results in calm, nice cows and easier to tend calves. I know first hand. As a 'city raised' kid, I have had the opportunities to visit with some bovines around where I live now. Good treatment results in good cattle. They are really amazing animals.

I envy you your years working with that ballet between working horse, working dog and a herd that has been handled well.

Havocdad tells of a working horse he knew, whose rider was not real good in the saddle and not as patient as the rest of the crew with the cows. The horse was a bit smaller than most and the chap who rode her was taller than most men. It was a bad pairing from the start. He also didn't really like the critters and wouldn't have been allowed to stay on at the ranch were it not for the fact that he was the owner's grown son.

Well now, Havocdad tended pastures and hay fields at the base of a big ol mountain, quite some miles from the main part of the ranch. One night, in his little log cabin, he and his dog heard cattle moving. Hmmm, knew he had all five of the gates in the sloping pastures closed and being summer, the cows were SUPPOSED to be in the highest pasture at the time.

He and his dog went out to see what was goin on. The cows were in the pasture next to the cabin. Along with a very smug mare who seemed most pleased to demonstrate that she didn't need that clueless partner the rancher had assigned her! She had been in the high pasture with the cows, opened every gate and brought the herd down.

Next morning, Havocdad took them all back up, and made damn sure the gates were all closed. He and the dog spent the day on foot looking for sign of mountain lion or wolf that may have spooked the cagey mare into bringing the cows to him the night before. No tracks, no scat, no fur caught on anything.

Next night... that mare brought the cows to the cabin again. He said she did it 5 times and it was like a game for her and the cows. The cows, of course, were smart enough to understand being moved from pasture to pasture and they all know where the gates are. The mare just had to lift the wire loops at each gate and let them through. (all fences, gates and wires were in tact, save for a bit of horse hair)

Havocdad says they were all playing cowboy and cattle drive, but they knew the game so well, no cowboy was needed. ;)

Ballet. Yes, indeed.

for the story and the compliment.

I have had this conversation repeatedly with my grandson, who, at 7, is more aggressive and energetic than average. When he plays outside, he wants to throw things, hit things, and chase things. When restrained from these activities, he often shrugs in resignation and says, "There's nothing to do out here then. I'll just go back inside." (On other days, he climbs trees, rides his bike, digs holes, etc.)

He knows he is not supposed to chase sheep, chickens, dog, cat, etc., but will do so anyway if he thinks no one is paying attention.

He really wants to learn to ride; so far, he's only been ponied around on my horses. The last time we put him aboard, we had this conversation:

"When do we go fast?"
"You're not ready to go fast yet."
"Do we whip them and go yee-haw to make them go fast?"
"No, real riders don't go 'yee-haw,' and don't need to whip their animals."
"Who does?"
"The guys who don't know anything about animals but want to play cowboy."
"Do cowboys go 'yee-haw' or use a whip?"
"No. REAL cowboys know better. They're too busy doing their job to play games, and their job is to take care of the animals, not chase them, yell at them, or abuse them."

Women are getting into almost every major sport from basketball to (American) football but not this one, could be we don't think going up against a 1 ton animal unless you have too, is sport. But then again there are women rodeo fans not me but my MIL loves a guy named Chris Shivers(?), oh well go figure.

Go to http://www.wpra.com and prepare to be shocked:

The Women's Professional Rodeo Association governs women's Breakaway Roping, Tie-Down Roping, Team Roping, Bareback Riding, Bull Riding and Barrel Racing.

there are women who do this, must say I am not surprised.

I lived in Paisley, Oregon for several years and taught school. In summers I worked on the ZX Ranch, then the third largest ranch in continental US.

We don't have cowboys, we have buckaroos in the Pacific Northwest.

I knew a number of the buckaroos on the ranch, and I never saw them abuse any animals.

Doesn't mean it doesn't happen.

Rodeo is for lily-livered, pale-skinned, insecure people who have little if any feeling about how the animals are faring, and they DON'T fare well. Just look in their eyes.

I always root for the animals and hope the so-called "cowboys" break their miserable stupid necks.

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

but isn't he supposed to rope one hind foot rather than the neck? Then he ties the other three feet together. Been a long time since I've been to a rodeo, but I just don't remember roping the calf by the neck.

runs to calf, tips it and ties it up.

roping calf around neck or around hind foot?

from originally lassooing the calf. I thought. Could be wrong, but this is what I remember. Is that what you mean?

Calf gets a head start of a couple of seconds then roper and horse go after him. Roper ropes the calf around the neck. The roper stops the horse as soon as the rope is around the neck to throw the calf to the ground while dismounting and running to the calf while the horse keeps the rope taut. The roper runs to the calf, grabs it and throws it on it's side, puts a loop of his "piggin string" (the small piece of rope in the ropers mouth) around one foot and pulls 2 other feet up and ties them together with a half hitch. The time it takes to do this is his "score" but he has to run back to his horse and remount and the calf has a certain number of seconds to wiggle free and get back up (which happens a lot).

IMHO it's the horses that are mistreated most in this event. A championship level roper has several highly trained horses constantly going from rodeo to rodeo for most of the year. They're cared for immaculately but their life is either in a horse trailer (traveling 1000s of miles a year) or some rodeo pen. We're boarding one right now that was on the circuit for 3 years and he has no idea how to be a horse. He didn't even get the idea of "grazing" when he first arrived.

for HOURS while the cowBOYS are soaking up beer and attention in the bar. Small town here, but yeah, we do have some shade trees they could park the trailers under and even tether the horses to. But that would be two blocks from the bar and I know the horses are valuable and all....

'Valuable horses; have to keep 'em close' That's what I hear on the subject and I know there's an element of truth, but those valuable horses are too often cooking in cramped trailers. We get up over 100 degrees a lot in summer and it is dusty dry. Those horses seem only to be valuable when it suites the cowBOYS' needs. And the ones who rodeo through here need to be close to bars with adoring fans more than then need to take care of those valuable horses.

Some day, I'm gonna lose it and open a lot of trailers, leave a tail of horse goodies to the shady park, then watch the fun outside the bars after last call...

havocmom, who is just itchin to have them try to hang her for horse thievin' :evilgrin:

Are you sure they weren't just parked at the bar and in a nearby church? :sarcasm: :)

He goes for a walk in the area between bars and where they leave their trucks and trailers parked. He has found a little $$ laying around over the years. Seems cowBOYS tend to loose feeling in their hands (prolly from holding all those ropes and things;) ) and drop $50 dollar bills pretty regularly.

Yipee!

Larger steers with horns. The "header" ropes the horns and turns the steer then the "heeler" ropes BOTH hind feet.

that be more fair and still "sporty?"

this summer in Cody. Loved everything but the calf roping and said so at the time. It was brutal the way they yanked on the neck of the calf and then flipped (or threw) them down. I was (happily) surprised that none of the calves broke their necks and was wondering if that hasn't happened.

Edited to add:

Forgot to mention that I didn't much appreciate the bucking horses either once I realized that they were cinched to the point of pain to make them buck. Not sure if anything is done to the bulls.

(see my previous post) this cinched to the point of pain is not true. Neither is the nonsense about animals bucking because the flank strap passes over their genitals.



The flank strap pressures the flank. If it were based on pressuring the genitals there wouldn't be so many bucking mares out there. The flank strap is wide and fleece lined. It exerts less pressure than a properly cinched saddle. Animals, both horses and bulls, will continue to buck even when the strap falls off.

the ones at the rodeo I attended ceased bucking the moment the clown uncinched them. And the clown rushed to do it. I'm going to have to look up some more info on this but too my eye the horse seemed to obviously be in pain. I do own a horse so I am not compete ly naive about this. A horse that is cinched too tightly can definitely be very uncomfortable to say the least.

It's scary to try to do it on foot as a clown would have to do unless someone is hung up in the rigging.

The horses do it without saddles altogether.

Sunday, there was a guy who was supposed to ride a horse and a bull in the same day, and he was hurting from some injury or other. He needed the bull ride to go well to get somewhere into some finals, so when it was time for his horse ride, he stayed in the little gate thing when the horse ran out, and took a zero so he didn't risk the chance of injury.

The horse, clearly without anything on him, came out of the gate and bucked around for 15-20 seconds anyhow. Then trotted himself back to the pickup men. Old guy next to me said "He looks proud of himself, doesn't he?"

His wife said "Yeah, (Bubbles or whatever the horse's name was) thinks he just threw off (Sparky or whatever the cowboy's name was), a six-time (some kind of champion)."

And then they both laughed. :shrug:

and i can't stand the pony rides or petting zoos.

i guess i'm just no goddamn fun anymore.

It's a good thing.

One's as bad as the other

:thumbsdown:

...the picture. omg. I can't believe this.

:puke:

I guess it comes from going to rodeos a lot when I was a kid--that and growing up on a farm where you had to handle cows and such on a daily basis. I think I liked rodeo because of the horses; I'm not sure I ever thought so much about the cows and bulls (although I've never been a big fan of bull riding--it's way too dangerous for me). And I always felt sorry for the calves--they seemed to be really scared, even though, as you said, they seemed to be no worse for the wear afterwards. I never felt that the cowboys were aiming to hurt the livestock, they were just 'competing.'

That being said, since I haven't been to one in a while, I'm not sure how I would feel about it now.

BTW--great photos!

Did you stick around for the bull-riding?

I noticed this a while back. The camera will follow both calf and rider but soon as the calf is roped, the camera zooms in on the rider coming to a halt, getting off and then running down the rope to the now struggling calf.

If i am not mistaken, the producers and promoters of the televised events got too many complaints because it looks so violent for the calf to be stopped dead from a full run because of a rope around its neck. So they just don't show that part on TV anymore. The calf definitely stops pretty quick.

All four feet in the air. Amazing they get up, actually.

Although to be fair my dogs used to do the same thing on a flexi-leash when they were young, until they learned how long it was.

Run-run-run-run-run-run-WHAM! And look back at me like when did that leash get here?!? :D

same with the "running of the bulls" every year.

I was ole-ing for the bulls.

...looking at this picture, while trying to read through your post made me cry. I don't care that the calf trotted off, and seemed alright. It's a life in ropes--poor little thing!

I seriously feel ill.
:cry::cry::cry:

With the magic of the internet, I made friends with a woman who lives in northern California. We both own, ride and train horses, both have two kids, both have self-employed husbands..anyway, we had a lot in common. Finally, after years of being friends, I went to visit her for a week a couple of years ago. She and her husband are ranchers, ride western, do the rodeo thing. Her husband is really into team roping, which is where two guys on horses chase the cows down and one guy throws a rope around their heads while the other one throws a rope around one of their back legs and then they pull the cow off its feet.

The whole thing freaked me out. I am not an animal psychiatrist, but I could clearly see that the cows weren't really enjoying this and I could readily figure out why. Every time I asked if the cows were OK, or whether or not jerking animals around for human amusement might not border on animal cruelty, I was told, "They're cows. They're different." Right. So different that they enjoy getting their legs and heads nearly jerked off or having 200 pound guys jump on top of them off running horses. Right.