Rodeo

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Rodeo_Queens :: Rodeo

Rodeo is a traditional North American sport with influences from the history of Mexican vaqueros (cowboys) and American cowboys. Rodeo originated as an extension of the day-to-day lives of early American cowboys; branding cattle and riding and training young bucking horses made a natural progression to competition between the cowboys. Bragging rights about who could stay on a "bronc-y" horse went from passing the hat for the winner, to today's large purses at competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo.

Rodeo events include the rough stock events bull riding, bareback bronc riding and saddle bronc riding. The timed events include steer wrestling, team roping, calf roping, the rarely seen steer roping, and women's barrel racing, breakaway roping, goat tying and pole bending. The participants include cowboys, cowgirls and also rodeo clowns or bull fighters.

The oldest and largest sanctioning body of professional rodeo is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) which sanctions around 700 rodeos annually. The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is a recent organization dedicated to Bull Riding and puts on a number of events. There are also high school rodeos, amateur rodeos, and rodeos for women. Some colleges, such as the University of Montana have a rodeo team. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association is responsible for the College National Rodeo Finals. Also available is the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA). This organization offers internationally competitive rodeo to high school students.

There are numerous rodeos held throughout the United States and Canada. Among the more prominent are the Calgary Stampede; Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the National Western Stock Show in Denver; the NILE Rodeo in Billings, Montana; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, Texas; and the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFR is held each December at the Thomas & Mack Center and features the top 15 competitors (in terms of earnings) from each of the events. In 2003, it is estimated that attandance at the 10 days of the National Finals Rodeo will top more than 170,000 with another 12 million people watching the rodeo on television.

Native Americans are active in rodeo and have their own associations, see Indian rodeo.

Criticism of rodeos

Animal rights activists are vocal critics of rodeos, because of reported injuries and distress to the animals involved. The American Humane Society contends that rodeos are not an accurate or harmless portrayal of ranching skills; rather, they display and encourage brutal treatment of animals in the name of sport.

Much of the criticism is drawn to the spectacular, but generally harmless (to the animals) rough stock events: bull riding, bareback bronc riding and saddle bronc riding. The timed events such as calf roping and especially steer roping pose a greater likelihood of injury to the animals. The rodeo associations have made some changes to reduce the chances of injury, such as requiring older, heavier calves for calf roping, larger steers for steer wrestling and many rodeos no longer have steer roping. In addition, severe penalties have been enacted for any techniques that increase the risk to the animal, such as jerking the rope, in effect ensuring that any cowboy using such tactics will lose or be disqualified from the event.

Overall, the reality is that the risk of injury or death is much greater to the human participants than to the animals.

Rodeo associations claim that animal abuse is not tolerated and may fine, suspend or ban individuals found abusing animals.

Notable rodeos worldwide

Brazil

São Paulo

Festa do Peão de Boiadeiro in Barretos, São Paulo

Canada

2006 Ontario Extreme Tour Rodeo

Alberta

Calgary Stampede and Exhibition in Calgary
Canadian Finals Rodeo in Edmonton
Raymond Stampede in Raymond, Alberta being Canada's first and oldest rodeo, started in 1902