I rode a bull in a Shriners rodeo once
Made it through till 6.5 sec
I was at a party, friend follows the rodeo as a bull rider and through out a “bet you ain’t got the balls” too much booze and being young and dumb blocked that “don’t say anything “ filter and i chimed up “if you can do it anyone can do it” so we made a small bet the next time they were in town I’d ride a bull
maybe 4 or5 months pass I get a knock at the door, it’s him the rodeo is in town it’s time to put up or shut up. First two days of riding are prelims finals on the last day
I’m riding on the second day I show up meet all the competition, amazing group of athletes all helpful and ready to offer up advice.
Never knew it but the riders have their own bar and most are stink eyed when they ride. F that maybe it would help but I needed to keep my shit together for this.
First night one dude was evacuated by med helicopter he rolled off the back side of a bull and landed directly under the bull
Poor bastard broke his collarbone and every rib under that collarbone, bull came down right on top of his shoulder/neck while bucking, from behind the shoot you could hear every bone crack and snap dude was messed up.
Never been this wtf did I get myself into in my life
Stuff I learned
The bull riders hat is black the bronc riders hat is cream or white
The spurs pop off the boot with about 2”-2 1/4” shank at 15deg pitch inward, to use them point toes up your heel down squeeze both legs slide them both up to the bull’s shoulder then while squeezing your leg tight drop your toes if you do it right the spur will catch under the “armpit” to help hold you on the bull. Extra points are given if you can demonstrate your spuring talent.
Because of the spur design if you try to run or walk normally they will trip you up, one reason a bull rider walk with their feet so wide apart. I was practicing running through the parking lot for hours lol tripping less and less as I got the hang of it
Another thing is the rope you use to help hold you on the bull, there is so much rosin on the rope if you throw it against a wall it will stick to the wall. They heat the rope and apply fresh rosin before every ride. The rope is then threaded through a cow bell and wrapped around the bull both rope ends coil around your hand/wrist into your palm but never tied, when you open your hand the weight of the cowbell should pull on the rope and uncoil it allowing it to fall off the bull onto the ground, there is a problem if too much rosin is used it will glue the rope in place keeping it from unraveling not good for the rider.
The rodeo clowns are mostly retired bull riders and a major emergency response team, if your rope doesn’t uncoil, you get stepped on, gored, knocked out or the bull chases you down they distract the bull or they will literally risk themselves to get you tf out of harm’s way, they are amazing bunch of ppl dudes and dudetts
The bull horns are filed down and rounded off so the horn tip isn’t smaller then a quarts diameter, less likely to spear through your skin
Some bulls buck better than others, to help assure a bull bucks (back when I did it - late 80’s) as soon as it gets in the shoot it gets a zap or two by a cattle prod, the rider or his helper begins threading the riders rope and cowbell in place, another guy with a smaller rope with a slip knot is swung around the bulls nutsack when the rider nods his head indicating he’s ready the guy with the nutsack rope yanks it tight af as the shoot door is opened causing instant bucking no matter the bull
don’t know what they do to horses for the bronc riders but I’m sure some of it is similar
