Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
I attended my first rodeo in Long Beach, CA in 1984 called the Pacific Indoor that was held at the Long Beach Arena. An old girlfriend took me, after winning free tickets from a country radio station. It only took that one rodeo and I was completely hooked on it. Originally wanted to be a Saddle Bronc Rider. But, that changed when Saddle Bronc rider I met, and became friends with, had me over at this house in Norco, CA and gave me a rope. Showed me how to form a loop, swing and deliver the loop on a dummy steer head stuck into a bale of hay.
After that, bought my own "heading" rope (Rattler brand), a horse, tack and finally my PRCA Permit. Attended a Roping School in Norco, CA. However, I done the rodeo "thing" on weekends, since I had a full-time week job working for an electronics company in Irvine, CA.
So, for a number of the following years, on weekends I was either at a rodeo in So California (Sierra Circuit at the time, but now called the California Circuit) or at a Jackpot Roping in Riverside or Norco.
Around 1996, sold my horse and all my tack, but continued working in the Timed-Events area for Stock Contractors. Triangle "T", Western Rodeos, Flying "U", Honeycutt & Sons and a few others. They all knew me.
Met my wife in 2000 and she became a very serious rodeo fan. I helped her with that. Took her to a lot of rodeos. Today, at almost 73 and her at 74, we are both very serious rodeo fans. Current members of the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame and have been there for their Induction Weekend. We follow Top 15 contestants very, very closely, like: Cory Solomon, Chad Mayfield, Tuff Cooper and others. Have met Fred Whitfield, Martha Josey, Trevor Brazil among many other World Champions, including Charmagne James.
Get, and watch a lot, "live" rodeos on the Cowboy Channel.
Before saying "nope not interested" to this thread, just think about this: this coming December the total purse, for 10 days of professional rodeo in Las Vegas, will be $14 million dollars!
Funny, guess this part of city-data is full of "city slickers", definitely not any ranch, farm, 4-H, FFA or rodeo folks. Heck, Rodeo isn't even listed as a Sport. Yet, lots and lots of people attend local rodeos and the National Finals in Las Vegas each year.
Rodeo Scholarships are even given to a student to pay for college, as long as they are on the college rodeo team.
Funny, guess this part of city-data is full of "city slickers", definitely not any ranch, farm, 4-H, FFA or rodeo folks. Heck, Rodeo isn't even listed as a Sport. Yet, lots and lots of people attend local rodeos and the National Finals in Las Vegas each year.
Rodeo Scholarships are even given to a student to pay for college, as long as they are on the college rodeo team.
I enjoy rodeos, but they're down my list as to sports that I enjoy. I grew up with horses and rode many a steer for approx. 4 seconds after getting them eating and lined up at the feed bunk. Whenever a couple farm kids got together this was a common contest. The landing wasn't always pretty and sometimes it was in some very disagreeable "pies".
Rodeo participants are definitely athletes. You couldn't pay me, even when I was young, to try and ride an angry bull. It takes one tough s.o.b. to jump off a horse at full run and wrestle down a full grown steer as well.
I enjoy rodeos, but they're down my list as to sports that I enjoy. I grew up with horses and rode many a steer for approx. 4 seconds after getting them eating and lined up at the feed bunk. Whenever a couple farm kids got together this was a common contest. The landing wasn't always pretty and sometimes it was in some very disagreeable "pies".
Rodeo participants are definitely athletes. You couldn't pay me, even when I was young, to try and ride an angry bull. It takes one tough s.o.b. to jump off a horse at full run and wrestle down a full grown steer as well.
Well, I didn't grow up around rodeo at all. It definitely isn't known much in northeastern Indiana. I grew up around hogs, cattle, crops, aka farming.
I went to my first rodeo in Long Beach, CA around 1984 and got completely hooked. Was going to be a bronc rider, but, instead, became a roper. A saddle bronc friend of mine gave a quick lesson on handling a rope and I went from there. Bought horse, tack, ropes and went to a roping school.
Professional rodeo isn't all about bull riding or steer wrestling. I was a team roper/"header". Heck, by the time bull riding started, I already had my horse loaded up in the trailer and headed for home.
Team Roping is the easiest event to do and very seldom get hurt.
I enjoy rodeos, but they're down my list as to sports that I enjoy. I grew up with horses and rode many a steer for approx. 4 seconds after getting them eating and lined up at the feed bunk. Whenever a couple farm kids got together this was a common contest. The landing wasn't always pretty and sometimes it was in some very disagreeable "pies".
Rodeo participants are definitely athletes. You couldn't pay me, even when I was young, to try and ride an angry bull. It takes one tough s.o.b. to jump off a horse at full run and wrestle down a full grown steer as well.
There is a testament to the strength of a rodeo cowboy vs the strength of say a football player. The Football player gains his bulk and his strength through hours and hours of exercise and weight training. The few rodeo participants I have known told me they never hit a gym, the strength they have comes from pushing and pulling animals and the associated equipment necessary to maintain those animals day in and day out.
When a football player blocks his opponent, who may weight up to 300 pounds on average or a little more, we are watching two athletes hitting each other from a close starting position. However when a rodeo participant must jump off his horse and bring down a 700 pound steer who is moving in a non straight vector , is certainly appears that the strength and ability required is far greater to allow the athlete to overcome the animal.
SO yes, the rodeo participant has the far greater feet of strength and mobility.
From a purely physical point of view, the strength gained from 10 - 20 years of manual labor on a farm is far more natural that from that which is gained by repetitive gym exercises.
I watched an interesting interview with the late wrestler Harley Race. He was considered, in the business of pro wrestling, as being one of the absolute strongest workers, although he did not have the steroid /gym body desired in the business today. He also was reputed to have the strongest ever punch in the business. While professional wrestlers generally follow a script, and have to "Pull punches" and protect each other so that they can perform again and get paid the next night, there are on occasions some A-holes who do not want to follow the script. I think that happens in any sport or business. Thing is, if someone went off script, one punch from Harley Race could knock anyone out cold. For real.
This was attributed to the fact that he grew up on a Missouri Ranch. He had to work with cattle since he was a child. The term Cow-Puncher, although somewhat condescending, applies perhaps because he learned from a young age, that strength had to be in his favor in the man vs beast battle. That was why he had the reputation of being the toughest sob in the wrestling business.
And if some drunk redneck fan, in a bar or wherever, wanted to challenge him, say "Wrestling is fake" or "I'm better than you" and push the issue far enough, it never once ended well for the fan who started it.
Again, the man did not have the body of a modern wrestler but he had the strength and power that came from growing up wrestling steers and bulls.
SO in regards to the OP's mention of the Cowboy channel, well yes believe or not, I watch it and I endorse it (for whatever that even means
We went on a family vacation before the pandemic a few years ago. We had a conference in Denver for the old lady's company, then drove to Wyoming, Stayed a week in a cabin. One day we spent in Cody the rest in Yellowstone. The day in Cody I bought us tickets to a dinner/music show that was next door to the rodeo arena. We walked over and watched the Cody Pro Rodeo afterwards. I have nothing but 5 stars to give the whole night. My old lady is more of an animal/tree lover and did not like it as much as the boys and I did, but I enjoyed that rodeo so much more than I ever thought I would. Even if I did not understand all the rules at first, We caught on quickly. My wife liked the barrel racing the best and they had some Hot I mean HOT chicks riding the horses around the barrels
Yes, believe it or not, I watch the rodeo on Cowboys channel throughout the summer.
I have not been back to one live though,. I did not get out much, except to work during the pandemic, and living in Florida, where summer heat would melt the strongest of bulls into GOO I think the few rodeos that we have are in the cooler months. I DO however plan to go again when I can, in the meantime, YES I love watching rodeo, but like jmgg said, you could not have paid me at 18 to get on a bull. But to be around barrel racers, well.....Then again, I grew up as a skinny, undernourished kid thanks to asthma and the medical treatments of the day. I still have effects/lung damage now and it has been kicking me arse lately. But I will say that probably the absolute best therapy I had growing up was working a summer on a farm, I think I was able for the most part to increase my lung capacity and strength, while there were no animals, there is a better workout hauling around 60 pound bags of dry concrete and pulling wagons of corn by handcart for 8 hours than sitting in a gym and spending 20 minutes at most of 3 hours lifting weights.
So yes, I will continue to consider myself a rodeo fan.
There is a testament to the strength of a rodeo cowboy vs the strength of say a football player. The Football player gains his bulk and his strength through hours and hours of exercise and weight training. The few rodeo participants I have known told me they never hit a gym, the strength they have comes from pushing and pulling animals and the associated equipment necessary to maintain those animals day in and day out.
When a football player blocks his opponent, who may weight up to 300 pounds on average or a little more, we are watching two athletes hitting each other from a close starting position. However when a rodeo participant must jump off his horse and bring down a 700 pound steer who is moving in a non straight vector , is certainly appears that the strength and ability required is far greater to allow the athlete to overcome the animal.
SO yes, the rodeo participant has the far greater feet of strength and mobility.
From a purely physical point of view, the strength gained from 10 - 20 years of manual labor on a farm is far more natural that from that which is gained by repetitive gym exercises.
I watched an interesting interview with the late wrestler Harley Race. He was considered, in the business of pro wrestling, as being one of the absolute strongest workers, although he did not have the steroid /gym body desired in the business today. He also was reputed to have the strongest ever punch in the business. While professional wrestlers generally follow a script, and have to "Pull punches" and protect each other so that they can perform again and get paid the next night, there are on occasions some A-holes who do not want to follow the script. I think that happens in any sport or business. Thing is, if someone went off script, one punch from Harley Race could knock anyone out cold. For real.
This was attributed to the fact that he grew up on a Missouri Ranch. He had to work with cattle since he was a child. The term Cow-Puncher, although somewhat condescending, applies perhaps because he learned from a young age, that strength had to be in his favor in the man vs beast battle. That was why he had the reputation of being the toughest sob in the wrestling business.
And if some drunk redneck fan, in a bar or wherever, wanted to challenge him, say "Wrestling is fake" or "I'm better than you" and push the issue far enough, it never once ended well for the fan who started it.
Again, the man did not have the body of a modern wrestler but he had the strength and power that came from growing up wrestling steers and bulls.
SO in regards to the OP's mention of the Cowboy channel, well yes believe or not, I watch it and I endorse it (for whatever that even means
We went on a family vacation before the pandemic a few years ago. We had a conference in Denver for the old lady's company, then drove to Wyoming, Stayed a week in a cabin. One day we spent in Cody the rest in Yellowstone. The day in Cody I bought us tickets to a dinner/music show that was next door to the rodeo arena. We walked over and watched the Cody Pro Rodeo afterwards. I have nothing but 5 stars to give the whole night. My old lady is more of an animal/tree lover and did not like it as much as the boys and I did, but I enjoyed that rodeo so much more than I ever thought I would. Even if I did not understand all the rules at first, We caught on quickly. My wife liked the barrel racing the best and they had some Hot I mean HOT chicks riding the horses around the barrels
Yes, believe it or not, I watch the rodeo on Cowboys channel throughout the summer.
I have not been back to one live though,. I did not get out much, except to work during the pandemic, and living in Florida, where summer heat would melt the strongest of bulls into GOO I think the few rodeos that we have are in the cooler months. I DO however plan to go again when I can, in the meantime, YES I love watching rodeo, but like jmgg said, you could not have paid me at 18 to get on a bull. But to be around barrel racers, well.....Then again, I grew up as a skinny, undernourished kid thanks to asthma and the medical treatments of the day. I still have effects/lung damage now and it has been kicking me arse lately. But I will say that probably the absolute best therapy I had growing up was working a summer on a farm, I think I was able for the most part to increase my lung capacity and strength, while there were no animals, there is a better workout hauling around 60 pound bags of dry concrete and pulling wagons of corn by handcart for 8 hours than sitting in a gym and spending 20 minutes at most of 3 hours lifting weights.
So yes, I will continue to consider myself a rodeo fan.
All sounds great, but I wouldn't dare call my wife "my old lady", LOL.
Funny, but when I enlisted in the Navy in June 1968, I was weighed in at 98 pounds, but they accepted me. I enlisted to avoid the Army Draft, which was coming after me. BTW, I'm almost 73 yrs. old.
When we left Colorado's Front Range and moved to NC-Huntersville 1 yr. and then to Jacksonville, Florida for the following 10 1/2 yrs., we pretty much let rodeo go. In 2018, flew back to Colorado for a visit and attended CFD (Cheyenne Frontier Days) for a day. Everything was really cool, but the rodeo was just too long for us. Had been to it before, but that was when we lived in Colorado before. After we returned to Florida, we realized just how much we missed rodeo and the Rockies (mountains). 99% of the time in Florida, our cowboy hats and boots were in our closet stored.
As soon as we moved back to Colorado, and got the Cowboy Channel, we fell right back into rodeo like we'd never left it. But, looks like now we will be leaving Colorado for numerous reasons and possibly headed to Wyoming. We know we can handle the winters, because that's what we've been doing since moving back in 2019.
We are both have a lot of knowledge of PRCA rodeo and highly enjoy it. We know a lot of the rules and other things. Heck, I still have one of my team roping "heading" ropes from when I did rope. It's hanging on a wall in our living room. In fact, our living room looks like a museum of rodeo Champions of all of the ones we've met. Plus, a wall of old western tv/movie stars. We are also public members of the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs and attend the Hall of Fame Induction now.
So, yes we are indeed rodeo fans, or should I say, "very serious rodeo fans".
I have to admit that I fell in love with WYoming My wife not as much, she is not into the Western/Cowboy culture although it is an absolutely beautiful state and we both loved the open spaces.
And we are both of an agreement that as soon as the current real estate bubble s, and it will, that it is time to buy land far north of Florida. While I wanted Wyoming, we both agreed that we would fit in better in Vermont than in Wyoming. And I love Vermont too.
CUlturally, as much as I liked Western/cowboy culturing, growing up in Texas, we would now "fit in " better with the "Old Hippies' in Vermont.
But the appeal of Wyoming was having fewer neighbors. Vermont is not crowded either.
Both states have pretty open gun laws so moving the safe of guns would not be an issue.
And we can handle cool summers and cold winters. I cannot handle hot summers like we have here. But this is not the health forum.
Thing is, we probably do have rodeos nearby, but not in the heat of the summer When most of the good ones like Cheyenne Frontier days happen.
I have to admit that I fell in love with WYoming My wife not as much, she is not into the Western/Cowboy culture although it is an absolutely beautiful state and we both loved the open spaces.
And we are both of an agreement that as soon as the current real estate bubble s, and it will, that it is time to buy land far north of Florida. While I wanted Wyoming, we both agreed that we would fit in better in Vermont than in Wyoming. And I love Vermont too.
CUlturally, as much as I liked Western/cowboy culturing, growing up in Texas, we would now "fit in " better with the "Old Hippies' in Vermont.
But the appeal of Wyoming was having fewer neighbors. Vermont is not crowded either.
Both states have pretty open gun laws so moving the safe of guns would not be an issue.
And we can handle cool summers and cold winters. I cannot handle hot summers like we have here. But this is not the health forum.
Thing is, we probably do have rodeos nearby, but not in the heat of the summer When most of the good ones like Cheyenne Frontier days happen.
I got extremely lucky with meeting my wife. I had been married twice before, to same lady. First annulment and second divorce. To this day, have no idea why we got back together and married. Both marriages were much more of "physical attraction" than any kind of love. I think she fell in love with my EMS/EMT uniform! Anyway, I was single/divorced for 22 years and absolutely hated 21 1/2 years of it. I was the "be married" type, definitely not "single" type.
In early 2000, I placed a Personal Ad in local magazine, describing likes/dislikes and exactly how I looked. By that time, I had already been involved in rodeo for some 16 years, but had already sold horse/tack. However, continue my PRCA membership and worked in rodeo arenas for Stock Contractors. She loved wearing a baseball cap, but her ex-husband disliked it. He wanted a somewhat "prissy" woman. She also loved wearing either a straw or felt cowboy hat when going to a club dancing (mainly Line Dancing) and to Square Dancing. She had been wearing pointed cowboy boots, but I bought her a pair of Ariat Roper boots and later a pair of Ariat Lace-Up Roper boots. I wore the same and she loved hers. The pointed boots went to the Goodwill.
I took her to many rodeos in So California and she absolutely loved it. I really couldn't believe how fast she learned about each event and the lingo used in rodeo. She fit right in, perfectly.
We've been to Cody and Yellowstone, Laramie and Cheyenne. Before meeting her, I had been to Sheridan, Billings and Boseman. I think we'd fit into Wyoming or Montana perfectly, but not considering Montana to move to.
IOW, I really installed the "serious rodeo fan" into her and she loved it.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
