I know @Cody Fousnaugh has mentioned rodeos off and on here, but I don't know how many of the rest of you have attended rodeos. On the rare occasion when I have been able to be a member of the audience, I have enjoyed rodeos and everything surrounding them, such as the agricultural fairs, midway, etc. I was in the Los Fresnos Lions Club when we started the PRCA Rodeo in Los Fresnos, Texas, which is still an annual event, and has gotten much larger than it was the first year or two, and I have been there for pretty much the entire Rio Grande Valley Livestock Show in Mercedes, which included a PRCA rodeo, for a few years. It's different when you're there as a paramedic, though; especially the bull-riding events. It was rare to get through the bull-riding event without transporting at least one patient, and some of the injuries were substantial. They also have a rule that the rodeo cannot continue until another ambulance is in place so if we're having a busy day at the time that we have to transport someone from the rodeo, we would really have to scramble to get another ambulance in place because the rodeo would come to a stop until we had another ambulance there. We would dedicate two ambulances to the Mercedes event, as well as having someone manning their first-aid trailer twenty-four hours a day but, with all of the people who are on the rodeo grounds, people outside of the rodeo contestants are getting hurt, having heart attacks, or otherwise getting sick. So it wasn't unusual for us to have three or four ambulances dealing with the rodeo, while we were still covering seven cities and a part of the county area. So while I was watching the rodeo, I was usually tense, hoping that we might be able to get through the bull-riding events without any serious injuries. That didn't happen very often, though. It's not just a show. It really is a dangerous activity.
I neverdid any rodeoing. I was good enough nor interested enough. I went to work on a ranch when I was fifteen. I started where they usually start a new hand, stringing barb wird fence. On Sundays guys rodes bucking broncs in the large corral. I learned to ride then I tried the bucking broncs...twice, The first time I fell koff sideways on the second buck. The second time the horse threw me completely out of the corral landing on my head and shoulders. That's when I determined i was a better fence builder than rider. However I have attrended many rodeos and have taken two grandkids to several when they were growing up. had a cousin who rodeoed for a while. He got hurt and became a Baptist Preacher in Guyman, Oklahoma for many years.
Well, Ken.........thanks for starting this Thread. I was a member of PRCA for a number of years. Actually, when I first got my Permit, the Association was called RCA. A cowboy went to the Board of Directors and asked them to change the name of the Association, because there were so many professional cowboys (on Circuits most of the year) competing. So, it was changed to PRCA. My first rodeo, I attended as a spectator, was called the Pacific Indoor Rodeo inside the Long Beach Arena. One performance and I was hooked! Originally, was going to be a Saddle Bronc Rider (aka Rough Stock Event), but, after a buddy of mind, who was a PRCA Saddle Bronc Rider, gave me one of his ropes to swing at his house, I decided to buy a horse, saddle and rope. While swinging the loop, he looked at me and said "you can swing that very good. Save your body and be a roper instead" (meaning Team Roper). After finding a Stables to keep my horse, buying a Roping Saddle (saddle horn is pretty big, compared to a regular Trail Saddle), buying a decent rope (Rattler "Heading" rope) and getting a horse trailer, I went to a Roping School for a weekend. I got to be pretty good in catching a steer. I was in the Sierra Circuit, which later became the California Circuit. I kept my full-time job, but during the Spring and Summer months, almost every weekend was "rodeo action" for me. After I had to sell my horse, I worked inside the arena for different rodeo contractors, including Flying "U" Rodeo Company (owned at the time by Cotton Rosser), Triangle "T" Rodeo Company (owned by Tom Mitchell) and some others. From sorting steers and calves for the Timed Events, to picking up the barrels after ladies Barrel Racing. Heck, me and that Saddle Bronc Rider who got me into Team Roping, even was on a local radio station in Los Angeles discussing High School Rodeo and the upcoming rodeo at the Forum. Have pictures of the horses and rodeos. Even have one of my old Classic Rope Company "Heading" ropes. Classic Rope Company bought out Rattler Rope Company years ago. When I first met my wife, in March 2000, I took her to some 30 rodeo's in four months. She absolutely loved it! Yes, when talking "rodeo", I'm definitely full of knowledge.
Unlike the Rough Stock events (bull riding, saddle and bareback bronc riding), Team Ropers don't generally get hurt. Biggest thing we had to remember was "keep that dang thumb out of the dally" (which means.......after catching the steer, either by the horns/head or back heels) and turning the rope around the saddle horn, don't let your thumb get in the way of the dally.) By the time Bull Riding started, I was already down the road headed home, as was the other ropers.
BTW, yes, we ran into some rodeo protestors blocking the main gate, but local police or sheriff got us thru them. Funny thing is, I never seen protestors at rodeo's in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Kansas or some other states.
Wonder just how many of our members will reply to this Thread? Another thing, while living in Colorado, we became members of the Pro-Rodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs. We were invited, and go to, the new World Champions Induction Luncheon and Ceremony and the new Hall of Fame Induction Luncheon and Ceremony each year. Those were quite the events! Got to meet World Champions and Hall of Famers, including Larry Mahan and Charlie Sampson.
I suppose that depends on where people have lived since rodeos are not known in many parts of the country. I don't remember hearing anything about rodeos growing up in Michigan. Here in Maine, there are probably people who would consider it cruel to ride a horse.
The above picture of my wife is what she looked like the night I met her at a Denny's across the street from where I lived. I was SO impressed and absolutely knew "I want this lady as my wife forever."
Growing up in north Idaho, we had rodeos every year. Because it was a small town of around 5,000 people, we didn’t get the more professional rodeo companies; or the best riders, but we all enjoyed going to the rodeo anyway, and we had some good local cowboys who did well in all of the contests. As a member of our mounted drill team, I usually got to ride in the grand entry, and then sometime during the rodeo, the drill team would get to perform. Naturally, we got to watch the rodeo on our horses, and it was always a lot of fun and something that all the “horse people” looked forward to each year. It was sponsored by the local horsemans association, and they also had trail rides and gykhanas during the summer and fall. In Spokane, they had a larger rodeo, and they had the more well-known riders there, like Deb Copenhaver, who lived not too far out of Spokane; but followed the major rodeo circuits out west. The Spokane rodeo always had great celebrity performances also, and I enjoyed that as much as the rodeo itself, or maybe more. One year was Gene Autry and Gail Davis (Annie Oakley on TV), and another year, it was Rex Allen, one of my all-time cowboy heros. When I lived in Missouri, they had small rodeos almost every weekend, and there were competitions for adult riders and also for kids, so it was more of a family fun night than just attending a rodeo. Everyone there was local, and they had more things going on than just a regular rodeo, and even some classes that were for cowboys riding mules. I don’t think they have rodeos out here in Alabama, at least I have not seen any advertised, and they don’t even have much for a fair in the fall either, which is another thing that I miss from back home. Even the little towns in Idaho have a fair in the fall that lasts several days, and usually ends with either a rodeo or a demolition derby, which I always loved to watch, too.
There is a rodeo in Monterey county in Salinas in July...I always see advertising for it but I don't know what it's like.