I remember going to the local rodeo each year when I was growing up in north Idaho. Most of the contestants were local guys , and they learned to rope because the either owned or worked on a cattle ranch. I think that the first rodeos were probably regular cowboys competing with each other for fun, way before it became the commercial enterprise it is now, with people only learning to compete for timed events.
That is the way I grew up. Our ranch rodeos and our yearly county rodeos were all ranch folks. Those were so much fun and great socialization.
Yes, animals love being pulled to the ground & dragged by ropes. Much like police dogs love getting shot. Circus elephants & tigers love to perform. And love getting whipped & poked by sharp objects when they don't. And bulls love being drugged & stabbed to death.
I definitely hate dog and cock fighting. But I have loved my dogs and chickens and gave them the best possible life. I don't go to circuses nor bull fights. None of my equines suffered, nor my bovines. They were treated humanely in life and death. There are parents who treat their children horribly and parents who love. Fix it.
So what are you saying, using dogs for police work is cruel? Also USA rodeo doesn't include Spanish bull fighting. Rodeo "bullfighters" never harm a bull but rather distract them so the dislodged rider can escape injury. Bulls used in USA rodeo live a very plush life. Do they like the feel of a girth rope, no, but it doesn't hurt them and is their signal it is time to perform and dislodge the rider. While uneducated activist claim "flanking" a bull to make it buck is cruel and can cause injury, that simply isn't the case. It does cause some discomfort making the bull buck, but there has never been a documented injury directly due to flanking. I have links to articles below about an 11 year old girl that flanked her own bull, her best friend she raised from a baby, and they made a championship team. Here is a quote from Addi's mother. “She’s not winning against little kids,” Jenny said. “She was winning against some of the top stock contractors in the world. At that time, she was an eleven-year-old girl beating all these grown men. Addi didn’t think anything about it. She just knew her boy Hard Labor went out there and did his thing. She was proud of him.” I don't think "Hard Labor" was mistreated by the girl that owns him, the riders, or the bullfighters. He loved to be on the ranch with his girl caretaker, but he also loved to get in the trailer and go to work. It seems that some bulls, unlike some humans, have figured out that they can have a plush life if they are willing to work for it. Unfortunately due to something that was neither his, his owners, or the riders fault, he injured his leg. See the article below. I didn't know they had an MRI especially for large animals. Rodeo bucking bulls get better medical care than I do and do less strenuous work. https://cowboylifestylenetwork.com/a-labor-of-love-a-journey-of-a-girl-and-her-bucking-bull/ https://americancowboy.com/lifestyle/a-hard-labor-of-love-a-girl-and-her-bucking-bull/
Definitely not us. We like to see the PRCA guys and ladies we know, Top 15 or close, completing. Plus, many local rodeos, that were PRCA sanctioned, I use to go to in So California, didn't draw in many top-notch cowboys/cowgirls due to the purse. And, Ken, most, if not all, local rodeos today are professionally sanctioned by PRCA. Most rodeo fans want to see top-notch contestants. They may not all ride good, or get great scores, but many, many still do. The Wright Brothers, from Utah, are a great example of top-notch rough-stock riding skills and the fans at any rodeo love seeing them. We went to one small rodeo in Lake City, Florida when we lived in Florida. It wasn't worth driving to it, let alone the admission to get in.
When people enjoy something, they'll often make a desperate attempt to minimize the negative.. I had a co-worker who was an alcoholic. He'd talk about how he drinks a whole six-pack of beer every day when he gets home from work. I asked him, "Isn't that too much?" He said, "Oh no....beer is good for you." And, yes. Sending a dog to attack an armed suspect who already fired at police is not only cruel, it's incredibly stupid. It often results in the death of the dog. But (like rodeo animals & race horses), police dogs are expendable. Is it cruel to use dogs for police work? You tell me: (assuming you can bear to watch police officers killing their own dog while killing the suspect) https://www.police1.com/k-9/article...t-wounded-police-dog-killed-GDLtw9fBlIvZVPQb/ https://www.police1.com/k-9/article...-shot-by-barricaded-suspect-1gRbQEYyJbKwAKew/ https://abc7.com/perris-shooting-k9-dog/13133049/
Dogs will happily risk their lives to save the human that they love, or another dog, and even other animals in distress. Dogs are a whole different mentality in any other animal in that the completely bond with their human. Your dog will love you as much as anyone in your human family does, and they will try to learn and imitate what they see people do. We see dogs dancing like a ballerina, or in a conga line with their paws on the person in front of them. They go with us in cars, on horseback rides, in airplanes and boats, and swimming in the water, and they love every minute of it. I am convinced that a dog thinks that he is just a different type of people, whereas other animal species relate to whatever type of animal they are. Even without training, that police dog would dash into danger to save his human, and the training just makes it safer for him to do that. Also, shooting or harming a police dog is considered the same as assaulting or killing any other police officer, and most criminals know that, and do not want to go to prison for murder for killing a dog.
And when people dislike something due to lack of knowledge and understanding, they dwell on the negative to promote an agenda. I choose to make my decisions based on personal knowledge and living around ranch and rodeo my entire life rather than a few videos taken by activist that video thousands of hours of rodeo just to find one instance they can put on You Tube and get it to go viral. I would disagree about sending in the police dog because that is done in hopes of disarming the shooter rather than kill the shooter. It has nothing to do with the dog being expendable. Also very few rodeo folks purposely do anything that hurts the animals. Their animals are worth big money and injuring them intentionally would be foolish. I suppose saddling a horse for recreational riding could be considered cruel, especially if a bit is used or walking a dog on a leash could be considered cruel.
Yes. Tradition is difficult to part with & look at honestly. Nobody likes to admit they enjoy something that's cruel.
But is it cruel? I have no problem distancing myself from cruel practices, but what expertise do those that judge ranching and rodeo in general as cruel, present? Sorry but I don't subscribe to your idea that those that have never been around farm and ranch animals have the expertise to judge those that have, with being in denial because of tradition. It smacks of "wokeness" and is a blanket dismissal of a good conversation and exposes ignorance on your part about the subject.