Defenders of Rodeo at the Olympics

I for one, wish that rodeo would be accepted in the Olympic games. It is a sport that is played around the world and has a long standing tradition in many countries. In 2002, there was a Cultural Olympiad that included rodeo, and of course, PETA came out of the woodwork's. I found an article that gives another side to the animal rights activists. Since I rodeo, and am a little prejudiced toward animal activists, I have refrained from putting too many articles berating PETA. I have strived to stay objective and give animal rights articles their fair share in this blog. However, I think it is time for a little offense from my side of the field.

One of my favorite quotes from this article is that when rodeo was announced to be a part of the Cultural Olympiad that "the 'Animal Activists' began crawling out of the woodwork and started doing what they do best; whinning and complaining." Another quote that snidely gets back at other sports is "The end result of all this was that the Olympic Command Performance Rodeo was held despite the protests, even with such great atheletes as Scott Hamilton, from the pure sport of Figure Skating, (you know, the one where you write a check to the judges for a good score) coming out against the rodeo."

I love it when rodeo gets the upper hand. We have too long a history and are too much an important part of this country to be berated and slandered as we have been in the past years. It is unfair and hurtful to a community that does far greater things than football and soccer. We are a community that genuinely cares for people and animals and sincerely wants everyone to do good. Can you say that about the opposing football team?

10th Round of the NFR has many upsets

Well. At least it was entertaining. Watching the finals this week was slightly disappointing as I have earlier stated in another post. But the 10th round sure did make up for it. There were many upsets and great runs. None to duplicate the 3.4 and 3.3 second runs in the team roping the night before (which both broke the world record), but the drama of who was going to win the gold buckle made up for everything else.

The steer wrestling was probably the most dramatic. Going into the tenth round, only $80 separated #1 Lee graves and #2 Luke Branquino. Luke was higher in the average and just needed to make a decent run to clinch the title and take it from Graves. However, a bad call from the flagman resulted in a no time. This left the door right open for Lee. He just did what he had done all year made a decent run, won third in the round, won the average, and won the gold buckle. More drama will commence as there has been talk of instituting instant replay at the bigger rodeos and the finals. This run will probably be a deciding factor in getting that done.

Just to put this tenth run into perspective, a judge's call cost Luke placing in the round, cost him the average, and cost him his 2nd gold buckle. All told, about $70,000 in one 5 second run. How's that for pressure.

The calf roping was also dicey. Trevor Brazile, the reigning champ, had not had a good week and Cody Ohl was hot on his heels, almost breaking his own world record with a 6.6 run. Cody was winning the average and just had to tie one down decently to win the average and put a lot of heat on Trevor. Cody ended being a 7.0, put only put a wrap and a hooey on his calf, and, to everyone's surprise, the calf got up too fast. NO TIME. Yet another run that cost the cowboy about $70,000. I think Cody Ohl will be thinking about that tie all the way up until the tenth round next year. There are times to play it safe, and times to go for the round. Cody has never been a play it safe kinda guy, but it sure did cost him a lot not being safe this year.

Drama. Drama. There is never an end to it in the world of rodeo.

Pro Rodeo and the older years

In today's professional sports, you don't see many people at the top of their respective 'games' in in their forties, or even in their late thirties. It's just not a concept that many people are used to. It's just a reality 90% of professional sports favor the young. Except for rodeo.

It occurred to me that this is one event, that is still an actual physical sport, that the best aren't necessarily the youngest and fit. It is also possible for the very old (50-70) are still able to compete in rodeo events and win money when most other athletes just get to stare at their trophies from days gone by. Where else can you make a national finals over 20 times, which is how many times calf roper Mike Johnson has made the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.

Billy Etbauer is probably one of the more well-known older cowboys. He is 46 years old and at his 21st finals this year, won his 51st NFR round. That is unheard of. That is the same as winning every round at the finals for a 5 year period. He is also rodeo's first $3 million dollar cowboy. A Las Vegas article described Etbauer as a Timex, he just keeps on ticking, and ticking, and ticking. Etbauer is a true testament to the toughness of cowboys and how even the older guys can still dominate over the fit and young 20-yr-olds.

Rodeo loses a great man

Rodeo fans were shocked this week to learn about the untimely demise of the team roping and barrel racing entrepreneur, Booger Barter. There has been an outpouring of support for his family in these troubled times. However, not one of the emails I have received have mentioned how he died. After talking with many people who were close to his family, I discovered that Booger Barter shot himself.

Booger was known in recent years for putting on huge team ropings, giving away millions in prizes and cash. Then a few years back he moved this concept to barrel racing, giving away 5 Dodge dually trucks at his finals every year. However, the economy took a harsh toll on these events, and there have been rumors that his company was going bankrupt as a result.

Whatever the real reason for his death, Booger Barter will forever be remembered as a great fan of rodeo who pioneered a new way to put on team ropings and barrel races. I for one will miss the big barrel races, and I am sad that I was never able to compete for a truck in one of the team ropings. To find more information, go to the WorldTeamRoping website.

Disappointing NFR

I have been watching the last few nights of the NFR, and let me tell you, it's been a little disappointing. In the bullriding only 2 men have rode in the last two nights. I know that the stock at this rodeo are some of the best in the world, but so are the cowboys (supposedly). The calf roping and team roping has been going the same way. Taking away one of the loops in the team roping has seemed to mess with most of the team's heads. There are still very fast times that win each round, but not as many each night as there has been in the past. The steer wrestling and barrel racing have been extremely good, coming close to breaking records every night. I give kuddos to those contestants for upping their game when it's needed most. THIS IS THE FINALS PEOPLE! ACT LIKE IT!

High School Rodeo is not going back to Farmington, NM

The National High School Rodeo Association has had a few of their national finals at Farmington, NM. I have heard from many participants that they liked going there, and that it was a good rodeo. But a report from Shark.com says that Farmington turned down a bid to have the finals there again in 2014. The committee claims that the national association has shown a lack of concern over losses incurred in the community hosting the event. Farmington Mayor Bill Standley says that "In good conscious, I just don't think I see that benefit versus the loss that we incurred. I think they're thumbing their nose at the communities." Finalized financial statements reviewed Tuesday indicated more than $124,000 in taxpayer money was lost by hosting the 2009 National High School Rodeo Finals, as well as a $186,000 loss in 2008. In this article, National High School Rodeo Association Executive Director Kent Sturman said he was surprised to hear Farmington would not seek the 2014 rodeo. "They've not brought anything to our attention. We're not aware that they've lost money on that event. We have not had any communication on that matter," Sturman said. "Last we were told is that they were very interested in bidding to bring the event back." Tres Rios Executive Director Beth Utley disputed the statement, saying concerns regarding the taxpayer shortfall were clearly expressed after the 2008 high school finals rodeo.

I always take the information I found on Shark.com with a grain of salt, as they are always looking for scandalous news regarding rodeo in general, especially since the other side of the story (high school rodeo) has only gotten a few lines of text in this article for defending itself. However, I can see how putting on a rodeo can cost a lot of money for taxpayers. But I have been involved in large finals that go over a week, and the surrounding businesses do make a lot of money when you think about the hundreds of people coming in. They are buying hotel rooms, going out to eat 3x a day, shopping around town, and buying a lot of gas and diesel to make it to the next rodeo.

Read the article yourself and decided if there is bias inherent in the way Shark.com releases information.

People are crying for Diversity at the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo

In a news article published by Richard Connelly, he reports that there has been an outcry over the lack of diversity in the staff of the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo (HLSR). The leader of this outcry is Ben Mendez, a political activist and spokesperson for the National Hispanic Professional Organization. He claims that that there are only 7 minorites represented in the 320 member board. Of the 42 executives, there is only 1 minority. He also claims that the HLSR is a money-making business, and not non profit as they claim. The HLSR released a repsonse to these accusation, saying that Mendez has "presented a list of inaccurate statements and facts accusing the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo's volunteer leadership and salaried management of deception and non-compliance with state and federal requirements for non-profit organizations".

I know many people that have participated in, and have worked for this organization. I have never heard of it being in any way exclusive of participants, employees, or spectators. I think that this Mendez should look closer at the actual facts, and not jump to conclusions just to have his name bandied about in the press. For the full story please see Diversity.

Jackie Hobbs' strong showing at the WPRA Finals

Jackie Hobbs, of Abilene, TX made a strong showing at this years WPRA Finals held in Tulsa, OK. She came into the finals as the reigning All Around Champion from 2008, and was looking to regain her title. Hobbs was also the returning tie-down champion. Hobbs won the All Around title yet again, ending up almost $8,00o ahead of reserve. She also captured back to back tie-down roping titles, ending up almost $2,000 ahead of second place.

This is a strong showing of the talent and hard work put in by many of today's top rodeo cowgirls. The boys of rodeo should watch out. The girls in rodeo are here to stay and may even pose a threat to many of today's top cowboys. Gone are the days when women were just eye candy on fast horses in the barrel racing. Today the women of rodeo are showing the same grit and determination that has been a characteristic of the sport of rodeo since it came into being. Keep up the good work girls, and I hope to see y'all one day at the finals, competing right alongside.

Wrangler National Finals Rodeo 2009

Hooray for the NFR almost being here. I am lucky enough to be able to attend this year's finals during the first weekend. The finals start on December 3, and run through December 12. This year a record $5.75 million will be rewarded at the finals. Trevor Brazile is attempting to set a world record at the finals this year. He is attempting to win a record-tying seventh All-Around World Championship, which would tie him with ProRodeo Hall of Famer and “King of Cowboys” Ty Murray. To follow his progress through the finals go to the PRCA website. Going into the finals in first place is as follows:

Bareback Riding: Clint Cannon
Steer Wrestling: Steve Graves
Team Roping Header: Chad Masters
Team Roping Heeling: Jade Corkill
Saddle Bronc: Jesse Kruse
Tie-Down Roping: Trevor Brazile
Bull Riding: J.W. Harris
Barrel Racing: Brittany Pozzi

Good Luck to all the contestants at the finals! I will be there to cheer y'all on!

College Rodeo loses big-time sponsor

U.S. Smokeless Tobacco has, for many years, supported college rodeo and donated hundreds of thousands of dollars a year for scholarships for rodeo athletes. Unfortunately, they have decided to no longer be a sponsor of college rodeo. The new owners of the company (Altria) decided to no longer support the PRCA and pro rodeo. There are negotiations along the way to try and get continued support, but after January 2010, that money will no longer be available. USSTC has promised to provide scholarship money for the 2010 College Finals in Casper, WY, but that may be the last time the finals has such a generous supporter. The NIRA has recruited Copper Springs Ranch and the United States Team Roping Association as new sponsors, but they are going to have some big shoes to fill after all the support that USSTC has offered since they first began sponsoring rodeo in 1974.

Rule changes for the best

The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association has finally put into effect the rule I have been hoping for. A bell collar catch in the breakaway roping. Before a legal catch consisted of the rope passing over the calf's head and then pulling tight on whatever body part it happened to catch. I believe that this is not right. Girls at the collegiate level should be able to catch a bell collar loop at this stage of the game. A bell collar catch is the rope passing over the calf's head and pulling tight around the neck (like a collar on a dog).

Having the rule the old way is like allowing pro bicycler's to leave training wheels on their bikes. There is no reason why girls at the collegiate level cannot rope this way. If they don't like it, then they should not be competing at this level. I for one applaud the NIRA for implementing this rule change. I only wish they would have put it into effect when I was still eligible to compete in college rodeos.

News regarding transporting horses to Canada from Texas

A new outbreak of a contagious disease was reported by the USDA and the Texas Animal Health Commission. Apparently a Quarter horse mare in Texas was found to be infected with Equine Piroplasmosis (EP). Many more horses were tested and veterinarians found 32 horses infected with this disease. This poses a sever health risk, as EP is a contagious disease. It is spread by certain ticks or by the transfer of blood from infected horses to unaffected horses through shared needles.

Symptoms of this disease are weakness, lack of appetite, fever, anemia, swollen abdomen, and labored breathing. This is a very serious problem as there is no vaccine for this illness and the treatment options available are not fail-proof and are still being researched.

The problem for horse owners is that Canada has imposed restrictions on equines originating in Texas that are being transported to Canada. The USDA will no longer endorse any health certificated for equines being transported from Texas to Canada. Also, any equines being exported to Canada from other states must have additional certification that during the previous 21 days the animal has not been in the state of Texas. These restrictions are in place until further notice.

For further details and contact information go to the RodeoUp website.

Local Ropings

For anyone looking for cheap and fun local ropings, Ricky Canton out of Navasota, Tx, puts on roping series at least twice a year. Ricky is an WNFR qualifier and is a renowned calf roping horse trainer. This weekend was the last weekend of his 2009 fall series. They gave away belt buckles in every roping which included, 15 & Under Jr. Tie down Roping, Girls Breakaway, Open Breakaway, 00, 1, 2, and Open ropings. For more information on Ricky's ropings, you can visit their website at RickyCanton.com.

Coming up in January, Ricky will once again be moving his ropings to Huntsville for the Winter Series ropings. They will be held at the Cowboy Country Arena in Huntsville, Tx. I am pretty sure they will be giving away belt buckles again for the winner of the series. They are also hosting a benefit roping, November 14, to help pay the medical bills of the parent's of a little girl who died recently. For more information about this roping, you can look at the flier which has more information here.

This weekend Ricky announced that they will be adding a Jr. Tiedown roping to the benefit roping. That information is not on the flier that I posted above.

More animal outrage on behalf of Shark.com

In an effort to keep this an unbiased blog, I have found yet more articles denouncing rodeo as cruel and heartless. Shark.com has many articles and videos that portray the sport of Rodeo in an unflattering light. The main page at RodeoCruelty.com has numerous articles citing how the many rodeo associations lie and purposefully do not disclose how many animals are injured and killed at their rodeos. Many of the pictures and articles present in this database of cruelty even makes me cringe. I urge readers to look at this with a grain of salt. It is apparent to me that Shark.com has found the very worst in rodeo and is highlighting the worst parts. Yes, accidents happen, but Rodeo as a society is not out to torture animals. I think it interesting that there are 0 reports from people who have good experiences from rodeo and that their website is very one-sided. I think people can form their own opinions, but please take everything with a grain of salt and find out both sides of the story before making judgment calls.

International Rodeo

I found an article through rodeoattitude.com that was an international article about young kids in secondary schools competing in rodeos in Australia and New Zealand. Bring on the cowboys describes a stock contractor letting some kids practice on bucking stock before a rodeo that will pit them against other schools in the area. I think this is great. Many rodeo champions come to the United States from other countries, including Australia. While I attended Western Texas College, my first year saw 4 cowboys from Canada and 5 from Australia. Half of them made it to the college finals that year. The next year we switched some cowboys out and still more made the finals that year. A few of the cowboys that I attended junior college with have made it all the way to the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, NV. This shows that rodeo is a far reaching sport that crosses international lines, and is good for the world as a whole.

PETA denounces rodeo as cruel

PETA has been trying to put a stop to rodeo for many years now. They believe that the animals used in rodeo are cruelly abused and none of them treated fairly. I found an article on their website that cites various instances where animals were hurt or killed during rodeo events. Buck The Rodeo is just one harsh critic of rodeo. I am not saying that animals are not injured in the sport, but I do think that PETA sometimes blows things out of proportion. There will always be people that abuse animals and those peopl do need to be stopped, but PETA also needs to realize that many people in the sport of rodeo love there animals and take care of them as if they were a member of the family. For many people rodeo is their main income and could not afford harming their animals even if they were inclined to. I believe that there are two sides to every story, but people should actually educate themselves on both sides of the issue before making a harsh judgement call as PETA does in the above article.

Isn't Rodeo supposed to be fair and unbiased?

I had a beef this weekend with a judge at a church rodeo that I attended. The rules were that you had to catch your calf "bell collar" which means that the rope has to be snug around the neck when it breaks off the saddle horn. I roped my calf and was 2.3 which was winning the round by 3 tenths of a second. As I was following my calf out of the arena the judge waved me out and said I had a no time. I asked him what I had done and he said that I had roped a front leg, which according to the rules is illegal. At first I just said ok because it has happened to me before even though I am pretty good at noticing when I roped a leg and didn't think I did it this time. When I rode to the chutes to get my rope I asked the guys taking ropes off if the rope was around the calves leg. They looked puzzled and said no it was a clean catch. Three different men said this to me. I went straight to the judge and told him what the men had said and he said "Well, it was around the leg when it broke off". That would be a legitimate answer except it is difficult for a rope to come off a leg when it has been roped and come up tight around the neck by the time the calf gets to the end of the arena.

My beef with this whole episode is that I was at a church roping. I was almost expecting something of this nature to happen, as I had problems with the family who ran the roping and was worried that something underhanded may happen. Turns out I was right. What makes it worse is that this was a CHURCh roping, where there is supposed to be less bias and greediness than is usually present at this roping. Another problem I had at this roping was the rules were if you came to the church service in the morning you go to rope fro free. I had no problem with that as it saved me money. My problem is that I saw at least 5 people that got to rope and were not at the church service. One of the participants was a particular friend of the family running the roping which struck me as biased behavior. If I had to go to a church service (and I particularly don't like them) then everyone should have had to go. It's not fair to the rest of us who waited around for 7 hours to rope in the heat.

This is a problem I have had with rodeo for a while. It is supposed to a very unbiased sport, with luck playing a large part in how people do. I love the sport for that reason. But when people do things like this it makes me said for the sport and angry that people feel the need to cheat so that they can win. What's worse in my opinion is that this sort of thing happened at a CHURCH roping, where just a few hours earlier they were preaching that material things are not necessary and that we should all love each other and help each other out.

Hypocritical bull$h!t if you ask me.

Scandal touches one of the darlings of rodeo

Trevor Brazile is well-known for being an amazing calf and steer roper and an all-around good guy. He has won numerous national awards and has been one of the best calf ropers this past decade. Unfortunately scandal has touched the family of this golden boy. I found an article that concerns Trevor's father, Jimmy Brazile. He has been arrested and accused of assaulting a teenage girl that he was helping to learn how to rope. This article was found on a non profit website called SHARK. The details of the ongoing assult, and it was ongoing for more than a year, are present in the article. This goes to show that even though there are stereotypes that cowboys are just good ol' boys that get a little rowdy, there are dangerous people that come in all shapes and sizes. This is one of the last men anyone would expect to behave in this matter, and yet it seems Jimmy had no regard for the illegality of what he was doing with this teenage girl. To further verify this story I found an article from the Wise County Messenger that reported the same incident with basically the same details as SHARK. Some of the content has been changed from when I first found this article due to reader complaints of the graphic language used in the original article.

Texas A&M Rodeo Team

In local news, the Texas A&M Rodeo Team has had many local articles written concerning the various champions that have participated. I will hyperlink the articles that I have found that pertain to the rodeo team. I think these articles highlight how hard rodeo athletes must work to maintain school work at Texas A&M as well as holding jobs and rodeoing on the weekend. Many people don't realize the time and effort it takes to be successful at rodeo. Hopefullly these articles will shed some light on these relatively unknown athletes. I found an article on TexAgs.com that sent me to the Texas A&M Foundation page. This article called "Spurred to Success" was taken out of a larger article in SPIRIT magazine. Click here to read the full article "Saddle Up" in SPIRIT magazine on page 14. A final local relevant news article was found in the magazine AgriLeader. An A&M rodeo team member, Casi Sharp, was the actual writer of the article, "For Love of the Sport: Aggies Rodeo from the Heart" and had various team members give interviews about how rodeo affected their lives.

Hi. My name is Lainey. I have been involved in rodeo since I was 8 years old, and it has paid for most of my college education. I am going to be using this blog to find interesting articles concerning rodeo and basically just to express my opinions and ideas over many aspects of the great sport of rodeo. Even though I love rodeo, I do realize that many people don't know anything about it or do not like it at all. I will be posting information that hopefully everyone can relate too, even though I will be pushing my opinions forward as well.