3 Ways To Get A Bull To Do What You Want

Posted on July 22, 2015 by dwightlutsey

There are 3 ways to get a bull to do what you want.

1 Ask him nicely.

2: Try to coax him out of the ring with your horses by setting a good example.

3: Get everybody in town that has a horse and a rope to come down quick to the arena so you can rope him and drag him out. Here’s how that all works out.

Number 1 doesn’t work, complete waste of time.

Number 2 sometimes works if the bull really wants to go back to the corral and forgot the way out.

Number 3 is your best bet. Get everybody you know, dozens if you can, get them in there and throw a rope on him. This doesn’t work as far as dragging him off but it gives the guys roping practice and the bull something to do for a while. He’ll break the ropes, drag the cowboys around in the dirt, buck and act all chesty, then after he feels better he’ll docilely walk back to the chute and go lay down for a while. That’s all there is to it.

That’s what was going on here at the bull riding event at the North American Indian Days, Blackfeet reservation rodeo. The bull riding comes on last at the rodeo because they need you glued in your seats until the last minute so you don’t miss a thing. The sun was already starting to set and the last light of the day was lighting up this red bull, turning him all gold and sleek, and he was just feeling the moment. There wasn’t any bad feelings or animosity he just wasn’t ready to end the day. After 10 or 15 minutes he’d had his moment and was ready to head for the back lot and a night off.

Tomorrow we’ll have the rodeo pictures up and there are some good ones. Stay tuned or if you have to leave come back soon so you don’t miss anything.

Red Chaps In The Sunset

Posted on July 10, 2015 by dwightlutsey

As we were sitting here planning our activity schedule for the rest of the summer it occurred to us that we had not checked in with our sister city, The Hampton’s, to see what they were up to this year. As you know we rarely spend any time there, and although we have few to none important ties with our neighbors on the East Coast, it’s always fun to see what the cousins are doing.

Now THEY have got a busy summer planned. You wonder how they find time to attend all these events let alone plan them. Here are just a few we’re sorry we can’t attend. In July alone there is the “Opening Day of Polo for the Monty Waterbury Cup”, “The 26th Annual American Picnic with Grucci Fireworks!”, “The 28th Annual Garden Tour & Wine Tasting”, we took Aunt Pheeb and Uncle Skid to that one last year. That didn’t work out so well. “Cocktails at Holly Hall”, “The Midsummer Party at the Parish” That was black tie and all of ours were tie-died so we couldn’t get in. And the always rough & tumble anything goes “Annual Hampton Designer Showhouse Gala Preview Party” Man oh man, that’s one you gotta attend. Those guys really know how to throw a party. You pair up a wine sizzler with a watercress sandwich and you’ve got way too much excitement. I for one was glad they had security on hand that night. We were at it to nearly 10 o’clock before saying goodnight.

I know, right, how do you even compete with stuff like that. Then I had a thought, why not check our summer event schedule here in the West. Well, am I glad I did!. We got stuff going on. Out here lots of people keep horses as a part of their everyday life. They ride them, feed them, clean up after them and some even use them for work. So it’s not surprising that we should have organized events celebrating one of the symbols of the West. And by symbol I mean the horse. We call these events Rodeos and they take place all over the West. You can see one in small towns and large cities almost all summer long. It’s kind of like “The Season” as they call it in the Hampton’s and they’re very popular with people who like to drink beer, wear jeans with gigantic buckles and never take their hats off, unless they’re talking to a lady, or some one mentions John Wayne.

For instance, we have “Bring your Saddle Bronc to Work Day” where proud cowboys bring their favorite Saddle Bronc to work and show off some of their jumping skills. The cowboy’s jumping skills that is. The horse has to try and stay under him for 10 seconds or he loses and has to herd sheep for the next week.

We have one of my favorite parties of the year, the annual “Red Chaps at Sunset” event where they put red chaps on a cowboy then ask him to ride a horse that hates the color Red. This can make for some hilarious moments as the two of them work out their differences. It’s a cloud pleaser all right.

We also have big charity events where money is raised for many worthy causes. There is the “Ground Pounder for Mental Health” to name just one, a charitable event where sponsors sponsor a cowboy and his horse and pledge a certain amount of money for every time the horses hooves ‘pound the ground’. All monies raised are used to care for bull riders who have developed cognitive problems, or no longer can remember who they are, or need plastic surgery to remove the hoof print from their faces, or remove chunks of horn they didn’t get out at the clinic. It’s a worthy cause and many bull riders have benefited from their generosity. In fact new ones almost every time they try and ride bulls.

These are just a few of the things going on out here. I plan to visit more of them as the summer goes by and let you know all the terrific events we have. Now you don’t have to travel back to the Hampton’s to have summer fun. Stay right here, go watch Rodeo events, drink beer, and remember to take your hat off if anyone mentions John Wayne.

The Mediator

Posted on July 5, 2015 by dwightlutsey

It was the 4th of July. It was hot. It was the finals. Tempers were flaring. These final events were being played out before a sold out crowd under a blistering hot sun. It was the kind of 4th of July day you remember as a kid, hot, kind of muggy, and full of anticipation. The little bit of shade there was kept to the area immediately in front of the chutes. For the last week contestants and the rodeo stock had been going at it hammer and tongs deciding who the bull duck in the pond was going to be and this was the last day. Winners and losers were being decided this day and no one wanted to be in the losers category.

The cowboy decided he was going to ride this one out the full 8 seconds, the bull disagreed and tempers flared. Because of the heightened tension, words were said, feelings were hurt and the entire affair turned dangerous in a heartbeat. That’s when the mediator stepped in and with a few well-chosen phrases, a quick well-meaning pat on the head, de-escalated this situation. That’s why these rodeo clowns are so important. They’re not just another pretty face in the crowd. These guys do real work and it’s important, life saving work. It’s why they get the big bucks and as many of those colorful bandanas that they tie around their waists as they want. The rodeo couldn’t go on without them.

This event ended well with the bull being mollified, the cowboy convinced to try it again later and the whole situation was reloaded for the next set of contestants. That’s how things work in the finals.

The 4th of July was the last rodeo for this year and it was the culmination of five rodeos held during the preceding week. As in all events like this there were winners and losers. The winners, who were the first among equals, had produced the best scores overall and were rewarded with money, and a beautiful silver belt buckle, the Oscars of the rodeo world. The losers, who aren’t really losers but those that through bad luck, a mishap, a bad day, didn’t make it to the winners circle. But every day is a new day and these guys are nothing if not optimists, so they ‘re off to the next rodeo, the next event and the chance to become champion for a while.

The Greeley Stampede is an incredible rodeo, a show the likes of which you seldom get to see. If you missed it this year put it on your list for next year, you won’t be disappointed. This isn’t scripted watered down reality TV, this is the real deal. Things happen here unexpectedly and the drama will have you on the edge of your seats. You can even get popcorn here if you need it to watch the show. If you can’t make it out here to Greeley Colorado for this rodeo then there should be one near you that you can attend. If so, do it. It’ll make your day.

Voodoo Power

Posted on July 2, 2015 by dwightlutsey

This is a professional rodeo bull that makes its living by bucking off cowboys whenever they have the temerity to climb upon his back. His name is Voodoo Power and he works primarily in rodeo settings but will cheerfully buck off any rider any where, any time. His job is allow a cowboy, who is optimistically called a bull rider, to climb on his back and try to stay there for 8 seconds. If he does the cowboy wins. If he doesn’t Voodoo Power does. There’s little gray area here. There’s a great big clock on the wall with bright red numbers that quickly as the bull sees it, and agonizing slowly, as the cowboy sees it, ticks off the seconds until it reads 8.0. If the rider is still there he wins, if a fraction of a second before 8:0 he falls off, he loses. No appeal, no do over, he just gets up and limps to the fence before Voodoo Power notices him again. The cowboy wants to be well up on that fence before he does.

This may seem like a simple task, to ride a bull for 8 seconds, look at your watch and count them off, it doesn’t take very long for those seconds to go by, but you should know that many of these bulls have not been ridden to a qualifying time more than once or twice in several years. That’s a lot of rodeos and a lot of chances for the cowboy to have a successful ride. It’s also a lot of times that Voodoo gets to teach them some humility. And he does, regularly.

Here’s Voodoo Power at work. This cowboy was oh so close to the 8:0 second mark but Voodoo Power decided it just wasn’t this cowboy’s night to win. Moments later the cowboy was airborne and when he hit the ground Voodoo was there waiting for him to step on him a little and roll him around the arena floor with his head. This is just Voodoo’s way of saying “Good try” to the cowboy. Fortunately for the bull rider the rodeo clown, who puts himself in harm’s way every single night, was there to convince Voodoo not to mangle the cowboy any more than necessary. Voodoo relented, the cowboy lived, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

That’s how this bull riding thing works, you come down to the rodeo, and we encourage you to do so, find your seat, and hang on tight as the bull riding begins. That’s it. Simple. If you’re finding your life a little boring at the moment, you can get a Cowboy outfit, pay your entry fee and have a close encounter with Voodoo Power, the professional bucking bull. He’ll be glad to meet you. See you at the Greeley Stampede.

Note: The following is a press release from the Greeley Stampede provided for anyone interested in the Rodeo. If you’re in the area there are still a few days of rodeo left. Come on down and take one in.

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

Andy Segal

Media and Communications Manager

Greeley Stampede

970-356-7787

DAY SEVEN OF THE GREELEY STAMPEDE AND ALL IS COOL

July 1, 2015 (GREELEY, CO) The afternoon rain cooled off the evening making for an all-around great night at the Greeley Stampede.

On this beautiful evening, as part of Ag Day, members of both the 4-H and FFA had the opportunity to come out and enjoy the Stampede Rodeo for free if they wore their organizations apparel. Over 5,000 visitors were in attendance at the 4^th performance of the Rodeo.

Earlier in the day, when the heat was just taking hold, the Miss Rodeo Colorado Pageant got underway with the Horsemanship event. On Thursday, July 2 the MRC Pageant Speech contest will begin at 10:30 am at the Island Grove 4-H Building. The final event is the Fashion Show and Coronation at Union Colony Civic Center on Friday, July 3 in Greeley. RSVP’s are required call 970-454-0191.

The 5^th and last regular performance of the rodeo is July 2 at 7:00 pm. For Military Appreciation Day our current and retired Military men and women will be honored. Just show a military ID, military dependent ID or come in uniform to receive FREE park admission and admission to north grandstands during the July 2 rodeo. The US Army is the rodeo sponsor for the evening.

Looking ahead to Friday morning the Kids Rodeo, sponsored by John Elway Dodge Ram, kicks off at 9:00 am. Western Underground will headline the Free Stage and you can catch Joe Nichols and Sawyer Brown on the Stampede Arena stage. If you want to meet Joe Nichols up close you can find him signing autographs at 4:15 in the Island Grove Events Center.

Enjoy the weather whatever day you come out to the Stampede but be sure to take in the last regular rodeo performance on July 2 or the rodeo finals on July 4. You can also buy your concert or demo derby tickets or get your carnival passes by calling 970-356-7787, by visiting any Northern Colorado King Soopers location, going to Ticketswest.com, calling Ticketswest at 866-464-2626 or online at Greeleystampede.org. The Stampede Ticket Office is open 9:00 am – 10:00 pm daily during the event.

The 2015 Greeley Stampede June 25^th – July 5^th!

Rodeo Stars

Posted on July 1, 2015 by dwightlutsey

click to enlarge

At the end of the rodeo performance the real stars of the show are brought out for their moment in the spotlight. These performers give their best performance every time the chute door opens. The cowboys, regardless of their skill and courage, wouldn’t get their moment in the sun if these horses didn’t give their all. And they do, show after show, whenever they’re asked to.

You can see by the fierce pride in their stance that these are not tired, depressed animals forced to be mishandled night after night, or stock brought in from the wild to be broken into submission. These are proud vibrant creatures, in their element, full of the same excitement and enthusiasm their riders are. This is as much their competition as it is for the cowboys who try and ride them.

It is a special feeling to see these stars race out into the arena . To see and get a sense of the raw power in each one really makes the rodeo come alive. These performers share top billing with the best cowboys in the business and rightfully so. They are stars and know it, they have earned this moment in the spotlight.

NEWS RELEASE

For Immediate Release

HALF WAY THROUGH THE GREELEY STAMPEDE

June 30, 2015 (GREELEY, CO) The 93^rd Annual Greeley Stampede has already gone beyond the half way mark and with barely time to recover between days all of the activities and events are still in full swing.

About 4,900 visitors got to see the 3^rd performance on First Responders Night sponsored by Colorado Access and some folks stayed for the WPRA Barrel Racing Slack which ran after the rodeo.

One of the many events that has yet to happen is the Miss Rodeo Colorado Pageant. First MRC contest is the Horsemanship event which begins at 9:30 am in the Stampede Arena on Wednesday, July 1. On Thursday, July 2 the MRC Pageant Speech contest will be at 10:30 am at the Island Grove 4-H Building and the final event is the Fashion Show and Coronation at Union Colony Civic Center 701 10^th Ave. on Friday, July 3 in Greeley. RSVP’s are required call 970-454-0191.

For the 4^th performance of the rodeo on Wednesday, July 1^st it’s Ag Day sponsored by Weld County Garage. Wear 4-H or FFA apparel to receive FREE park admission and admission to the north grandstands during the July 1 rodeo performance.

Only two regular rodeo performances left, buy your tickets to the rodeo, concerts, demo derby or get your carnival passes by calling 970-356-7787, visit any Northern Colorado King Soopers location, Ticketswest.com, Ticketswest by phone 866-464-2626 or at Greeleystampede.org. The Stampede Ticket Office is open 9:00 am – 10:00 pm daily during the event.

Andy Segal

Media & Communications Manager

Greeley Stampede

970-356-7787

GreeleyStampede.org

The 2015 Greeley Stampede June 25^th – July 5^th!

Cowboys At Work Team Roping

Posted on June 30, 2015 by dwightlutsey

click to enlarge

Team Roping, this is a rodeo event based on real life cowboy work, as are all the events in the rodeo except maybe bull riding. That event is just something cowboys thought up for fun, something to do on a Friday night instead of going to the Punch Up, a shot and a beer and a fist fight establishment out on the county line.

Team roping was particularly important as it was the way cowboys completed the arduous task of handling calves during spring round-up so they could be collected, branded and other necessary activities performed on them. Calves being calves they had some idea of what that all entailed so they would do their best to avoid participating and run away. Especially the little bull calves. Cowboys having to get all this work accomplished had to come up with a way to capture the calf so it could be processed. That’s where team roping came in.

Cowboys on their horses would be hanging around the outside of the herd as it milled around inside the corral and when they saw a calf making a break for it, ride after it to catch it. Two cowboys usually worked together to do this. One cowboy, called a header, would rope the runaway calf or young steer around his horns, and the other cowboy called a heeler, would rope the calves hind feet. The calf unable to run would be secured by the two horses carefully backing up, until the calf was in the position it needed to be for the branding team to run up and tip the calf on its side, so the branding could take place. This was also the time that other necessary things would happen, inoculations, horn trimming if necessary, a short brief instruction session on how to be a proper productive member of the herd, normally delivered by one of the older cowboys, and the calf would be released back to the care of its mother or other proper guardian.

Today things are stilled handled pretty much the way they were 100 years ago. The cows and calves are rounded up, herded into a corral where the cowboys have built a small fire to heat up the branding irons and they go to work. It worked good back then and it still works good today. But we’ve heard that changes may be on the way.

It’s the middle of the second decade of the twenty-first century and some things have changed from the 1800’s. We have iPads now, and cell phones, freeze-dried potatoes that you can just mix with hot water and have for lunch right there at the corral, and that and other digital stuff, changed everything. The word on the range is that soon drones will be flying in with their calf-seeking radar, picking up these calves, hauling them to an area where they are marked with organic recycled ink in place of the old style brand, be subcutaneously inoculated with growth hormones that will double the calves weight every 96 hours, make them mellow and not mean, and lastly, be injected with a personalized “chip” that will give its location, weight gain over the past 96 hours, its current mood and disposition, whether it is currently being rustled, and provide it with all the necessary information it needs to be a calf in the 21st century.

Now we don’t know if any of that is true or not, it’s just some of the stuff cowboys talk about around the campfire at supper. It makes the time go by and the beans taste better. We do know that the Amalgamated Brotherhood of International Cowboys, (ABIC) the union most cowboys belong to, are definitely against it. We’ll just have to wait and see how all this plays out. For now though it’s business as usual out on the range and the team ropers have their work cut out for them and they’re hard at it.

If you want to see how real cowboys do their work then come down to the rodeo, and the Greeley Stampede is a good one to come to, and watch Team Roping. It’s very cool.

Back To The Classics

Posted on June 29, 2015 by dwightlutsey

Saddle bronc riding. This is the event that started rodeos. Back in the old days which is anything before 1950, before Volkswagen Jetta’s and Prius’, the only way a cowboy could get to work was to either, A: Walk, or B: Ride a horse. ‘A’ was simply not an option as cowboys don’t walk. They can’t. They wear special footwear called Cowboy boots with a tall heel that make it almost physically impossible to walk more than 50′ before they fall down on the ground grabbing their legs yelling “OMG, I can’t walk! My legs! My legs!. Somebody help me, I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!” That’s where option ‘B’ comes in. Ride a horse.

Back then that was problematic because horses didn’t like to be ridden. They still don’t for the most part. Ask any horse that’s been out on grass for a month or two if it would really like to ridden and they will almost always answer “No, thanks, I’m good.” You can’t blame them really, it’s hot out usually, and where you got to go to work is way out there in the toolies where Haysoose lost his Ray-Bans, the saddle blanket is itchy, the saddle is heavy, not counting the cowboy that wants to sit on it, they stick a big old metal bit in your mouth so they can yank you all over the place, they want you to run around chasing after things, you got to work everyday, all day, with never a day off, so the horse usually just said “No” when asked to cooperate.

Cowboys hate to hear “No” so right away there was a problem. Faced with having to walk, and the resulting rolling around on the ground yelling and the embarrassment and all, they decided that they were going to convince the horse to help out, to do its part willingly. And there it was, the birth of the rodeo event, Saddle bronc riding.

You can see everything there is to know about Saddle bronc riding by looking at the image above. They put a saddle on the horse, no small feat in itself when the horse doesn’t want you to, they climb on and they ask the horse politely to cooperate. The horse usually declines and the resulting melee is what you see here. Sometimes the cowboy convinces the horse, other times the horse convinces the cowboy that he should ask another horse. Eventually though a compromise is reached.

This entire learning to cooperate with each other was so entertaining to bystanders, especially those who didn’t have to convince the horse it should be ridden, that soon cowboys and the spectators were getting together on a Sunday afternoon and doing this whole process for fun. The enjoyment spread and soon cowboy and horse were doing this all over the place. Out in the corrals, inside barns so they could get out of the sun, traveling around to different cities where some folks would pay money to see the process at work. They named these events rodeos and the rest is history. It became hugely successful and drew folks from every walk of life to watch Saddle bronc riding and other western activities, drink beer from paper cups, tell each other that they could do that if they had to, and watch cowgirls in tight jeans walk around the grandstands.

Now some of these cowboys and their horses don’t even do a job of work any more. They just drive from rodeo to rodeo in great big dually trucks pulling a 3 axle horse trailer behind them winning huge amounts of cash money for staying on their respective horses for 8 seconds. It ‘s become big business with all the resulting industries, like tight western jeans makers, silver belt buckle construction, cowboy boot makers, sno-cone machine builders, beer brewers, horse whisperers, cowboy whisperers, judges who never make mistakes like football referees do, great big humongous Jumbotron TV screen builders to see instant replays and scores, the list is endless.

Yeah the bull riding is exciting and all the other events show you the skills cowboys need to get their work done but at the heart of it all is the classic event, the one that made all this hoopla possible, Saddle Bronc riding. If you get a chance go see it at a rodeo near you. It’s worth the price of a ticket.

So Much Havoc So Little Time

Posted on June 27, 2015 by dwightlutsey

How many times have you heard someone say “Give me a second, willya.” A second more wouldn’t have helped this situation. What you see here is chaos, not organized chaos but the good old fashioned kind where nobody has a clue what’s going to happen.

This is a sport in the rodeo world called extreme bulls and the object is to get on the back of one of these behemoths and stay there for 8 seconds. It is a lot like regular bull riding you see in an average rodeo except the bulls are a lot meaner. Everything you see happening here, and there is a lot happening, all took place in under 2 seconds as you can see by the scoreboard clock in the background. This is like watching a slow motion explosion.

The bull whose nickname is “Sweetness and Light” dislodged its rider who had the good grace to land in a more dignified position than most do, the rodeo clown who thought it might help to grab Sweetness’s horn and drag him away from the scene, the barrel guy who didn’t even have time to duck down in his barrel, and the steady concentration of everyone else wearing a hat shows that things happen quick when you decide to ride a bull.

This ended up a pretty good night, no serious injuries for either bull or man, everyone got their full share of exercise, and just like in the movies no one lost their hat. I’ll be shooting these events all week long and will try and keep you informed right up to the last minute. Stay tuned.

2014 Crow Nation Fair and Rodeo Day 3 Rodeo

Posted on August 23, 2014 by dwightlutsey

The rodeo at the Crow Fair is much like any other rodeo but for some reason it felt like a lot more fun. When it started I didn’t realize it was going to go on for nearly 7 hours but it did. Had I known that I might have thought this isn’t going to be as much fun as I thought, but it was. This rodeo, although professional in every respect, seemed more like a bunch of people you know getting together and having fun doing extraordinary things. The talent was top-notch. The rodeo stock was great, and even though it was in the high 90’s that afternoon everyone was in the best spirits and ready for a good time.

I’ve chosen a few pictures from each event to show you. That was because I took nearly a thousand images of this rodeo. I know that interested as you are, your eyes would soon begin to glaze over and there’d you go, back-asswards right out of your chair. So in the interest of safety I’ve pared it down considerably. As always click on any image to see it larger. Enjoy

Opening Ceremonies Presenting the flag

2014 Rodeo Queen presenting the flag at the opening ceremonies.

Bareback Bronc Riding

You get a strap to hang onto and permission from the horse to enter the arena.

The horse is often particular about who rides it.

Here the horse is celebrating. Horse 1 cowboy 0.

Relay Race

Probably the most popular event at the rodeo. Chaos reigns as riders run to mount their horses and take off for the first lap.

First on first out.

Horse holders waiting for their team rider to arrive and switch horses.

The winner by a hat. Crowd goes wild. Losers vow it’ll be different next year.

Calf Roping

Perfect cast. Calf is about to be caught, thrown, tied and released. Rider takes home a paycheck.

Saddle Bronc Riding

This is very much like bareback bronc riding except there is a saddle involved. A lot more cowboys rode their horses to the buzzer than the bareback bronc guys did. They seemed to look better doing it too.

Many of the horses have developed their own style of bucking. Raise your tail high but keep your front feet on the ground. The horse got more points for style than the rider did.

Sometimes horses decide to say “Hell no, I won’t go.” This one eventually did. And then threw that guy right in the dirt.

This is the Catch and Release program used throughout the rodeo. This is done so that the horse can be caught and used again. It is illegal not to use Catch and Release in most rodeos. These animals are too expensive not to recycle them.

This is what makes the horses buck. It’s called a bucking strap. It is not used on the cowboys. This is used because these horses are so gentle and docile at all times they wouldn’t buck if you paid them. That is why they have names like HellBitch, JaneFonda, ManKiller, and Ed. You can see it in use in the pictures above.

Steer Wrestling

This is the big mans sport. The cowboy has to be roughly the size of the steer to compete. There is a sign near the gate that has a steer painted on it and the cowboy must be able to cover most of the steer with his body or they won’t let him use a horse. In fact they won’t let him complete. He is told to go spend some time at McD’s and then comeback.

Here the cowboy is convincing the steer to lie down awhile. This is very much like MMA cage fighting but with no hitting.

This sport is one of constant innovation and many new experimental techniques are tried out. This is one is called “one-handed steer wrestling”. It didn’t work.

Barrel Racing

This is a cool event. Pretty girls, pretty horses, custom-made barrels, and plenty of speed.

Bull Riding and Separation Anxiety, first Successful Bull Riding

Bull riding is one of the more relaxing events at the rodeo. They match up gentle cowboys and friendly bulls with good dispositions and get them to ride each other. The best and most desired outcome is the cowboy riding the bull for 8 seconds, then thanking him for the experience and carefully dismounting. If he is unsuccessful the bull gets to try and ride him for 8 seconds. Hopefully both participants enjoyed the experience equally. Above is the proper way to ride a bull.

The excitement begins as soon as the other cowboys, who don’t have to ride a bull today, gleefully pull open the chute door..

Always careful of their image, this bull takes a moment to ask the cowboy in the blue shirt how he’s doing.

This is another pair that have worked out the problems of the next 8 seconds. The bull gets to kick his feet in the dirt a lot and the cowboy doesn’t call him names. It’s a win-win situation for both of them. The cowboy is wearing a helmet because the last time he rode this bull they hadn’t spent any bonding time together and the bull threw him through the chute door.

Then we sometimes have periods of Separation Anxiety

Unfortunately there is a darkside to this sport that isn’t talked about very much but needs to be brought out into the light. Occasionally the pairing is not done carefully enough and there are personality conflicts that are brought into play. The cowboy is out of sorts, or feeling a little insecure, and treats the bull with a certain amount of disrespect and things happen. Many of these cowboys also suffer from Separation Anxiety. This is a condition where the cowboy does not want to be separated from the bull before the 8 seconds are up. The bull realizes this and attempts to drive the cowboy into the dirt, then stomp on him. Sometimes he’ll smack the cowboy a good one with his horns. I don’t know why they just can’t get along.

Case in point. This cowboy, due to his nervousness, said something uncomplimentary about the bulls mother and, well, you can see the result.

I don’t know what happened here. This is just a disagreement they had that neither one will talk about.

I do know what happened here. The bull absolutely hates, I mean hates, the color green. He has asked this cowboy numerous times to please not wear those green chaps. He did, and you can see the result.

This is just a shame. Just a moment before the 8 second buzzer went off an argument blew up out of nowhere and this is the result. I know they’re both sick about it but that’s why you should think before you say something you’ll regret.

Then a short tutorial on how to safely dismount a bull.

Many times for one reason or another a cowboy just wants off the bull. Maybe he feels like he’s been on long enough, maybe he forgot a Dr.’s appointment, or he left the iron on in the trailer. Regardless, he wants off. But how to do this safely. Here’s a short lesson on how to get off a bull without the bull being able to break your legs and/or pelvis.

In the image before this one you see the cowboy deciding enough is enough and committing to getting off. In the image immediately above you see him choosing the classic “I’m going off the Ass-end” maneuver.

It gets a little tricky here because the bull is starting to realize what’s going on. This isn’t his first rodeo.

This is this cowboys favorite getting off position and he knows exactly how to perform it. He is well into his dismount position and is just taking a little time to reflect on the past 6 or 7 seconds.

And there you have it. He’s off. The bull is cheesed off because there was no bone breakage and the cowboy gets to walk away unscathed. Classic.

That’s the rodeo. I hope you had as much fun as the cowboys and the stock and the photographer. I know I did. After nearly seven hours of standing out in the hot sun, I for one am ready for something cool. Lets go get something to drink and maybe a steak.

2014 Crow Nation Fair and Rodeo Day 1

Posted on August 21, 2014 by dwightlutsey

An incredible event takes place on the third week-end of August at Crow Agency, Montana. Just a couple of miles from site of the Battle of the Little Bighorn where Custer and his men met their ends, literally thousands of Indians from various tribes but primarily Crows, put on a Fair and Rodeo. The event is not connected to the battle, in fact I didn’t even hear it mentioned in any of the activities. The purpose is for fellowship, gathering, displaying their lodges or teepees, and celebrating their culture.

The event is also known as the World’s Largest Gathering of teepees in one place, and Crow Agency is known as the Teepee Capitol of the World. This weekend there were over 1000 teepees set up along the Little Bighorn river stretching for close to three miles. That was not a typo. There were over 1000 lodges erected. I walked among them early one morning for nearly an hour from one end to the other and still didn’t cover it all. In places they were packed so tightly together you couldn’t walk between them. In other places you would find a solitary teepee nestled in among the trees, or set up alone out in the grasslands that surround the river.

Surprisingly, to me anyway, there were very few decorated lodges. The majority were made of the plain white canvas you see everywhere. That didn’t affect the impression made by seeing so many together however. At times, during sunrise or sunset, the canvas would take on some of the colors of the sky and were wonderful to see in their own rights.

Another unexpected impression was seeing the number of cars and pickup trucks surrounding each lodge. My first impression was it looked like a parking lot where the parkers were all drunk, with the vehicles being parked haphazardly around each lodge. I suppose I went there with certain expectations, fostered by scenes from Dancing With Wolves and other movies, of the way an Indian camp should look. A romanticized impression that had no basis in fact in the modern Indian world. As I came to terms with the reality versus the movie version of camp life I started to realize the cars and trucks were the modern equivalent of horses tied to the front of each lodge. It was simply these horses had four wheels instead of four feet. After a bit it began to seem normal to see them parked there. I do have to admit though that it made me feel good to see the occasional horse tied in front of a lodge. Adapting to facts doesn’t take the romanticism out of the romantic.

The other surprise, and it shouldn’t be a surprise at all, was the incredible friendliness of the Crow people. I didn’t and don’t have any prejudice for Indians, I just had never spent any time amongst a large group of them. They have a different culture, a culture that dovetails with the rest of modern American culture but is strikingly different in some aspects. I never felt like I had entered an alien place even though there were times I didn’t understand the language being spoken, or the reason for some of their traditions. Every person I approached with a question or comments was more than ready to help.

I was lost one time, turned around in the maze of teepees and narrow little lanes, where the passing pickup trucks narrowly missed running over the stakes used to secure the lodges to the ground, (yes, even the Director of one of the largest Institutes in the scientific-speaking world gets disoriented sometimes) and approached a group of serious looking young fellows standing there smoking and watching the chaotic life going on around them. If you had seen this group of young men standing around in a back alley in some city I seriously doubt whether you would have approached them. I asked them where I was and how did I get back to the center of camp where all the dancing was going on. It was getting dark, making the maze I was in even more confusing, and their directions were not very clear. The guys were laughing and teasing me about being lost but in a good-natured way, when one of them decided what I needed was, in his words, an Indian guide to get me back to civilization. A really nice kid walked back with me to the center of the camp where I regained my bearings. He said he was getting ready to go off to college and was a little worried about how all that was going to work but looking forward to it none the less. I wished him well, we shook hands and that was that. It left me with a different perspective about these young people, Crow or other wise, who with all the markings of the modern world, tattoos, piercings, superficial attitudes, were still just young kids worried about life and how to get through it.

There was an incredible amount of activities going on the entire weekend. It was kind of like an Indian Las Vegas, where many of them never seemed to sleep. Dancing went on throughout the night, and when they weren’t dancing they were partying. Being well past the point where I found that interesting or fun I was glad I had the Bokeh Maru to return to for a much-needed break from the festivities. I’ll be posting more on the Crow Fair and Rodeo over the next couple of days. Stay tuned.

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Category Archives: Rodeos