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.