Rodeo

It came to my attention a couple of weeks ago that there are still people out there who believe that "Rodeo", as a sport, is cruel.

Now, let me be clear, today I'll be writing about sanctioned big time Rodeos. There is no doubt in my mind that there ARE small, out of the way, ragtag rodeos that can and possibly do treat their stock in a less than proper fashion.

But for the sake of this blog, I will be talking about "real" Rodeo.

So, you think Rodeo is cruel. Let's start with the bull riding and the bronc riding.

A bull/horse gets a chance to get a human off its back in the quickest way possible. How can that *not* sound fun? If animals understand fun, anyhow, which I believe they do, on some level.

And in many cases, once said human is off, you get a chance to stomp on them! How can you beat that?



People of course go straight to the flank strap and begin spouting off fallacies. There are people that honestly believe the flank strap is wrapped around the animal's testicles, and that is why it bucks. Are you really that ignorant? It's called a FLANK strap. Not a testicle strap. The strap is no where near the testicles. Not to mention all the bucking mares that are pro at their job.

Is the flank strap tight then? Made to irritate? No. In most cases it is quite loose and soft. It's a piece of equipment that *tells* the horse or bull, "Hey, it's time to go to work now." No different than an English bridle swapped out for a Western headstall, letting a horse know which job they will be doing this day. What's so horrible about that?


Then people switch to calf roping. They say it is cruel to jerk a calf by it's neck. This one I waver back and forth on, because they *are* young animals and it's not much like the real ranch work it's based on, as on the ranch, you wouldn't run your calf running all out and then jerked to a stop, for the most part.

However, calves are built very differently than horses. Their necks are short, thick, and powerful. It's considered a bit unsportsmanlike to flip the calf. I believe in some Rodeos, you *must* wait for the calf to be on its feet before hogtying it.

This encourages competitors to *not* jerk the calf hard enough to put it off its feet. Injuries to calves are fairly rare.

In fact, injuries to any rough stock are unusual. The stock gets the best of care, and only have to work for that care around 8 seconds a day, at most. *You* may have to work an eight hour shift to earn *your* keep, so why shouldn't this livestock that humans have developed work for their keep as well? Just because you consider your job as cruel and unusual punishment doesn't mean they do. *wink*

Let me address one last thing. You may have seen shock videos done by PETA or a group called SHARK on Youtube, showing the "horrors" of rodeo. If you dare to come at me with that crap as your "evidence" to the cruelty of rodeo, I will laugh in your face and it will destroy any credibility you have. These organizations visit and video thousands upon thousands of rodeos to capture just *one* accident.

Look people, there are accidents in *every* sport, be it human or animal. Things happen, people/animals get hurt and die. It sucks, but it's a risk that comes along with life itself. A horse can have an aortic event in its stall with a mouthful of the best hay and die. It can step in a hole and break its pastern and have to be put down. It can have an accident during a race, a jumping competition, a rodeo, anything.

There is nothing anymore cruel about rodeos than there is about any sport, including human sports.

These horses sure look like they love their job!
All images used with permission.