Bully pulpit

In the interest of research, (I am after all writing a book about the horse industry), I attended the local rodeo yesterday afternoon. I should explain that local and rodeo are not two words that are usually used in the same sentence in my neck of the woods, but nonetheless, the rodeo was in town yesterday on the grounds of a venerable horse show--which made it all the more intriguing.

And what an adventure it was! Bull riding, bronco busting and barrel racing, all of which was extremely entertaining, even as I contemplated the welfare of the beasts doing the entertaining. The horses all seemed extremely well cared for, especially those ridden by pseudo cowboys and girls. The broncos were beautiful, albeit extremely docile until a cowboy attempted to get on their backs. Then they did everything in their power to throw the riders, who tried to hold on with one hand for the minimum of eight seconds. I think only one was successful.

Ditto with the bulls who lolled around in a fenced in enclosure, close enough to smell and almost touch, until each one was herded into a pen where a rider gingerly lowered himself onto its back. All but one bucked impressively--the one that didn't just wandered around the ring looking a bit lost and the cowboy got to ride another.

What was amazing to me is that at the end of their turn in the ring, each mammoth bull was herded into a pen with all its relatives and went back to peacefully lolling around. I never thought that a bunch of steers could co-exist without so much as a head butt, but I guess I was mistaken. Either that or these bulls are so used to putting on a show, they have figured out what to do to avoid being made into hamburger.

And while the cutting horses kicked up a lot of dust as they raced around barrels, they are not to be be confused with the pampered thoroughbreds who run around racetracks. For one thing, they are still running past the ages of three or four when most thoroughbreds are retired to the stud farm, and for another, they are a lot more docile. These horses, like the bulls, are totally used to being around people and most will not even blink if you wander over to pet them.

The commercial traveling rodeo may or may not be one notch better than the circus in terms of how it treats its animals but since the horses that compete in the barrel races are owned by their riders, my guess is that they are treated very well.

I'm sure I'll hear otherwise, if I'm totally wrong, but for the time being, I'll cling to the thought that I was not aiding and abetting any inhumane endeavors by a little whooping and hollering.