Rodeo
Rodeo is a competitive equestrian sport that arose out of the working practices of cattle herding in Spain and Mexico, expanding throughout the Americas and to other nations. It was originally based on the skills required of the working vaqueros and, later, cowboys in what today is the western United States, western Canada, and northern Mexico. Today, it is a sporting event that involves horses and other livestock, designed to test the skill and speed of the cowboys and cowgirls.
Professional rodeos generally comprise the following events: tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc riding, bareback bronc riding, bull riding, breakaway roping, and barrel racing. The events are divided into two basic categories: the timed events and rough stock events. Depending on sanctioning organization and region, other events such as goat tying and pole bending may also be a part of some rodeos. The "world's first public cowboy contest" was held on July 4, 1883, in Pecos, Texas, between cattle driver Trav Windham and roper Morg Livingston.
Rodeo, particularly popular today throughout the western United States and in the Canadian province of Alberta, is the official state sport of Wyoming, South Dakota, and Texas. The iconic silhouette image of a "Bucking Horse and Rider" is a federal and state-registered trademark of Wyoming. The Legislative Assembly of Alberta has considered making rodeo the official sport of that province. However, enabling legislation has yet to be passed.
In the United States, professional rodeos are governed and sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association and Women's Professional Rodeo Association, while other associations govern assorted children's, high school, collegiate, and other amateur or semi-professional rodeos. Associations also exist for Native Americans and other minority groups. The traditional season for competitive rodeo runs from spring through fall, while the modern professional rodeo circuit runs longer, and concludes with the PRCA National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, held every December.
Rodeo has provoked opposition from animal rights and some animal welfare advocates, who argue that various competitions constitute animal cruelty. The rodeo industry has made progress in improving the welfare of rodeo animals, with specific requirements for veterinary care and other regulations that protect rodeo animals. However, some local and state governments in North America have banned or restricted rodeos, certain rodeo events, or types of equipment. Internationally, rodeo is banned in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, with other European nations placing restrictions on certain practices.
Etymology
The American English word rodeo is taken directly from Spanish rodeo, which roughly translates into English as 'round up'. The Spanish word is derived from the verb rodear, meaning 'to surround' or 'go around'. In Spain it used to refer to "a pen for cattle at a fair or market," derived from the Latin rota or rotare, meaning 'to rotate or go around'.In Spanish America, the rodeo was the process that was used by vaqueros to gather cattle for various purposes, such as moving them to new pastures, separating the cattle owned by different ranchers, or gathering in preparation for slaughter. The yearly rodeos for separating the cattle were overseen by the Juez del Campo, who decided all questions of ownership. The term was also used to refer to exhibitions of skills used in the working rodeo and it evolved from these yearly gatherings where festivities were held, and horsemen could demonstrate their equestrian skills. This latter usage was adopted into the cowboy tradition of the United States and Canada.
The term rodeo was first used in English in approximately 1834 to refer to a cattle round-up. Today, the word is used primarily to refer to a public exhibition of cowboy skills, usually in the form of a competitive event.
History
Many rodeo events were based on the tasks required by cattle ranching. The working cowboy developed skills to fit the needs of the terrain and climate of the American west, and there were many regional variations. Some of the skills required to manage cattle and horses date back to the 16th-century rodeo traditions of the Vaqueros in the lands of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, present day Mexico and the American Southwest.Early rodeo-like affairs of the 1820s and 1830s were informal events in the western United States and northern Mexico with cowboys and vaqueros testing their work skills against one another. After the American Civil War, rodeo competitions emerged, with the first held in Deer Trail, Colorado, in 1869. Prescott, Arizona north of Phoenix claimed the distinction of holding the first professional rodeo, as it charged admission and awarded trophies in 1888. Between 1890 and 1910, rodeos became public entertainment; sometimes combined Wild West shows featuring individuals such as Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley, and other charismatic stars. By 1910, several major rodeos were established in western North America including the Calgary Stampede in Calgary, Alberta; the Pendleton Round-Up in northeastern Oregon, and the Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming.
On July 4, 1883, in the frontier town of Pecos an argument between Trav Windham, a cattle driver, and Morg Livingston, an accomplished cattle roper, led to what the Encyclopedia Britannica refers to as the "world's first public cowboy contest" and is often referred to as the first official rodeo. The two men chose to have the competition on the flatland on west side of the Pecos River. The July 4th public holiday allowed ranchers, cowboys and townsfolk to attend. Many other ranchers and cowboys chose to take part in the event including Jim Mannin, John Chalk, and Brawley Oates, many whom traveled from distant ranches. Windham would end up winning the roping contest. Other winners include Pete Beard of Hashknife Ranch and Jeff Chism. Prize money was $40 and blue ribbons donated by a young resident.
Rodeo-type events also became popular for a time in the big cities of the Eastern United States, with large venues like Madison Square Garden playing a part in popularizing them for new crowds. There was no standardization of events for a rodeo competition until 1929, when associations began forming.
In the 1970s, rodeo saw unprecedented growth. Contestants referred to as "the new breed" brought rodeo increasing media attention. These contestants were young, often from an urban background, and chose rodeo for its athletic rewards. By 1985, one third of PRCA members had a college education and as many as one half of the competitors had never worked on a cattle ranch. Today, some professional rodeos are staged indoors in large, climate-controlled arenas and many are telecast. Other professional rodeos are held outdoors.
Women
Historically, women have long participated in competitive rodeo. Prairie Rose Henderson debuted at the Cheyenne rodeo in 1901, and, by 1920, women were competing in rough stock events, relay races and trick riding. But after Bonnie McCarroll died in the Pendleton Round-Up in 1929 and Marie Gibson died in a horse wreck in 1933, women's competitive participation was curbed. Rodeo women organized into various associations and staged their own rodeos. Today, women's barrel racing is included as a competitive event in professional rodeo, with breakaway roping and goat tying added at collegiate and lower levels. They compete equally with men in team roping, sometimes in mixed-sex teams. Women also compete in traditional roping and rough stock events at women-only rodeos.Competitive events
Professional rodeos in the United States, Canada, Mexico, Australia, and New Zealand usually incorporate both timed events and rough stock events, most commonly tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc and bareback bronc riding, bull riding, breakaway roping, and barrel racing. Additional events may be included at the collegiate and high school level, such as goat tying. Some events are based on traditional ranch practices; others are modern developments and have no counterpart in ranch practice.Rodeos may also offer western-themed entertainment at intermission, including music and novelty acts, such as trick riding.
Timed events
Roping
Roping competitions are based on the tasks of a working cowboy, who often had to capture calves and adult cattle for branding, medical treatment and other purposes. The cowboy must throw a type of rope with a loop, known as a lariat, riata or reata, or lasso, over the head of a calf or onto the horns and around the hind legs of adult cattle, and secure the animal in a fashion dictated by its size and age.- Calf roping, also called tie-down roping in the United States and Canada and rope and tie in Australia and New Zealand, is based on ranch work in which calves are roped for branding, medical treatment, or other purposes. It is the oldest of rodeo's timed events. The cowboy ropes a running calf around the neck with a lariat, and his horse stops and sets back on the rope while the cowboy dismounts, runs to the calf, throws it to the ground and ties three feet together. The job of the horse is to hold the calf steady on the rope. A well-trained calf-roping horse will slowly back up while the cowboy ties the calf, to help keep the lariat snug.
- Breakaway roping is a form of calf roping where a very short lariat is used, tied lightly to the saddle horn with string and a flag. When the calf is roped about the neck, the horse stops, the flagged rope breaks free of the saddle, and the calf runs on without being thrown or tied. In most of the United States, this event is primarily for women of all ages and boys under 12. In places where traditional "tie-down" calf roping is not allowed, riders of both genders compete.
- Team roping, also called heading and heeling, is the only rodeo event where men and women riders compete together. Two people capture and restrain a full-grown steer. One horse and rider, the "header," lassos a running steer's horns, while the other horse and rider, the "heeler," lassos the steer's two hind legs. Once the animal is captured, the riders face each other and lightly pull the steer between them, so that both ropes are taut. This technique originated from methods of capture and restraint for treatment used on a ranch.