Rodeo

Rodeo is a traditional North American sport with influences from the history of Mexican vaqueros and American cowboys. According to Wikipedia: Rodeo originated as an extension of the day-to-day lives of early American cowboys; branding... [more]

Rodeo is a traditional North American sport with influences from the history of Mexican vaqueros and American cowboys. According to Wikipedia: Rodeo originated as an extension of the day-to-day lives of early American cowboys; branding cattle and riding and training young bucking horses made a natural progression to competition between the cowboys. Bragging rights about who could stay on a "bronc-y" horse went from passing the hat for the winner, to today's large purses at competitions such as the National Finals Rodeo.

Rodeo events include the rough stock events bull riding, bareback bronc riding and saddle bronc riding. These events are judged and each competitor is given a score. The timed events include steer wrestling, team roping, tie-down roping (also known as calf roping), the rarely seen steer roping, and women's barrel racing, breakaway roping, ribbon roping, goat tying and pole bending. The competitors include cowboys and cowgirls. Bull fighters participate in the rough stock events to help prevent injury.

The oldest and largest sanctioning body of professional rodeo is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) which sanctions around 700 rodeos annually. The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is a recent organization dedicated to the bull riding event and puts on a number of events. There are also high school rodeos, amateur rodeos, youth rodeos, and rodeos for women. Many colleges, such as Montana State University, Texas Tech University, and Tarleton State University have a rodeo team. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association is responsible for the College National Rodeo Finals held each June in Casper, WY. Also available is the National High School Rodeo Association (NHSRA). This organization offers internationally competitive rodeo to high school students. Many youth rodeo associations exist to allow young cowboys and cowgirls to compete at young ages, such as the American Junior Rodeo Association.

There are numerous professional rodeos held throughout the United States and Canada. Among the more prominent are the Calgary Stampede; Cheyenne Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming; The Days of 76 in Deadwood, SD; the National Western Stock Show in Denver; the NILE Rodeo in Billings, Montana; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, Texas; and the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFR is held each December at the Thomas & Mack Center and features the top 15 competitors (in terms of earnings) from each of the events. In 2003, it is estimated that attandance at the 10 days of the National Finals Rodeo will top more than 170,000 with another 12 million people watching the rodeo on television.

Each year, beginning the weekend before the 4th of July and continuing through the next week end, is considered "Cowboy Christmas" by rodeo competitors across the US. During this week, cowboys and cowgirls can win over $100,000 by competing in their events at the numerous rodeos with very large prize purses. This week is the largest week of rodeo in the United States.