Bronc riding

Bareback Bronc riding at a rodeo.

Bronc riding, either saddle bronc or bareback bronc competition, is a rodeo event that involves a rodeo participant riding on a horse (sometimes called a bronc or bronco), that attempts to throw or buck off the rider. Originally based on the necessary horse breaking skills of a working cowboy, the event is now a highly stylized competition that utilizes horses that often are specially bred for strength, agility, and bucking ability. Bronc riding has provoked concerns among animal welfare advocates that the use of the flank strap and spurs are intruments of torment and may constitute animal cruelty.

Description of the event

Each competitor climbs onto a horse, which is held in a small pipe enclosure called a bucking chute. When the rider is ready, the gate of the bucking chute is opened and the horse bursts out and begins to buck. The rider attempts to stay on the horse for 8 seconds without touching the horse with his free hand. On the first jump out of the chute, the rider must "mark the horse out." This means he must have the heels of his boots in contact with the horse above the point of the shoulders before the horse's front legs hit the ground. The rider that manages to complete a ride is scored on a scale of 0-50 and the horse is also scored on a scale of 0-50. Scores in the 80s are very good, and in the 90s, are exceptional. A horse who bucks in a spectacular and effective manner will score more points than a horse who bucks in a straight line with no significant changes of direction.

Saddle bronc vs. Bareback Riding

Saddle Bronc riding

Saddle bronc and bareback bronc styles are very different. In saddle bronc the rider uses a specialized saddle with free swinging stirrups and no horn. The saddle bronc rider grips a simple rein braided from cotton or polyester and attached to a leather halter worn by the horse. The rider lifts on the rein and attempts to find a rhythm with the animal by spurring forwards and backwards with his feet.

The bareback bronc rider does not use a saddle or rein, but uses one hand to grip a simple handle on a surcingle style rigging placed on the horse just at the horse's withers. The rider leans back against the bucking horse and spurs up and down motion with his legs, again in rhythm with the motion of the horse.

The horse

The bucking horse is usually a gelding, a castrated male horse. Because bucking horses usually travel in close quarters and are housed in a herd setting, geldings are generally less disruptive and more prone to get along with one another. However, mares are also used, and while a mixed herd of mares and geldings is a bit more prone to disruptions, they can be kept together without great difficulties. However, stallions are less common, because they can be disruptive in a herd and may fight if there are mares present.

The modern bronc is not a truly feral horse. Most bucking stock is specifically bred for use in rodeos, with horses having exceptional bucking ability fetching a high price. Most are allowed to grow up in a natural, semi-wild condition on the open range, but also have to be gentled and tamed in order to be managed from the ground, safely loaded into trailers, vaccinated and wormed, and to load in and out of bucking chutes. The also are initially introduced to bucking work with cloth dummies attached to the saddle. Due to the rigors of travel and the short bursts of high intensity work required, most horses in a bucking string are at least 6 or 7 years old.

Animal abuse controversies

Modern rodeos in the United States are closely regulated and have been responsive to accusations of animal cruelty. In 1994, a survey of 28 sanctioned rodeos was conducted by on-site independent veterinarians. Reviewing 33,991 animal runs, the injury rate was documented at .00047 percent, or less than five-hundredths of one percent. There appear to be no more recent studies on animal injury in rodeo than the 1994 study.

A proven bucking horse is an investment worth caring for and keeping in good health for many years. Health regulations mandate vaccinations and blood testing of horses crossing state lines, so rodeo horses receive routine care. An injured animal will not buck well and hence a cowboy cannot obtain a high score for his ride, so sick or injured animals are not run through the chutes, but instead are given appropriate veterinary care so they can be returned to their usual level of strength and power. State laws, local ordinances, and PRCA regulations require veterinarians to be available at rodeos to treat both bucking stock and other animals as needed.

Claims of extreme cruelty in the United States persist, however. For example, Peggy W. Larson, large animal veterinarian, medical researcher, prosecutor, and former bareback bronc rider has stated, "Bronc riding, both saddle and bareback, causes the deaths of many rodeo horses. It is common for horses in these events to crash blindly into posts in the fencing around the arena or into the holding fencing and chutes. Bucking horses must be spurred over the shoulders on each jump or buck for the rider to qualify. The spurs cause blunt trauma to the shoulders which again never have time to heal properly before the horse is ridden and spurred in another rodeo. The bucking strap often causes chafing to the flank area, which increases the discomfort to the horse. The irritation of the spurs and the bucking strap often cause the horse to "run blind" and fail to see fencing, posts or chutes."

During the National Western Stock Show, a horse crashed into a wall and broke his neck, and another horse broke his back after being forced to buck. Dr. Cordell Leif told the Denver Post, “Bucking horses often develop back problems from the repeated poundings they take from the cowboys. There’s also a real leg injury where a tendon breaks down. Horses don’t normally jump up and down.”

Flank strap controversy

A "flank strap" (or, "bucking strap") is used to encourage the horse to kick out straighter and higher when it bucks. The flank strap is about 4 inches wide, is usually covered in sheepskin and fastens behind the widest part of the abdomen. Flank straps which hurt the horse are not allowed by rodeo rules in the United States.

However, a bucking strap has to be an incentive, not a prod, or the horse will quickly sour and refuse to work. A horse in pain will actually become sullen and not buck very well, and harm to the genitalia is anatomically impossible because the stifle joint of the hind leg limits how far back a flank strap can be attached.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has stated that burrs and other irritants are at times placed under the flank strap and that improperly used flank straps can cause open wounds and burns if the hair is rubbed off and the skin is chafed raw. However, irritants or pain in general interfere with a horse's ability to buck in an energetic and athletic fashion.

The city of Pittsburgh has specifically prohibited the use of flank straps as well as electric prods or shocking devices, wire tie-downs, and sharpened or fixed spurs or rowels at rodeos or rodeo-related events. Some other cities and states have passed similar prohibitions.

Horse slaughter

See main article: Horse slaughter

Horse slaughter for horsemeat has provoked concern and protest among some Americans. Unlike pigs and goats, horses are not raised as food animals in the United States. The horse is regarded by many Americans as an integral part of American history and culture and thus exempt from slaughter. While some of rodeo's "rough stock" animals are slaughtered for horsemeat at the end of their rodeo usefulness, bucking horses are no more or less likely to wind up shipped to slaughter than other domesticated horses. Some of the best bucking horses are retired at the end of their rodeo usefulness and allowed to live into old age. Though the last horse slaughterhouse in America (Illinois) was forced to close its doors after pressure from animal rights activists in 2007, America's horses are now transported to Canada and Mexico for slaughter. In the end, the issue of horse slaughter is not correlated directly to the rodeo industry, any unwanted horse can meet this fate, including race horses, show horses, or even backyard pasture pets. It is an issue that crosses all equestrian disciplines.

External links

• PRCA Home Page Links to rules and videos of events
• Bareback Bronc Riding - Pro Rodeo Online
• Professional rodeo horses are bred to buck
• Friends of Rodeo
• Australian Professional Rodeo Association- Animal Welfare
• PETA Videos, photographs, and other materials documenting animal abuse in rodeo