Caustic, Wannabees and Texas

[backhoeboogie]

As far as rodeo goes, I enjoy WATCHING a good ranch rodeo. Don't much care for others.

Years ago I used to enjoy watching the slack more then the real rodeo. No pagantry, hype and hoopla, just actaul rodeo stuff. There alwasy were a lot more ropers and bulldoggers, (don;t think the call it bulldogging anymore, of course calf roping isn;t calf roping anymore either) and the rodeo "fans" used to come for the bullriding and didn;t care much for the timed events orthe saddle or bareback bronc events. Never have gotten jazzed about barrel raising, if they still call it that. Now they probably have 10 times the bull riders they used to have and I can;t get too interested in that either.

dun

The "Ranch Rodeo" I am referring to doesn't have dogging and such. No bull riding. None of that. They do things like let out a pen of cattle with 5 of them marked. A "team" had to cut them 5 out and drive them to the other end and pen them without penalty of others. And yes indeed that was timed, which is maybe what you are talking about. They also did things like catch a wild cow and milk her into a bottle then run to the other end on foot. I can probably sit here and think for a while and remember the events, its been a while since I have been to a good one. But it is a team event mostly off of horse back. There is some roping and such.

There was a group "team" of kids in the event once. Oldest one was about 14. Bless their hearts. They had the whole crowd rooting them on. They never gave up even if it took them 10 times as long and some things were pretty comical. We were laughing at them at actually laughing at ourselves for having made similar mistakes working cattle that those kids made.

If you haven't been to a good ranch rodeo, you might give it a try. It is nothing like the common rodeos.

 

[Alice]

I wouldn't know him if I was sitting next to him in Jake and Dorothy's.

Alice

Jake and Dorothy's ??? Now there is a landmark!

Yeah, it is. When I was growing up it was a just place that I wasn't "allowed" to go in after a certain time of night. 8)

Jake and Dorothy's daughter owns and runs it now...and it still does a booming business. I remember this guy that cooked in there...we called him Frog. He was one of those that you didn't want to watch cook anything... 'Course it didn't keep us from eating those chicken fried steaks.

That was 40 years ago...and the guy still cooks there...discovered that just the other day...and he's cleaned up his act immeasurably. And the waitresses still pile plates full of food on their arms all the way up to their shoulders.

There's a lot of "history" connected to that place... :lol:

Alice

 

[Gale Seddon]

Yeah, it is. When I was growing up it was a just place that I wasn't "allowed" to go in after a certain time of night. 8)

Making it that much more tempting, right? C'mon, fess up, did you go? (We won't tell anyone....!) ;-)

 

[aplusmnt]

As far as rodeo goes, I enjoy WATCHING a good ranch rodeo. Don't much care for others.

Years ago I used to enjoy watching the slack more then the real rodeo. No pagantry, hype and hoopla, just actaul rodeo stuff. There alwasy were a lot more ropers and bulldoggers, (don;t think the call it bulldogging anymore, of course calf roping isn;t calf roping anymore either) and the rodeo "fans" used to come for the bullriding and didn;t care much for the timed events orthe saddle or bareback bronc events. Never have gotten jazzed about barrel raising, if they still call it that. Now they probably have 10 times the bull riders they used to have and I can;t get too interested in that either.

dun

The "Ranch Rodeo" I am referring to doesn't have dogging and such. No bull riding. None of that. They do things like let out a pen of cattle with 5 of them marked. A "team" had to cut them 5 out and drive them to the other end and pen them without penalty of others. And yes indeed that was timed, which is maybe what you are talking about. They also did things like catch a wild cow and milk her into a bottle then run to the other end on foot. I can probably sit here and think for a while and remember the events, its been a while since I have been to a good one. But it is a team event mostly off of horse back. There is some roping and such.

There was a group "team" of kids in the event once. Oldest one was about 14. Bless their hearts. They had the whole crowd rooting them on. They never gave up even if it took them 10 times as long and some things were pretty comical. We were laughing at them at actually laughing at ourselves for having made similar mistakes working cattle that those kids made.

If you haven't been to a good ranch rodeo, you might give it a try. It is nothing like the common rodeos.

I agree these are the funnest Rodeo's to watch. Milking the Wild Cow is probably one of the best events, Animal doctoring and branding are a couple others.

The best Rodeo I ever went to was a Ranch Rodeo with only Mules. No fancy roping horses just your average mule. And you never watched a bucking event till you saw bucking mules.

 

[Alice]

Yeah, it is. When I was growing up it was a just place that I wasn't "allowed" to go in after a certain time of night. 8)

Making it that much more tempting, right? C'mon, fess up, did you go? (We won't tell anyone....!) ;-)

:nod: Every chance I got!

Alice

 

[Beef11]

The best Rodeo I ever went to was a Ranch Rodeo with only Mules. No fancy roping horses just your average mule. And you never watched a bucking event till you saw bucking mules.

I'm speechless, luckily i can still type. I think i would go to one of those if i got the chance.

 

[eatbeef]

Did someone ask if Ty Murray is a cowboy? and also stated he was a champion bullrider, yes he is all of that world champion caliber bull rider, bronc and bareback rider, not to bad a roper and I remember a few years back he was in the pro rodeo sports news riding a jumping horse in some big rodeo out east, it takes a horseman to hang on to a jumping horse, not to mention a bucking horse, but we are all used to bucking horses aren't we? sounds like it anyway. Up north most rodeo hands are cowboys, the towns are to small and a dude would catch a lot of crap. also most rodeo people are only one generation from the family farm as of course the eighties and even seventies were devasting to the family farm, but the blood still flows thru the veins of these people and rodeo is one way to get "back". 40 acre ranchettes and the people that can buy them and corporate farming will eradicate the cowboy or at least change the definition. I raise cows, have horses and train them(kinda), rope them when I have to, and rode bulls for 10 years and loved every minute of it. Unfortunately I also work construction to fill the fridge.

 

[MillIronQH]

IMO the greatest sure nuff cowboy that ever lived was Freckles Brown. I was behind the chutes in OKC in 1967 when he covered Tornado. The next week a bunch of us helped him haul his hay. He knew cattle and he knew horses and he had a " no quit or back-up" attitude. And he helped raise the next man in line for the honor. Lane Frost.Z

 

[Earl Thigpen]

Here's a question for you all. Where does bull ridin' and possibly steer wrestling come into the picture in old time ranch life?

I know a lot of things have changed over the years but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would need to ride a 2000 lb. very mad bull in the course of his cowboy job on a ranch in the late 1800's. Same could possible be said for steer wrestling - maybe. I could see where you might want to bring down an animal for branding or cuttin' but wouldn't roping work just as well?

Other than recreation (if you want to call it that) those two events just don't portray the old time cowboy life. Maybe they don't have to. Maybe I shouldn't think so much so early in the morning.

 

[dun]

I think the first time they were tried they were probably preceded with "Hold my beer and watch this".
On another note, why didn;t bull tripping ever become a big time rodeo event?

dun

 

[Alice]

Here's a question for you all. Where does bull ridin' and possibly steer wrestling come into the picture in old time ranch life?

I know a lot of things have changed over the years but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would need to ride a 2000 lb. very mad bull in the course of his cowboy job on a ranch in the late 1800's. Same could possible be said for steer wrestling - maybe. I could see where you might want to bring down an animal for branding or cuttin' but wouldn't roping work just as well?

Other than recreation (if you want to call it that) those two events just don't portray the old time cowboy life. Maybe they don't have to. Maybe I shouldn't think so much so early in the morning.

http://www.rodeoattitude.com/jr/eventdirectory.php?event=steerwrestling&page=description

Developed in the rodeo arena, steer wresting was never a part of ranch work. Its origin begin in the early 1930s and is attributed to Bill Pickett, a cowboy who worked in a Wild West Show who jumped on a runaway steer that had escaped the arena and wrestled it to the ground.

Hmmm, I didn't know that. I'm glad you brought that up. Sometimes things like this make me want to know more so I just gotta google it. Don't know how this information will benefit me in the long run, but one never knows.

Alice

 

[aplusmnt]

Here's a question for you all. Where does bull ridin' and possibly steer wrestling come into the picture in old time ranch life?

I know a lot of things have changed over the years but for the life of me I can't figure out why anyone would need to ride a 2000 lb. very mad bull in the course of his cowboy job on a ranch in the late 1800's. Same could possible be said for steer wrestling - maybe. I could see where you might want to bring down an animal for branding or cuttin' but wouldn't roping work just as well?

Other than recreation (if you want to call it that) those two events just don't portray the old time cowboy life. Maybe they don't have to. Maybe I shouldn't think so much so early in the morning.

I always figured Steer Wrestling started with some guy that could not rope very good at branding time so he just jumped off and got him one, then you know the copy catting starts :lol:

 

[ALACOWMAN]

BILL PICKETT worked for the 101 ranch in near ponca city oklahoma they developed their own wild west show. he would bite the steers lower lip to bring him down

 

[Alice]

BILL PICKETT worked for the 101 ranch in near ponca city oklahoma they developed their own wild west show. he would bite the steers lower lip to bring him down

Holy Moly! :shock: That was one tough cowboy!

Alice

 

[Alice]

Once again, my interest was peaked and I searched Bill Pickett. What I learned was amazing! The man was amazing! Read somewhere he was 5'7" tall and weighed about 145. I love reading about this stuff...

Alice

 

[dun]

Once again, my interest was peaked and I searched Bill Pickett. What I learned was amazing! The man was amazing! Read somewhere he was 5'7" tall and weighed about 145. I love reading about this stuff...

Alice

Kind of funny that the biting their lip used to be a standard in bulldogging. Don;t know if it got points but everyone did it.

dun

 

[Alice]

Once again, my interest was peaked and I searched Bill Pickett. What I learned was amazing! The man was amazing! Read somewhere he was 5'7" tall and weighed about 145. I love reading about this stuff...

Alice

Kind of funny that the biting their lip used to be a standard in bulldogging. Don;t know if it got points but everyone did it.

dun

I read that Bill Pickett did it to make up for his size vs. the steer's size. It said that he'd seen a bull dog do it and it brought the steer down, so he tried it. Must've worked well!

Alice

 

[MillIronQH]

I think the first time they were tried they were probably preceded with "Hold my beer and watch this".
On another note, why didn;t bull tripping ever become a big time rodeo event?

dun

Steer Tripping was pretty popular 45-50 years ago but was the first rodeo event the ASPCA targeted. I have to admit there were a lot of steers got their neck broken. It was outlawed in most states and the last time I heard about it as an event was at Cheyenne. But they don't do it there anymore either. I think that when the RCA became the PRCA they just dumped it. Part of the reason for that is probably that at every major rodeo in the country there always seems to be an ASPCA watchdog behind the chutes.Z

 

[dun]

Steer Tripping was pretty popular 45-50 years ago but was the first rodeo event the ASPCA targeted. I have to admit there were a lot of steers got their neck broken. It was outlawed in most states and the last time I heard about it as an event was at Cheyenne. But they don't do it there anymore either. I think that when the RCA became the PRCA they just dumped it. Part of the reason for that is probably that at every major rodeo in the country there always seems to be an ASPCA watchdog behind the chutes.Z

Makes sense to me. Didn;t realize I was that old. Seems like it wasn;t all that long ago that I saw it.

dun

 

[ALACOWMAN]

I think the first time they were tried they were probably preceded with "Hold my beer and watch this".
On another note, why didn;t bull tripping ever become a big time rodeo event?

dun

Steer Tripping was pretty popular 45-50 years ago but was the first rodeo event the ASPCA targeted. I have to admit there were a lot of steers got their neck broken. It was outlawed in most states and the last time I heard about it as an event was at Cheyenne. But they don't do it there anymore either. I think that when the RCA became the PRCA they just dumped it. Part of the reason for that is probably that at every major rodeo in the country there always seems to be an ASPCA watchdog behind the chutes.Z

don't they still trip steers in oklahoma? they have the finals in conjunction with with the PRC finals