-------------------- Sharon O'Brien-Lykins HorseDesigns.Com PO Box 1898 Penn Valley CA 95946 horsedesigns@gmail.com Posts: 43 | From: Penn Valley, California | Registered: May 2005
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Sharon, Quote: "Makes you really appreciate the bigger more experienced bulls who toss their riders and head straight for the arena gate."
. . .Also makes you appreciate the more experiencded riders who know how to watch & stay out of the way and 'anticipate' the bull. I been to a lot of rodeos, and you seldom see a horse get hit . . .but certainly not THAT many times . . .wonder if this 'cowboy' went home wondering about 'cowboyin'?
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
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"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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Yes, the bulls definitely owned the arena that day.
-------------------- Sharon O'Brien-Lykins HorseDesigns.Com PO Box 1898 Penn Valley CA 95946 horsedesigns@gmail.com Posts: 43 | From: Penn Valley, California | Registered: May 2005
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Maybe the problem was not the horses! With an outfit like that, who can blame the bulls for going after the rider. Great pictures and sharp looking horses!
Cheers,
Checkers
-------------------- a.k.a. Brian Born www.CheckersCustom.com Harrisburg, Pa Work Smart, Play Hard Posts: 3775 | From: Harrisburg, Pa. U.S.A. | Registered: Nov 1998
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Those are well-trained horses in "submission mode" to put up with that. It's a wonder they didn't kick him crosseyed. The bulls were pumped up with adrenalin...and scared. Take those riders and saddles off and them horses would get their revenge.
You can put one horse in a pasture with most any bull I've ever seen and the horse will rule. Maybe all of our bulls were whimps. Put out a roll of hay in the pasture and when the horse shoulders in with his/her ears back,...watch all the cattle skeedaddle. Here comes the boss.
My neighbor had a huge, muscle-bound bull in the pasture with a knotty little shetland pony. That poor bull kept hoofprints on him all the time where that little runt kept wallopin' him.
I sold my last bull a few months ago. He was a big old black limousin we called "curly". Curly could butt a thousand pound roll of hay around like it was a beach-ball. The rude chauvenist would shove his harem and offspring around like any respectable bully. But when one of the mares sauntered over nonchalant like, curly tipped his hat and bowed.
[ May 24, 2005, 04:02 PM: Message edited by: Wayne Webb ]
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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I'm a city boy, but a few years ago, I “helped” my wife’s cousin, Jimmy, attempt to corral his bull, Geyser. Geyser had gotten loose and was picking up cow chicks in a neighbor's pasture. I don't think monogamy is in a bull's nature. Geyser was not interested in returning to his original herd.
We had 8 people and three trucks trying to cut him loose from the herd and force him into a cattle trailer. A ton of bull does what a ton of bull wants to do. Fences also do not mean much to a ton of bull. He would, at his discretion, go through or over a barbed wire fence. We spent 6 hours chasing him through 3 different pastures.
I also found out that buying a used truck from a cattle rancher is never a good idea. Jimmy used his Dodge as a cutting horse, chasing the bull over one 26 acre pasture, mowing down trees, leaping small hills in a single bound–I have some great video from inside his truck. I have never been on a ride a Six Flags that would compare. At one point, Jimmy left the truck in the woods and we lit out on foot. Then he told me to drive the truck back to a certain part of the pasture. The only way out was over a bunch of trees. I just stuck with the size Jimmy had run over earlier and drove over them. It was kind of satisfying–I wouldn't mind rush hour so much if I could do that.
We also did quite a bit of running, waving sticks and shouting trying to keep various parts of the herd separated, all the while keeping a jaundiced eye on the surly longhorn steer that was pawing the ground and not taking too kindly to all the commotion. We almost had the bull in the trailer about ten times, several were 20/20 incidents, 20 years and 20 pounds ago, I would have been quick enough to head it off, but the bull would out accelerate me and get away.
Finally, after I decided I would eat vegetables and drink water the rest of my life, the bull meekly headed over 3 pastures to the fence of his own. Jimmy cut the fence and the bull walked calmly back to his own herd. Jimmy threw a fence post at him and threatened him with a big barbecue. Geyser thought that was a bunch of bull and seemed to say: "That was fun, we'll have to do it again sometime!"
-------------------- David Harding A Sign of Excellence Carrollton, TX Posts: 5095 | From: Carrollton, TX, USA | Registered: Nov 1998
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Hmmm.... I always wondered what "COWBOY UP" was all about. Maybe it should be "COWBOY DON'T SHOW UP".
CrazyJack
-------------------- Jack Wills Studio Design Works 1465 E.Hidalgo Circle Nye Beach / Newport, OR Posts: 2914 | From: Rocklin, CA. USA | Registered: Dec 1998
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David, That story sounds so familiar. My black bull, mentioned above, once got into the neighbors cornfield. He mowed down an awful lot of corn before we finally got him out of it. My dad's charolais disappeared through the fence once and was gone for over a month. Word got back to dad that he was at the livestock auction barn where someone had taken him. Another bull set out on a journey following a cow which had escaped my fence and was trying to return to her calf (dad transported the cow to my place while he weaned the calf). Dad hired a cowboy who finally tracked them to about ten miles north of here where the two had made it as far as the I-10 fence. Dad's property is another 8 miles to the northeast so they were headed in the general direction.
I can think of a number of times chasing cattle and mending fences when a gun in hand would have been too much of a temptation.
-------------------- Wayne Webb Webb Signworks Chipley, FL 850.638.9329 wayne@webbsignworks.com Posts: 7404 | From: Chipley,Florida,United States | Registered: Oct 1999
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As I was born and raised on a working ranch, all this is second nature to me, except the part where "real?" cowboys put their horses in the line of fire and want to get hit by a bull, to me, that's a bunch of bull...no self respecting cowboy would do that to his horse on purpose, none I know of anyways...I've rodeo'd off and off all my life and for the life of me, can't remember a single event such as depicted in those pictures. Someone needs their "butt" kicked...what a cruel thing to put a horse thru. Sorry, this one got my dander up...no offense intended to reporting party, but those, uhem, cowboys should maybe change places w/their horses. That is if you could talk the horse into dressing up that silly, I never had blue leather hanging from my sleeves...in fact, leather was respected for what it did, not how it made rider look, cows don't care if ya look "cool" or not...
-------------------- Frank Magoo, Magoo's-Las Vegas; fmagoo@netzero.com "the only easy day was yesterday" Posts: 2365 | From: Las Vegas, Nv. | Registered: Jun 2003
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That's right MrMc . . .if y'all will notice, every time the guys gettin' hit from behind or the side where he's not lookin' . . .
The bull is not 'trained' to run back into the gate . . .he's 'directed' by experienced riders who never take their eyes of off of the bull the minute he comes out. . . pretty obvious by the pics that this 'cowboy' never had his eyes on the bull at all . . .
I bet he was itchin' for the rodeo arena to show off those duds, and braggin' about his 'cowboy skills, so one or two of his rodeo 'freinds' let him out there to teach him a lesson . . . .
-------------------- Signs Sweet Home Alabama
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"Look like a girl, act like a lady, think like a man, work like a dog" Posts: 5758 | From: "Sweet Home" Alabama | Registered: Mar 2003
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I just wonder what this "cowboy" is supposed to be doing. Sort of like what the "bullfighters" were supposed to be doing when Lane Frost got killed. I suppose this guy is a safety man? Oh well, good help is hard to find. Here's a funny for ya. Cowboy up! http://media.ebaumsworld.com/bullstrip.wmv
-------------------- Ricky Jackson Signs Now 614 Russell Parkway Warner Robins, GA (478) 923-7722 signpimp50@hotmail.com
"If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Sir Issac Newton Posts: 3528 | From: Warner Robins, GA | Registered: Oct 2004
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The general consensus at the rodeo was that the stock was very green and apparently had not been ushered in as is typical (I was told by a veteran bullfighter not associated with this rodeo) before the rodeo and shown the gate so that they can find their way out... these young bulls seemed to be more jumpers and chasers than any I'd seen before.
As to the comment about "real" cowboys... if you are attributing that to me, it's a misunderstanding. I said: "Rodeo cowboys don't quit... but they sometimes change horses"... as a tongue in cheek reference to the rider getting a different horse after his first one kicked him... didn't mean to imply: "real cowboys put their horses in the line of fire."
I concur with Wayne and others who say the horses rule when out at pasture... I sometimes keep my quarter horses in a separate field or they will pin their ears and run the beef off the cattle when feeling particularly playful.
Anyway... I'd never seen so many incidences of contact at one single event before! I also felt for the horses, who remained trusting and responsive throughout... they were well trained if not well treated. One horse, though, did get his licks in with the well-placed kick.
Sheila may be right, though... hopefully the humiliation will make for a better day next time.
The night time rodeo that same day had different bulls (maybe different stock contractor) and new pick up men. There were no instances as earlier in the day. Bulls were older and seem to know their job. The only serious injury was a steer wrestling hazer who didn't stop his horse before the arena ended.
Thanks for the smile, David. I used to caretake a section size ranch and we would periodically find a truck stuck on the side of a hill in winter and knew the rancher had once again had to walk out and was just waiting till spring before he could come back and get it. Sometimes we would find broken off side mirrors and bumper parts, too. LOL
Okay, I gotta go ask a sign shop question...
Thanks for the input. I enjoyed reading all your comments.
-------------------- Sharon O'Brien-Lykins HorseDesigns.Com PO Box 1898 Penn Valley CA 95946 horsedesigns@gmail.com Posts: 43 | From: Penn Valley, California | Registered: May 2005
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