There is an old song that would be perfect to listen to before you claimed aboard a Rodeo Bull Manufacturer example like the ones you can see at http://www.gsrodeobulls.com/ It was sung by Bing Crosby and it starts like this. I’m an old Cowhand for the Rio Grande but my legs aren’t bowed (from riding on a horse too much) and my skin ain’ tanned (Cowboys worked outside a lot). He goes onto say that he can’t rope a steer nor has he any ideal on the process. The most and quite crucial factor into why he’s not a Cowboy is that he admits to never having seen a cow. There then follows a series of yodelling and those left listening are none the wiser as to why the singer feels the need to give musical justification to the point. The best bit is he even says he can’t ride a horse and the only way he’s going to hit the trail is if he does it in a car.
Its not an easy life being a Cowboy. The name derives form workers who would Shepard huge herds of cow across the USA in boots denim and ten gallon hats, or just a hat as long as it had a wide brim to keep the strong sun of their faces. The hours were extremely long, and the boredom was total. Apart from when the tuck wagon came around the Cowboys could all eat which helped to alleviate some of the boredom but generally on the trail the outside the world really didn’t touch them and they didn’t touch it back.
The Cowboys would position themselves around the herd moving it along nice and steady. The most experienced would lead and the least would be in the drag position. No one wanted to be in the drag. The drag is right at the back of the herd and when you have a thousand cows they start to kick up a fair bit of some dust and rubbish which floats back to you. It didn’t matter how much you covered up This would just get under any protection you might have for your face.
The rodeo came about through boredom. As the Cowboys sat around one of them must have suggested they do something to kill the time. How about riding on that Bull one of then suggests. We now recreate that historic moment of stupidity with a mechanical version. Let’s see how long you can last. You start off at the nice and slow pace setting but slowly the momentum picks up until you are catapulted of and dumped ceremonially on to the mat. It’s very impressive to think the cowboys never had mats. Hard life being a Cowboy.