Rodeo Bull RidersHere’s a program from our archives.ambience: rodeo crowd, announcerIt’s an eight second ride that may seem like an eternity. I’m Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. We’re in Texas, at the Blanco County rodeo, where Marshall Shlesseger tells us what it’s like to compete in the sport of rodeo bullridingShlesseger: To ride a bull and get off, and have all these people looking at you and cheering for you, there’s no feeling like it. The front of the bull’s gonna move, the back of the bull’s gonna move, but there’s a part there in the middle where if you can sit there the whole time, that’s what makes a good bullride. It’s being in control and moving with the animal.Now once the cowboy has leaped off or been thrown from the bull, it’s the job of the bullfighter to distract the bull from the rider. Hammack: First thing that goes through my mind when the gate opens is that one thing, is which hand is he riding on.Bull fighter Bryan HammackHammack: If the bulls turns back to the left and the cowboy’s riding with his left hand, my next thing that comes in my mind is I’ve got to take the bull to the right. That way, I give the cowboy a good shot to get off into his riding hand. If he gets off away from his riding hand it calls for a hangup. When you have a hangup, the cowboy’s hand is wedged off in the rig and in his bullrope, and he can’t come free. Then, my objective then comes into my mind then. I’ve got to get to his hand, get a hold of that bullrope. That way I can get the cowboy off, that way no injury. That’s whenever a partner comes into mind with me, and he comes in there, takes it. Either I get the bull by the head or the partner takes the bull by the head and the next man gets in there on the hand. Gets the cowboy free. Then we can do our work and keep the bulls attention on us. That way he only sees us, and nobody else. No injury comes to anybody else.We’ve been listening to a program from our archives. If you want to hear more, check out our podcast. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
Rodeo: Bullriders
When you're a rodeo bullrider, it's only an eight-second ride, but it can seem like forever.
Air Date:08/15/2000
Scientist:
Transcript:
Rodeo Bull RidersHere's a program from our archives.ambience: rodeo crowd, announcerIt's an eight second ride that may seem like an eternity. I'm Jim Metzner, and this is the Pulse of the Planet. We're in Texas, at the Blanco County rodeo, where Marshall Shlesseger tells us what it's like to compete in the sport of rodeo bullridingShlesseger: To ride a bull and get off, and have all these people looking at you and cheering for you, there's no feeling like it. The front of the bull's gonna move, the back of the bull's gonna move, but there's a part there in the middle where if you can sit there the whole time, that's what makes a good bullride. It's being in control and moving with the animal.Now once the cowboy has leaped off or been thrown from the bull, it's the job of the bullfighter to distract the bull from the rider. Hammack: First thing that goes through my mind when the gate opens is that one thing, is which hand is he riding on.Bull fighter Bryan HammackHammack: If the bulls turns back to the left and the cowboy's riding with his left hand, my next thing that comes in my mind is I've got to take the bull to the right. That way, I give the cowboy a good shot to get off into his riding hand. If he gets off away from his riding hand it calls for a hangup. When you have a hangup, the cowboy's hand is wedged off in the rig and in his bullrope, and he can't come free. Then, my objective then comes into my mind then. I've got to get to his hand, get a hold of that bullrope. That way I can get the cowboy off, that way no injury. That's whenever a partner comes into mind with me, and he comes in there, takes it. Either I get the bull by the head or the partner takes the bull by the head and the next man gets in there on the hand. Gets the cowboy free. Then we can do our work and keep the bulls attention on us. That way he only sees us, and nobody else. No injury comes to anybody else.We've been listening to a program from our archives. If you want to hear more, check out our podcast. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.