Cowboys have been a part of the American tradition since the west first was tamed. One of the true tests of a cowboy was bull riding. Do you have dreams of becoming a bull rider? How about a bull rider who gets paid? Being a professional bull rider can be fun and exciting.
How do you start? You go to school, of course. Bull riding schools are all over the United states. A few of them include Gary Leffew’s Bull Riding School, Randy Queen’s Bull Riding School and Sankey Rodeo Schools.
Bull riding can be dangerous, so it is important that you learn the ropes from someone with experience.
Once you have taken a few lessons in bull riding, you will want to get a PBR (Professional Bull Rider) membership. This will get you a riding permit which will allow you to ride in some of the most well known Bull Riding events.
To maintain your membership, you must win at least $2,500 dollars a year as a bull rider. Remember, the word professional means you get paid. This means that you must enter rodeos and bull riding competitions to compete and ultimately win.
What does a bull rider do? He rides a bull, what else. But there is more to bull riding than that. A bull rider is scored for his performance, much like an Olympic gymnast or ice skater.
Half of a bull rider’s score comes from the judge’s opinion of his bull. Basically, how fast, furious and tough that bull is to ride.
The other half of his score comes from how well the rider deals with the bull. Things like dealing well with direction changes, body rolls (where the bull kicks to one side) and kicks can all help a riders score. Spurring the bull can also get the rider bonus points.
In order to have a legitimate ride, you must have been able to ride the bull for at least eight seconds. The clock starts the second the bull crosses the plane of the bucking chute and stops when the rider’s hand comes off the rope or the rider touches the ground. Only one hand may be used to ride a bull and a rider can be disqualified if uses the other hand to touch himself or the bull.
Bulls and riders are matched randomly through a computer system. If the judges feel that the bull was not as fierce as the others in the competition they may allow for a re-ride, where the bull rider may ride another bull in order to get a comparable score against the other riders.
Nobody said being a cowboy was easy and but the glory of professional bull riding can make it all worth while. Ride ‘em, cowboy!