By Pat Graham
Associated Press
DENVER -- L.J. Jenkins settled onto Big Bucks, wiggled his hand under the rope to get a firm grip, took a deep breath and motioned he was ready to ride the 1,350-pound bull.
He wasn’t.
Jenkins was soon brushing dirt from his chaps after the brute of a bull sent him sailing off last June. No one’s really ready for Big Bucks — only two riders since 2004 have stayed on his back for an entire eight seconds.
Big Bucks is one of the baddest bucking bulls around — making him the prime bovine athlete to undergo the Professional Bull Riders’ inaugural test for anabolic steroids. The PBR recently started screening its bulls to ensure their meanness comes through good genetics, not by beefing up with performance enhancers.
Jerry Nelson, co-owner of Big Bucks, gladly allowed blood to be taken from his prized bull’s tail and analyzed for steroids after an event at Madison Square Garden in January. Nelson wants to make sure all the bulls are competing on a level field.
“If Big Bucks shows up with anything in his blood stream that ain’t supposed to be there, I’m suing my vet,” said Nelson, the CEO of Frontier Rodeo in Winnie, Texas. “My bulls buck because the good lord gave them the ability to buck.”
The PBR comes to Anaheim for its annual tour stop this coming weekend at the Honda Center ... Read on ...
After hearing persistent rumors of possible doping, the PBR decided to head off any potential problems — think baseball and the congressional hearings. The organization contacted Dr. Walter Hyde of Iowa State University’s college of veterinary medicine, who helped formulate a test for the PBR to detect the use of anabolic steroids.
“We’re not sure if there’s a problem, but if there is, we want to get out in front of it,” said Matthew Rivela, general counsel for the PBR. “We want our culture clean.”
The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association — which also has bull-riding competitions — hasn’t had any of its members raise concerns about doping in bucking bulls, but the issue is now on its radar.
“We’re keeping our eyes and ears to the ground to see if we need to take steps,” said Cindy Schonholtz, the animal welfare coordinator for PRCA. “But I think a good breeding program, feeding and nutrition would be a lot better than artificially doing anything.”
Although the four-legged competitors are subjected to testing, their counterparts — the cowboys — currently don’t have to submit samples.
“There’s not one shred of evidence that cowboys are using,” Rivela said. “But if that did present itself, we’d act accordingly.”
The PBR is still working out the penalties should a bull test positive. A stock contractor — owners who lease bulls to the PBR — could be fined up to $5,000 this season for an offense. In 2009, suspensions will be added to the punishment.
So far, only Big Bucks has been tested, and his results aren’t expected back for another few weeks. The eventual hope is to draw blood from the top three bulls after each competition.
“We’re very committed to this,” said Rivela, whose organization has spent close to $100,000 to set up testing. “The bulls are the stars of the show, too. We’re looking after them.”
The PBR isn’t expecting a BALCO-like scandal. In fact, the organization would be surprised if anabolic steroids were even a slight problem.
“I don’t see the benefits,” said Dr. Gary Warner, a veterinarian who specializes in bucking bulls and works closely with the PBR. “You’ve got to do things to take advantage of being on it. It’s kind of hard to stick the bulls on a weight machine and pump them up.”
Warner said that if stock contractors are beefing up their bulls, it’s because they’ve been severely misinformed.
“They think the drug is going to make the bull buck harder and faster,” Warner said. “But when you know the physiology, you realize that administering it isn’t going to give them a competitive edge.”
Plus, steroid use can lead to sterility, ending the possibility of a lucrative breeding career after a bull’s rodeo
run. An owner can sell a straw of a top bull’s semen for around $2,000.
“With the amount of money available after a bull’s career, why would you take that chance?” said Scott Pickens, manager of Diamond S Bucking Bulls. “I don’t think steroid use in bulls is widespread.”
Nelson isn’t convinced. While he doesn’t know for certain if anabolic steroids are being used by fellow stock contractors, he’s seen warning signs.
“Bulls with their eyes bugged out, and things like that,” said Nelson, who owns nearly 600 bulls. “This is no different than baseball — you can ignore it or do something. The fact is it’s happening and we don’t know who’s doing it.”
Nelson tried anabolic steroids on three of his bulls in 1997. The injections were under the supervision of his veterinarian and the purpose was to fatten them up.
“They gained 300 pounds and it made them mean as a chain saw,” Nelson said. “I bucked them and they were outstanding.”
But success in the arena came at a costly price out of it. One became sterile because of steroids, another couldn’t produce offspring for two years and the third just wasn’t suitable for breeding.
“It’s not worth it,” Nelson said.
Former bull rider Cody Lambert doesn’t know if he ever rode a bull injected with steroids in his standout rodeo career. From his experience, though, rage doesn’t make a bull more ferocious, good breeding does. It’s either bred into the bull or it’s not.
“The great misconception is these bulls have to be mean,” said Lambert, who’s on a four-person PBR bull-testing committee set up to investigate the use anabolic steroids. “These bulls are competitors. When the game is on, they’re doing everything they can to win.”
Lambert, the PBR’s director of livestock, likes the idea of testing bulls for steroids. After all, the bovines aren’t able to just say no.
However, Lambert doesn’t think it’s necessary to screen bull riders. He said it’s a huge disadvantage bulking up to ride a bucking bull.
“The more mass, the easier it is to get off balance,” Lambert said. “It’s like gymnastics — you don’t see too many 230-pound gymnasts. I’m sure it (steroids use) is not there. I’m not 100 percent sure, but I just don’t know why anyone would.”
Jenkins couldn’t agree more.
“Look at me,” said the 5-foot-10, 140-pound Jenkins. “I do one sit-up each morning — getting up out of bed.”
The life of bucking bulls is pretty plush. Pickens said his bulls eat about 12 to 15 pounds of grain a day, and have the run of the farm.
“They’re pampered,” Pickens said. “But you don’t want them to get too soft. Just like a football player, you’ve got to keep them worked out and tough.”
Bulls begin to work out with a mechanical dummy when they’re around 2 years old, and the ones who show potential start taking actual riders a year later. By the time a bull turns 5, it should be hitting its prime, which lasts five or more years.
Then, it’s off to a stud life, where a bull can make an owner a fortune if it had a successful rodeo career. Big
Bucks, who’s only 7, was a world champion Bull in 2005, earning an additional $20,000 for the honor.
“You don’t win a lot of money in the arena,” Nelson said. “The thought is the offspring from those champion animals will be worth a lot of money.
“But if you take so-and-so bull and hop him up on dope, it negates the value of my breeding. I have the right genetics to raise bulls to perform at a top level. Guys who give them shots to perform at that level makes the value of what I do less.”
That’s why he’s pushing for the testing of all bucking bulls.
“They can bring down their labs to Winnie, Texas, and test all my bulls,” Nelson said. “My bulls
are clean. My bulls are treated very well. Hell, my bulls get fed better than my kids.”
Thursday, August 25, 2011
Tuesday, August 23, 2011
Rhett Braham
I recently met a young bull rider that is 15 years old by the name of Rhett Braham. He did not decide to start riding bulls until around nine months ago,and began practcing at his home on a bucking barell that he and his dad built in the back-yard. After a couple of weeks of practice he decided to enter his first bullriding event in Hazel Kentucky where he actually won 1st place in the event on a bull reverend owened by Brandon Gasper a stock contractor that actually has bulls that buck in theBuilt Ford Tough Series or the PBR as we call. He has went on to place in the money in many more of the local bullridings in the local area. Rhett entered A Firecracker Series this summer put on by Nance Roughstock Productions which he is in the lead for the Buckel with one more event to go next month. This young guy has a not give attitude and constanely works on getting better and he is already good. To add to it all the last event he won was on a great bull named Shorty v owned by Mitsy Miliam of Puyear Tenessee witha a score of 79 and with that win got an invetation to ride in the Dynamite Series that is a pro rodeo that Gasper Bucking Bulls puts on with the SEBR Association out of Arkansas. The guys that ride in that series range in age from 21 to on the 30′s well guess what happened at that event, Rhett won and made it to number 25 in the standings in that association with only winning that one big pay-out. A 15 year old boy riding against grown men went and won the whole thing now that shows what kind of rider he is at the age of 15. There has already been two Paris Tenessee boys on the PBR at one time I guessing that here in a few years there might be thee of them from one little small town here in Tenessee, would that be not something special.
Rhett will be starting his high school rodeo career in September in Mephis Tenessee and the Delta Fair and I for one can not wait to see what he does in that two day event, Young riders like rhett are the futhure of the sport and get no publicity or big sponsors but in my opinion and others we need to get these young bullriders that acomplish so much at their young age some support, not just from the parents that put out the enty fees and hotel room and gas money that it takes to
get them from event to event it would be great if Rhett and other young riders gould get sponsors from companies like the PBR and CBR guys get. I et on the phone almost every day trying to get sponsors but if you don’t know someone they will not give you the time of day. Rhett is a good Christian young man that will go far in the sport of rodeo and I wish him all the luck one can wish.
*********************
Rhett will be starting his high school rodeo career in September in Mephis Tenessee and the Delta Fair and I for one can not wait to see what he does in that two day event, Young riders like rhett are the futhure of the sport and get no publicity or big sponsors but in my opinion and others we need to get these young bullriders that acomplish so much at their young age some support, not just from the parents that put out the enty fees and hotel room and gas money that it takes to
get them from event to event it would be great if Rhett and other young riders gould get sponsors from companies like the PBR and CBR guys get. I et on the phone almost every day trying to get sponsors but if you don’t know someone they will not give you the time of day. Rhett is a good Christian young man that will go far in the sport of rodeo and I wish him all the luck one can wish.
*********************
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Women of the rodeo in the 1800s
Bertha Blancett And Rose Henderson
Most women of the 1800′s learned to ride out of necessity from helping on the ranch and practicing the skills of the range. From an early age, women could stay in the saddle, break a bronc and rope a steer.
In the late 1800′s, the younger horsewomen began competing against males in a yearly gathering of herds -which progressed into participating in rodeo’s
The first rodeos began in the mid-1800 when thousands of cattle and horses were driven to town for the yearly round-up. The cowboys were eager for relaxation and would compete in tests of skills like roping, breaking horses, branding cattle and racing. They became an important part of frontier life and morphed into a celebration that would occur around the 4thof July.
These celebrations grew into rodeos and Wild West shows.
Women of the 1800, however, were not recognized in the arena until 1885. The most famous cowgirl was Phoebe Ann Moses or Annie Oakley.
Here are two stories of women who also helped start the movement of women in Rodeo’s
(Stories are from the book “Daughters of the West” by Anne Seagraves.)
In 1897, Bertha Kaelpernick Blancett (pictured above) rode over 100 miles to enter a horse race in Cheyenne’s Frontier Days and she was allowed to enter only because the arena was so muddy the cowboys refused to participate. Bertha was coerced into riding a bucking horse to keep the crowd from leaving. Once upon the animal, the petite girl had the ride of her life. Part of the time the horse was up in the air on his hind feet and once he fell backwards, but gutsy Bertha skillfully slid to his side and hung on. Although it was said at that time, that Bertha was a terrible bucker, she had managed to remain in the saddle, putting the cowboys to shame.
Later in 1904 Bertha became a star performer in Claude William’s show and was a four time winner in Roman Racing at Pendleton. Bertha rode under men’s rules, was seldom defeated and often beat such cowboys as Ben Corbett and Hoot Gibson.
Four years later Prairie Rose Henderson, an exuberant and talented daughter of a Wyoming rancher, rode to Cheyenne to enter a bronc busting contest. When the lady arrived, she was told, much to her chagrin that women were not permitted to ride. When Rose demanded to see the rules, she found there was no clause forbidding women to compete, and the officials were forced to let her participate. Her entrance into the arena created a sensation. Women had always been spectators, not competitors, and Miss Henderson was a colorful person. She came dashing out of the chute hanging on with all her strength and promptly lost the race. Prairie Rose, however, was really a winner, for she had opened the door to rodeo for other women to follow.
Later, Rose went on to victory in other rodeos and became one of the most flamboyant cowgirls of her era. In 1918, she entered the Gordon Nebraska rodeo wearing ostrich plumes over her bloomers and a blouse covered with bright sequins she had carefully sewn herself.
Rose eventually married a rancher and one cloudy day in 1932, Rose rode off to her last competition. This time, she faced her greatest fear, a storm, and lost her life during a blizzard. Prairie Rose’s body was discovered nine years later and identified only by her champion belt buckle.
Most women of the 1800′s learned to ride out of necessity from helping on the ranch and practicing the skills of the range. From an early age, women could stay in the saddle, break a bronc and rope a steer.
In the late 1800′s, the younger horsewomen began competing against males in a yearly gathering of herds -which progressed into participating in rodeo’s
The first rodeos began in the mid-1800 when thousands of cattle and horses were driven to town for the yearly round-up. The cowboys were eager for relaxation and would compete in tests of skills like roping, breaking horses, branding cattle and racing. They became an important part of frontier life and morphed into a celebration that would occur around the 4thof July.
These celebrations grew into rodeos and Wild West shows.
Women of the 1800, however, were not recognized in the arena until 1885. The most famous cowgirl was Phoebe Ann Moses or Annie Oakley.
Here are two stories of women who also helped start the movement of women in Rodeo’s
(Stories are from the book “Daughters of the West” by Anne Seagraves.)
In 1897, Bertha Kaelpernick Blancett (pictured above) rode over 100 miles to enter a horse race in Cheyenne’s Frontier Days and she was allowed to enter only because the arena was so muddy the cowboys refused to participate. Bertha was coerced into riding a bucking horse to keep the crowd from leaving. Once upon the animal, the petite girl had the ride of her life. Part of the time the horse was up in the air on his hind feet and once he fell backwards, but gutsy Bertha skillfully slid to his side and hung on. Although it was said at that time, that Bertha was a terrible bucker, she had managed to remain in the saddle, putting the cowboys to shame.
Later in 1904 Bertha became a star performer in Claude William’s show and was a four time winner in Roman Racing at Pendleton. Bertha rode under men’s rules, was seldom defeated and often beat such cowboys as Ben Corbett and Hoot Gibson.
Four years later Prairie Rose Henderson, an exuberant and talented daughter of a Wyoming rancher, rode to Cheyenne to enter a bronc busting contest. When the lady arrived, she was told, much to her chagrin that women were not permitted to ride. When Rose demanded to see the rules, she found there was no clause forbidding women to compete, and the officials were forced to let her participate. Her entrance into the arena created a sensation. Women had always been spectators, not competitors, and Miss Henderson was a colorful person. She came dashing out of the chute hanging on with all her strength and promptly lost the race. Prairie Rose, however, was really a winner, for she had opened the door to rodeo for other women to follow.
Later, Rose went on to victory in other rodeos and became one of the most flamboyant cowgirls of her era. In 1918, she entered the Gordon Nebraska rodeo wearing ostrich plumes over her bloomers and a blouse covered with bright sequins she had carefully sewn herself.
Rose eventually married a rancher and one cloudy day in 1932, Rose rode off to her last competition. This time, she faced her greatest fear, a storm, and lost her life during a blizzard. Prairie Rose’s body was discovered nine years later and identified only by her champion belt buckle.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)