Rodeo in the Rockies
Story by Ed Bushnell
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Photo: Bob Woodall/ FPI Hemingway once described bullfighting as one of the few “true” sports. Always one to embrace anything we might today describe as “macho,” Hemingway was impressed with the agility, strength, and courage necessary to be a successful bullfighter. |
It is not known whether Hemingway felt the same way about rodeo clowns. Yet these amusing stalwarts of the rodeo circuit perform literally the same job as the matadors with whom Hemingway was enamored. Rodeo clowns must distract, pacify, and guide out of the rodeo ring large irate horses and bulls who have just thrown—and are preparing to trample—their riders. The biggest difference between a rodeo clown and a matador is that a clown’s job is done when the threatening beast is safely back in its stall, rather than dead in the ring.
Last summer, two Brazilian bullfighters were on sabbatical in the Rocky Mountains, hoping to gain experience as rodeo clowns that will elevate them to the status of world-class bullfighters.
Vlaudemir (nicknamed “Dinho”) and Valdechir (“Dici”) Birtche are already famous bullfighters in their hometown of Maringa, Brazil. But they wanted the experience that only United States rodeos can provide.
“To be the best in the world, you have to come to the U.S.,” Dici said, speaking in Portuguese and translated by his friend, Sun Valley, Idaho, resident Starr Olsen.
The most popular rodeo events involve competitors riding—and often falling off of—large and irate wild horses and bulls. After the animals have shed their riders, it is the rodeo clowns’ job to distract the animals while the riders extract themselves safely from the ring. Being a rodeo clown may look silly, but it is a dangerous, demanding job, according to Cody, Wyo., rodeo contractor Jim Ivory.
“You got to be tough to last a whole season,” Ivory said.
Dinho was originally a rider in the rodeos of his hometown; however, he switched over to bullfighting when a rodeo injury precluded him from riding competitively. He started bullfighting instead, and was soon joined by his brother. The two Birtches first came to the United States in 2001, sponsored by the Professional Bull Riding Invitational association. For the next two summers, they worked bull riding-centered rodeos throughout Idaho and Nevada. Last summer the Birtche brothers worked at Ivory’s nightly rodeo in Cody.
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| “Eight seconds seems like an obscenely short period of time until you’re on—or watching someone on—a wildly thrashing 1,000-pound animal. ” |
Ivory said it’s a misconception that rodeo participants mostly come from local dude ranches of the Rocky Mountains. Would-be rodeo champs hail from all over the country and the world, he said. In addition to the Birtche Brothers, this year’s rodeo in Cody has competitors from Canada and Australia. Some competitors stick around Cody for the summer, continually competing in the nightly event, while others travel around the Rocky Mountain West competing regionally. Most competitors make their livings through rodeo winnings, Ivory noted. This summer, his rodeo will pay out about $200,000 to competitors.
Ivory himself is a former rodeo competitor, a third-generation professional.
“It was sort of bred into me,” he said. “I didn’t grow up playing fireman or policeman. I grew up playing rodeo.”
A traditional Western rodeo opens with the “bucking bronco” events, where competitors try to stay on a wild horse, with or without a saddle. The next events—team roping and calf roping—demonstrate a cowboy or cowgirl’s lassoing skills. Barrel racing usually follows, allowing competitors to show their dexterity on a horse. The rodeo ends with what could well be its most popular—and most dangerous—event: Bull riding.
Like Ivory, local bull rider Coby Wheeldon grew up around rodeos. Both Wheeldon’s grandfather and father were professional Saddle Bronc riders; his uncles and cousins are also rodeo competitors. It was this constant exposure that drew Wheeldon to rodeo. “It’s a lifestyle for me,” Wheeldon said. “It’s the only sport I knew as a kid.”
Wheeldon, a fourth-generation Jackson Hole, Wyo., resident, was too small as a child to ride a bucking bronco like his dad and grandfather. So he turned to steers.
“By the time I was old enough to ride broncs, I was used to bulls,” he said.
In a bull riding competition, the competitor must stay on top of the large, ornery animal for eight seconds. Eight seconds seems like an obscenely short period of time until you’re on—or watching someone on—a wildly thrashing 1,000-pound animal. And unlike other professional sports, there is no time out.
Wheeldon said he makes it the full eight seconds in a little less than half the competitions he enters. But even if he makes the magic eight-second mark, he still has to figure out a safe way to get off the beast. A bull doesn’t turn off once the time limit has expired. The bull rider will fall or jump away from the animal, and the rodeo clowns will attempt to distract the bull until the rider is safely out of the ring.
Wheeldon competes professionally throughout the United States. When the rodeo grounds of the Rocky Mountains are buried deep in winter snows, Wheeldon is riding bulls in warmer, southern states. He competes in approximately 50-to-60 rodeos annually, provided he remains injury-free. Wheeldon will spend the summer months traveling from rodeo to rodeo in Wyoming, Utah, and Idaho.
Wheeldon hopes to be competing in rodeos “as long as my body holds out.” He acknowledges that an injury can end a rider’s season, or even a career, in a microsecond. A couple years ago, Wheeldon missed several months of competition due to a severely torn leg muscle.
Ivory acknowledges that rodeo is a high-risk sport, with many casualties:
“There’s a lot of pain and agony dealt out nightly,” Ivory said.
Ed Bushnell is a journalist and freelance writer who lives in Teton Village, Wyoming. The last time he was around a horse he severely broke two fingers.
Copyright 2004 by FPI (Focus Productions, Inc)., P.O. Box 1930, Jackson, Wyoming 83001. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without written permission from the publishers.
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