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James Cheng / msnbc.com
Stock handler Floyd Campbell, 59, works with a horse in the stock pens at the National Finals Rodeo on Sunday, Dec. 5, 2010 in Las Vegas. Campbell, a jockey in the Phoenix area, has run an eight-person crew that handles 50 horses for the last two years.
LAS VEGAS – In the world of professional rodeo, the cowboys are only part of the equation. Behind the scenes, there is a whole other world in which the animals reside.
Bulls, steers and calves. Horses for bucking, horses for show and horses for the competitors themselves. Add them all up and there are roughly 700 animals needing to be fed, watered and cared for.
That’s what brought Floyd Campbell to the National Finals Rodeo this week for a third straight year. Campbell, 59, is a professional jockey based in Phoenix who was hired by the NFR to head an eight-man crew to care for 50 of the horses on site.
“I like the horse part,” says Campbell. “Whether it’s a racehorse or a buckin’ horse or a jumping horse, I just really enjoy being with the horses.”
Campbell’s day starts at 4:30 a.m. and continues late into the evening, 18-hour days for 10 straight days. But you won’t hear him complain. He loves the horses and gets to know the personalities of each one.
“You can walk in the stall with some of the horses and they’ll just look at you like. ‘I wish you wouldn’t even bother me,’” he said. “And other ones will come to you because they like people, they’re happy that you’re there. They’re just like people, they’re all individuals.”
James Cheng / msnbc.com
Wade and Carolee Ryan of Woodruff, Utah, pose for a portrait at the 52nd National Final Rodeo, Las Vegas, NV on Dec. 3, 2010. The Ryans are part-time rodeo competitors and also full-time ranchers for Rees Land and Livestock, a company that's been in Carolee's family for five generations.
Wade and Carolee Ryan of Woodruff, Utah, are also a part of the unseen crew that makes the National Finals Rodeo work. Both are part-time rodeo competitors – Wade is a steer wrestler and team roper, Carolee a barrel racer – and also full-time ranchers for Rees Land and Livestock, a company that’s been in Carolee’s family for five generations.
The Ryans’ job is to run the alternate steers used in the steer wrestling competition. That way, if alternates are needed they won’t be any fresher than the frontline steer when pushed into competition, and the playing field remains level. For the Ryans, it’s a way to stay close to the sport, and the lifestyle, they love.
“I just grew up doing it and that’s all you know,” said Wade Ryan. “If your dad’s a golfer, you’d probably be a golfer. We were raised around horses, raised in the lifestyle, and that’s just kind of who we are.”
See Faces of the Rodeo: The cowboys. Get to know some of the top competitors in rodeo, and find out what they love about their sport.
Leave a Comment:
The "cowboy way of life" is about "Toughness. Respect. Honesty." You dont have to wear a cool hat to do that. Cowboy-up America.
Just curious why this isn't considered abusive treatment. Riding a horse that is trying to buck you off? A bull? Chasing down a terrified young cow, lassoing it regardless of the possibility of injury, and then tying it up?! Used to be necessary, now it's just mean. Why isn't it considered cruel?
dear fred,it sure beats being t-bone steak!
Park your butt on the back of a ton of bull or a bucking horse who has been well trained in he profession and see if when you're laying in the dirt 3 seconds later, and that same bull/horse is wanting to jump on your back, who feels abused.
Sometimes the calf wins and again the cowboy ends up in the dirt and even when the calf is caught watch when it 's released ,it trots off like another day at the office with fewer injuries than to animals than contestants.
Maybe it's because you've been spoon-fed a lot of B*&#.
Maybe because you've also lived in the city or suburb all your life and never been to a farm or ranch.
Maybe because you really don't know a thing about animals.
It is still necessary every day on the ranches. I grew up on 87,000 acres and it is much easier on stock to lay them down where they are instaed of trying to drive a sick head of stock 10 miles to the pens so you can doctor it. Just about every event in the rodeo is derived from workday ranching. Please don't speak about something that you know nothing about. It would be like me walking into your job place and telling you that you are doing it all wrong.
This way of life should be history, the sooner the better. More to the point, this is nothing more than animal exploitation and abuse, for money. Period. No question about it. Consider this, from author Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove"): "Cowboys, sensing (like gorillas) that their time has passed, cling ever more desperately to anachronistic styles, unwilling to admit that the myth has degenerated, the traditions eroded to a point where attempting to sustain them falls somewhere between silliness and the outright ridiculous."
What an insult of ranch families. I would venture to guess that the Cowboys' Larry McMurty was referencing were of the outlaw type from 150 years ago.
Beef animals are raised for food comsumption. The bulls that are chosen to buck in rodeos have a better life than most animals of any type. They are treated like royalty. If they were not in Rodeos, they would end up on your dinner plate.
And where would you get your steak or hamburger for your dinner plate if there were no ranches left in the US. Or are you one of those who thinks that we shouldn't eat beef? If it isn't raised in the US, it would just be imported from other countries, where you have no idea how it is being raised or produced.
Fred Evil,
My family still ranches in Montana. Sometimes the new horse you picked up at auction has never had a rider before. Sometimes all other methods fail and you have to get on and ride it out. And you still have to rope the calves to put era tags on them. No, most ranches don't brand anymore. Ear tags makes it easier to track vaccinations and the like. So, much of what you see at the rodeo is still practiced on a real working ranch. Bull Riding? Cowboys will be cowboys and will always want to "one-up" the other.
Fred Evil-
Its every kids dream sometime or another. Some get to live that dream and some get to keep dreaming. Rodeo is in our blood its events based on how this country was made. Cowboy up or Shut up!
I have been involved with rodeo and livestock for the better part of 30 years. The care and feed that is given to the animals is the best money can buy. Their facilities are cleaned for them daily, they have their feed and water delivered to them, they work only 8 seconds every other day, or maybe as little as 8 seconds per week. The bulls and stallions are then turned out with their choice of literally hundreds of cows or mares for breeding. If I believed in reincarnation I would want to come back as rodeo livestock.
Amen every one...Its not about abuse at all but between domesticating and nature. and man going into nature in the west.
@Superbee
EXACTLY!!! I'm with you!
I knew there would be at least one of the clueless "175 pound guy on the back of a 2,000 pound bull is animal cruelty" idiots chime in. These are the same people who think milk is made in the back of the nearest Wal-Mart SuperCenter, the leather in their shoes is a vegetable, and if they are female, haven't a clue that some of the most common ingredients in make-up are animal by-products. These type are the greatest reason for the "dumbing down of America" in the last 30 years or so. Luckily there isn't as many of them as it may seem .... they just tend to squeak louder than most people.
I'm proud to have been associated with rodeo for several years, as a bull-rider & bareback rider. Although dangerous, I would be tickled if my son also decided to take up the sport. Rodeo is one of the last sports which hasn't been greatly affected by drugs, corruption, & participants being paid 100 times what they are actually worth. And rodeo is most definitely still REAL, unlike that dog & pony crap called "Professional" actiing .... err, I meant wrestling.
If you love cowboys and rodeos, you should check out One Ride the musical at www.oneridethemusical.com -- its coming soon to Broadway! ONE RIDE’s powerful and passionate story is told through the songs of country legend Chris LeDoux and the breathtaking choreography of Robert Royston, the man behind QTP’s smash hit, SWANGO!. Full of energy, dynamic movement and the live music of Chris’ band, Western Underground, ONE RIDE is a timeless tale about the quest to find the “champion" & bull-rider :P in ourselves! Enjoy!
No there will not "always be cowboys" - media wonks - there will however be some people dressed like cowboys , doing the boot scoot and two stepping on Good Morning America, etc...
I was a member of the R.C.A. Rodeo Cowboy Ass now P.R.C.A. Pro Rodeo Cowboy Ass. I rode the sercut until I was 51 years old. Rodeo has been always in my life and well always be their. COWBOYUP The gentleman who wrote this article has done a very good job. I congratulate You Sir. GOD BLESS Tony Clark T.M.M
@ Fred You speak with an ignorant tongue if you truly believe that the stock (animals) you see in a rodeo performance are abused. The cowboys are the ones who are physically the underdogs. Do you feel that the players in a football game are abusing the players of the opposite team? No....and cowboys make a lot less money.
Even with all the technology we have at our fingertips, it still remains a cowboys' job (at some point) to move cattle, usually with the aid of a rope and horse (at some point)...and historically, Americans have been consuming astronomical amounts of beef for hundreds of years. Rodeo started out as a way to compete and prove to neighboring ranches which of the cowboys had the greatest skills at handling cattle and horses.
From a business standpoint, there's a significant investment involved in providing the stock for rodeos. A large number of these animals are specifically bred for the jobs you see them doing. This fact alone will pretty much ensures proper care and treatment by everyone involved. If you ever thought this through logically, you would realize that the cowboys/cowgirls depend on stock that is healthy and well cared for to enable them to go home with a paycheck.
(Oh the poor baby calves...HA!) "Baby" calves used in the rodeo ARE NOT fragile little babies. They're 400+ pounds of VERY tough, VERY resilient and not very cooperative critter that doesn't want to be handled. The calves can definitely throw their weight around.
Horses are very well taken care of. The rope and barrel racing horses can become just like family, living long happy lives.
In closing, the cattle may not choose to participate, but they are not abused. They are respected and very well cared for.
If you are not familiar with rodeo or the cowboy's way fo life, you may not understand it and no one would force it on you anymore than we'd force you to adopt a religion. My advice is to close you browser or change the channel.
Complete lowlives, those who exploit animals and support exploitation by attending these ridiculous "entertainment" events. It just further supports my contention that 85% of those living in this country are complete peasants, wallowing in a genetic cesspool...
You are so very ignorant!!!!!!!! There is no exploiting and this is not a ridiculous "entertainment"!!!! Get a "real" life!!!! I am from the country and certainly did not arrive from a cesspool.......educated and employed!!!!!!!!!!
Eric, Eric, Eric...you must clearly live without clothes, or shoes, or veggies, or meat, or eggs, or milk, or cheese, or beer, or wine, or many other commodities that originate in the "country" Notice I'm from Oregon? More "country" here than cities. And since I'm guessing you hail from a city, I'll take country over your way of life any time. Us "peasants" don't throw around generalities like you.
I'm in agreement with Eric, for the most part, to the extent that this way of life should be history, the sooner the better. More to the point, this is nothing more than animal exploitation and abuse, for money. Period. No question about it.
Consider this, from author Larry McMurtry ("Lonesome Dove," "The Last Picture Show"): "Cowboys, sensing (like gorillas) that their time has passed, cling ever more desperately to anachronistic styles, unwilling to admit that the myth has degenerated, the traditions eroded to a point where attempting to sustain them falls somewhere between silliness and the outright ridiculous."
You all "protesters" obviously have never been bucked off, and have your horse turn around and laugh at you!!! And oh yes they DO!!!! I'm not a "whisperer", but have raised, bred, rode, compted, loved, hated, doctored,
bought, sold, euthenized, horses my whole life on the ranch. Some just love to buck and never quit. Some just love to run, and compete, and be the center of attention. We as their people just help bring out their best natural talents, and dare I say personalities.
As for the bulls...............they are mean!!!! The best part of them is the ribeye!!!!
eric and mozzir you have clearly put yourselves in the minority.
the liberal left has so wrecked this country people like you must be outed at every oppertunity as the know nothins you truly are
I rode bulls in high school, college, and in amateur rodeos. Those that deny abuse are not being honest. At a minimum, the animal is distressed and very anxious. Transport, pens, and bucking chutes are not something that the animals prefer. Now, does that mean that rodeo rises to the level of animal cruelty? I am not sure and it is something that I have wrestled with that for decades.
I have to admit that I still love watching bull riding. The roping events are just time fillers with little entertainment value to me personally. I believe that calf roping and team roping are pushing the limits of animal abuse. Not all contractors use horn wraps and the calves are often very young and small. Steer wrestling is also boarderline animal abuse.
Even Neil Gay predicted that the twine twirling events would go the way of the dinosaur. As the PBR has shown, that would not be a loss.