Saturday, January 23, 2010

8 Seconds Explained…

kind of.  I don’t know a whole lot about bull riding, so I’ll explain it the best I can.SS24Here is the bull rider preparing to ride the bull.  He’s tying his wrist/hand around a rope to hold on better.  

SS47That bull wants out.  Not all of them jumped.  In fact most didn’t.   SS70When we first arrived I thought it would be really cool to be where that photographer is standing.  Then I saw some bulls trying to jump out and I changed my mind.  I bet he got some pretty awesome shots though.SS34   Now the guy opens the chute and the timer starts.SS37The goal is to stay on that bull for 8 seconds.  Sometimes it’s easy and sometimes you get bucked off. SS38The job of the bull fighters is to steer the bull’s attention away from  the bull rider and to get the bull back to the chutes.  It’s a dangerous job, but somebody’s got to do it.SS39It’s not just about staying on for 8 seconds. SS40You’ve got to have nice form as well. SS41 Good posture might be part of it too.SS42 Who knows.  Maybe I’m wrong about all of this.SS43 This guy stayed on for 8 seconds.  Then he needed to find a way to get off that bull.SS44  He had a pretty good ride.SS49This bull really tried to buck this guy off.SS50It didn’t work. SS51The bull rider won this one. SS52The bull wasn’t happy about that.  He tried to charge the barrel.  See him revving up? SS53 The crowd loved it.  They cheered and the cowboy was very much appreciative for it.SS54

That cowboy made it to 8 seconds. 

It wasn’t all about the bulls though.  A big part of the night was the rodeo clown.  So until next time…

1 comment:

Adriane said...

These pics made my day!
The bulls get points too. If your bull walks out of the gate, takes a dump, and sniffs the rodeo clown, you get low points because he's just not scary enough. But my bigger question is: are these cowboys Lutheran? Because, well, I'm just sayin'.