Rodeo Sport description

Rodeos (from the Spanish rodear, “to encircle”) grew out of the work and play of 19th-century American cowboys and their Spanish-Mexican antecedents. They evolved from a time when cowboys would gather together during seasonal roundups or in the “cow towns” at the end of cattle-driving trails and vie for the unofficial title of best bucking-horse rider, roper, and so on. As the cowboys’ occupation was curtailed in scope by the railroads and by the fences that marked the end of the Open Range era, the contests became regular formal programs of entertainment. Many locales claim the distinction of being the first place to hold a rodeo in the United States - among them Cheyenne, Wyoming, in 1872 and Winfield, Kansas, in 1882 - but such early contests were merely exhibitions of riding and roping skills and not the highly organized shows that modern rodeo became.
Contemporary rodeos typically present five main events. Two of these - saddle-bronc riding and calf roping - represent the practical range work of the 19th-century cowboy. Three other primary contests - bareback-bronc riding, steer wrestling, and bull riding - appeared as feats of cowboy daring during the first decades of the 20th century. Most prominent rodeos also include women’s barrel racing and team steer roping as regular program events. Steer roping, a traditional cowboy practice and a familiar rodeo event for several decades in the early 1900s, is today an infrequent competition because of considerations of animal welfare.

The competitions typically are defined as “judged,” or “rough-stock,” events (saddle-bronc riding, bareback-bronc riding, and bull riding) and “timed” events (steer wrestling, calf roping, team roping, barrel racing, and steer roping). In the former events, judges score the performance of contestants and animals alike for a potential total tally of 100 points per ride. In the latter events, competitors race against the clock through a series of go-rounds for the fastest (lowest) cumulative time. Most PRCA-sanctioned rodeos present in a specific order: bareback riding leads off, followed by calf roping, saddle-bronc riding, steer wrestling, team roping, barrel racing, and, as the grand finale, bull riding.

Rodeos for many years featured competitive events that are no longer a regular part of venue programming. Most prominent among those were trick and fancy roping and trick riding. Based on Wild West show antecedents, trick ropers and riders thrilled crowds at major rodeos for years, but they then dwindled from prominence as their skills were relegated to the status of contract performances in the early 1930s. Some rodeos still present those skills but as contract rather than as competitive events.

American rodeo, particularly popular today within the Canadian province of Alberta and throughout the western United States, is the official state sport of Wyoming, South Dakota, and Texas. The iconic silhouette image of a "Bucking Horse and Rider" is a federal and state-registered trademark of the State of Wyoming.[1] The Legislative Assembly of Alberta has considered making American rodeo the official sport of that province. However, enabling legislation has yet to be passed.

In the United States, professional rodeos are governed and sanctioned by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) and Women's Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA), while other associations govern children's, high school, collegiate, and senior rodeos. Associations also exist for Native Americans and other minority groups. The traditional season for competitive rodeo runs from spring through fall, while the modern professional rodeo circuit runs longer, and concludes with the PRCA National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada, now held in December.