The Culture of The American West
Animal Factoids
- The average bucking horse or bucking bull works less than five minutes per year in the arena.
- Horses are generally measured in “hands.” One hand equals 4 inches.
- Adult female horses have between 36 and 40 teeth. Adult male horses have between 40 and 44 teeth.
- Rodeo emerged from an industry of working with the animals.
- Rodeo contests are divided into two types; one is scored by a judge and the other is timed for speed.
- The roping contest has originally developed from cowboys who hold cattle for doctoring.
- Most of the animals used in Rodeos are domesticated and not actually aggressive. However, they are trained to behave that way.
- There are rules that regulates the handling of the animals which were first put by Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) in 1947.
- All professional rodeos are governed by the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association or PRCA.
- Bull riding has become rodeo’s most popular contest.
- The term rodeo means to “go around” in Spanish.
- The word Rodeo was rarely used by the American cowboy sport until the 1920s, it was rather referred to as cowboy contests.