Rodeo

The oldest and largest sanctioning body of professional rodeo is the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA) which sanctions around 700 rodeos annually. The Professional Bull Riders (PBR) is a recent organization dedicated to Bull Riding and puts on a number of events. There are also high school and college rodeos, amateur rodeos, and rodeos for women.

There are numerous rodeos held throughout the United States and Canada. Among the more prominent are the Calgary Stampede; Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyoming; the National Western Stock Show in Denver; Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, Texas; and the National Finals Rodeo (NFR) in Las Vegas, Nevada. The NFR is held each December at the Thomas and Mack Center and features the top 15 (in terms of earnings) competitors from each of the events. In 2003, it is estimated that attandance at the 10 days of the National Finals Rodeo will top more than 170,000 with another 9 million people watching the rodeo on television.

Rodeo first appeared as an exhibition Olympic sport at the 2002 Winter Olympic Games in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Some colleges, such as the University of Montana have a rodeo team. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association is responsible for the College National Rodeo Finals.

Native Americans are active in rodeo and have their own associations, see Indian rodeo.

Animal rights and animal welfare organizations are vocal critics of rodeos, because of injuries and distress to the animals involved. Dr. C.G. Haber, a veterinarian who spent 30 years as a United States federal meat inspector, described the animals discarded from rodeos for slaughter as being “so extensively bruised that the only areas in which the skin was attached [to the flesh] were the head, neck, leg, and belly. I have seen animals with six to eight ribs broken from the spine and, at times, puncturing the lungs. I have seen as much as 2 to 3 gallons of free blood accumulated under the detached skin.” Rodeo supporters contend that injuries are uncommon.

Here is a list of notable rodeos worldwide:

• Calgary Stampede and Exhibition in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo in Houston, Texas, United States
• Mesquite Championship Rodeo in Mesquite, Texas, United States

External Links

• Friends of Rodeo: rodeo advocates respond to animal rights criticism
• Animal Abuse Inherent in Rodeo: SHowing Animals Respect and Kindness (SHARK)
• Rodeo Cruelty video: undercover video from People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
• Position Statement: Rodeo: American Humane Association

The word Rodeo is also used as a euphemism for a brothel.

Rodeo (in this context pronounced "roh-day-oh") is also a ballet written by Aaron Copland.

Source | Copyright