frontier days , stampedes , and cowboy contests were the most popular names . Cheyenne Frontier Days , which began in 1897 , remains the most significant annual community celebration today .
Until 1922 , cowboys and cowgirls who won at Cheyenne were considered the world ’ s champions . Until 1912 , organization of these community celebrations fell to local citizen committees who selected the events , made the rules , chose officials , arranged for the stock , and handled all other aspects of the festival . Many of these early contests bore more resemblance to Buffalo Bill ' s Wild West than to contemporary rodeo . While today ' s PRCA-sanctioned rodeos must include five events : calf roping , bareback and saddle bronc riding , bull riding , and steer wrestling , with the option to also hold steer roping and team roping , their Pre-World War I counterparts often offered only two of these contests . The day-long programs included diverse activities including Pony Express races , nightshirt races , and drunken rides . One even featured a football game . Almost all contests were billed as world ' s championships , causing confusion that endures to this day . Cowboys and cowgirls often did not know the exact events offered until they arrived on site , and did not learn the rules of competition until they had paid their entry fees .
Before World War II , the most popular rodeo events included trick and fancy roping , trick and fancy riding , and racing . Trick and fancy roping contestants had to make figures and shapes with their lassos before releasing them to capture one or several persons or animals . These skills had to be exhibited on foot and on horseback . Fancy roping was the event most closely identified with the vaqueros , who invented it . In trick and fancy riding , athletes performed gymnastic feats on horseback while circling the arena at top speed . Athletes in these events were judged , much like those in contemporary gymnastics . The most popular races included Roman standing races wherein riders stood with one foot on the back of each of a pair of horses , and relays in which riders changed horses after each lap of the arena . These were extremely dangerous , and sometimes fatal races .
Another great difference between these colorful contests and their modern counterparts was that fact that there were no chutes or gates , and no time limits . Rough stock were blindfolded and snubbed in the center of the arenas where the riders mounted . The animals were then set free . In the vast arenas , which usually included a racetrack , rides often lasted more than 10 minutes , and sometimes the contestants vanished from view of the audience .
During this era , women rode broncs and bulls and roped steers . They also competed in a variety of races , as well as trick and fancy roping and riding . In all of these contests , they often competed against men and won . Hispanics , blacks and Native Americans also participated in significant numbers . In some places , Native Americans were invited to set up camp on the grounds , perform dances and other activities for the audience , and participate in contests designated solely for them , Some rodeos did discriminate against one or more of these groups , but most were open to anyone who could pay the entry fee .
All this began to change in 1912 , when a group of Calgary businessmen hired American roper Guy Weadick to manage , promote , and produce his first Stampede . Weadick selected the events , determined rules and eligibility , chose the officials , and invited well-known cowboys and cowgirls to take part . His hope was to pit the best Canadian hands against those of the US and Mexico , but Mexican participation was severely limited by the civil unrest in that country . Nonetheless , the Stampede was a huge success , and Weadick followed with the Winnipeg Stampede of 1913 , and much less successful New York Stampede of 1916 . Although Weadick ’ s last production , the 1919 Calgary Stampede , was only a minor success , he led the way for a new era in which powerful producers , not local committees , would dominate rodeo and greatly expand its audience .
Rodeo enjoyed enormous popularity in New York , Chicago , Boston , and Philadelphia , as well as in London , Europe , Cuba , South America , and the Far East in the 1920s and 1930s . Today , none of those venues is viable . Despite numerous tours abroad before World War II , rodeo is really significant only in North America . While it does exist in Australia and New Zealand , top athletes from those countries come to America to seek their fortunes . Some Latin American countries have contests called rodeos but these have none of the events found in the North American version .
World War I nearly killed rodeo , but three men and two organizations brought it back to greater prominence , not in the West where it was born , but in the big cities of the East . Tex Austin created the Madison Square Garden Rodeo in 1922 . It immediately became the premier event . Overshadowing Cheyenne Frontier Days , its winners were thereafter recognized as the unofficial world champions . In 1924 , Austin produced the London Rodeo at Wembley Stadium , universally acknowledged as the most successful
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A saddle bronc rider takes a spill at the annual Homesteader ’ s Rodeo in Hot Springs , Montana . Photograph by S . F . Roberts