History of the Western Rodeo
The rodeo was not originally a sporting event , but an integral part of cattle-ranching in areas of Spanish influence .
What would become rodeo events were based on the real life tasks required by cattle ranching . Rodeo is a genuine American creation , although it grew out of practices of Spanish and Mexican ranch hands and dates back to the cattle wrangling and bull fighting that goes all the way back to the sixteenth-century conquistadors .
One of the activities introduced by the Spanish and incorporated into the sporting version of rodeo was bull riding . Another was steer wrestling , involving wrestling a steer to the ground by riding up behind it , grabbing its tail , and twisting it to the ground . Bull wrestling had been part of an ancient tradition throughout the ancient world . The working rodeo was retained in parts of the US Southwest even after the US-Mexico War . It was important enough to merit legal status in California . The Texas Rangers were responsible for incorporating bull riding and other Hispanic cattle ranching events into their communities .
A woman rider takes the American Flag across the rodeo arena as part of the opening ceremony for the annual Hot Springs Homesteader ’ s Rodeo in June , 2013 .
The ancient Minoans of Crete practiced bull jumping , bull riding , and bull wrestling . Bull wrestling may have been one of the Olympic sports events of the ancient Greeks .
In the United States events spread and were found at fairgrounds , racetracks , fiestas , and festivals in nineteenth century southwestern areas . Steer wrestling , unlike roping , riding , and racing , never attracted a following among Anglo cowboys or audiences . There would be no steer wrestling at all in American rodeo were it not for a black cowboy from Texas named Bill Pickett who devised his own unique method of bulldogging steers . He jumped from his horse to a steer ’ s back , bit its upper lip , and threw it to the ground by grabbing its horns . He performed at local central Texas fairs and rodeos and was discovered by an agent , who signed him on a tour of the West with his brothers . He received sensational national publicity with his bulldogging exhibition at the 1904 Cheyenne Frontier Days . This brought him a contract with the famous 101 Ranch in Oklahoma and its traveling Wild West exhibitions , where he spent many years performing in the United States and abroad .
The first woman bulldogger appeared in 1913 , when the great champion trick , bronc rider and racer Tillie Baldwin exhibited this feat . None the less , women ' s bulldogging contests never materialized . But cowboys did take up the sport with enthusiasm but without the lip-biting , and when rodeo rules were codified , steer wrestling was among the standard contests . Two halls of fame recognize Bill Pickett as the sole inventor of bulldogging , the only rodeo event which can be attributed to a single individual .
Rodeo itself evolved after the Texas Revolution and the U . S . -Mexican War when Anglo cowboys learned the skills , attire , vocabulary , and sports of the vaqueros . Ranch-versus-ranch contests appeared with bronc riding , bull riding , and roping contests at race tracks , fairgrounds , and festivals of all kinds . William F . Cody ( Buffalo Bill ) created the first major rodeo and the first Wild West show in North Platte , Nebraska in 1882 . Following this successful endeavor , Cody organized his touring Wild West show , leaving other entrepreneurs to create what became professional rodeo . Rodeos and Wild West shows enjoyed a parallel existence , employing many of the same stars , while capitalizing on the continuing allure of the mythic West . Women joined the Wild West and contest rodeo circuits in the 1890s and their participation grew as the activities spread geographically . Animal welfare groups began targeting rodeo from the earliest times , and have continued their efforts with varying degrees of success ever since . The word rodeo was used only occasionally for American cowboy sports until the 1920s . Professional cowboys themselves did not officially adopt the term until 1945 . Also there was no attempt to standardize the events needed to make up such sporting contests until 1929 . From the 1880s through the 1920s ,
Bulldogging photo of Cowboy Morgan Evans at the Tex Austin rodeo in Chicago ( notice that Cowboy Evans has a Western riding boot on his right foot and a low quarter shoe on his left for quick competition dismount . The West Old & New Page 9