Is rodeo cruel to animals?

@westernmom,

westernmom;32654 wrote:

We moved off the ranch in February and moved into "town". This is the first time in our lives that we haven't had pets or animals to care for. We don't agree with the fact that a person should own a dog just to have him penned up in the backyard on a leash all day. To me that's cruelty.

Like I said abuse of animals should never be tolerated. As ranchers we have always taken good care of our animals. A couple of years ago on Christmas morning it was close to 25 below and the power went out during a storm. We had the house full of our kids and grandkids. My husband and the guys headed right out to the make sure the livestock would have water, feed and shelter. To heck with doing anything in the house for us!

Mama, what's your favorite animal? The horse, right? :thumbup:

1 Reply

@westernmom,

westernmom;32399 wrote:

Raking with the spurs is covered extensively in the rules by the different rodeo associations. Animal hides are much thicker than ours. Human skin is 1mm-2mm thick, horse hide is 5mm thick, and bull hide is 7mm thick.

Spurs used by bareback and saddle bronc riders are dull and blunt with free-rolling rowels so that their showy style of leg movement is not harmful to the horse. The rowel, which is the star-shaped wheel on a spur, is loosely locked in bull riding to allow the cowboy a better hold on the loose-hided animals.

Use of any other type of spur is grounds for disqualification. But, there are some cowboys that will break these rules but then they have to deal with the contractor that owns the animals. These animals cost big bucks and they do everything they can to protect them. And, when a contractor gets down on a cowboy he can make it pretty miserable for him. Contractors in this business are "king."

Fascinating. As a city guy, I enjoy rodeo. Besides, no animals are killed. It seems to me that as a business they work the beasts hard but feed and care for their every need - until they are no longer useful - it's not true that they turn them over to Mike Vick....

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@Pinochet73,

Pinochet73;32716 wrote:

Mama, what's your favorite animal? The horse, right? :thumbup:

Yep. They are the smartest, most beautiful animals on the earth that we can use or domesticate. IMO. When my daughter's high school rodeo horse, Sundance, died I cried for three days. He was an amazing animal.

My husband also had a great german shepherd, Spur, for about 14 years. They are the smartest dogs. All of the high school boys were scared to death of trying to tp our house with him around - until they found out that he was all bark and no bite.

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@westernmom,

I can see that you are very proud of your beautiful daughter.

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@westernmom,

Social, I am proud of her. She was my later in life baby and blessing to us all.

But, I loved Sundance as well. This photo sits on my desk. Anyone who rode him did well. I always said he made winners out of everyone who rode him. There were several little girls in my community who were heartbroken when he died because they had borrowed him at one time or another for 4-H, queen contests, etc. He was a horse with a lot of heart. The funny thing is that we had a lot of registered quarter and paint horses worth very big bucks and Sundance was the only "grade" horse we had and yet he could perform with the best of them in the rodeo arena. Unfortunately, he died when he was just really getting into his prime.

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@westernmom,

I love dogs.

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@westernmom,

I love dogs, horses, birds most animals but sadly I really don't like cats. Horses remind me of Down Syndrome Individuals, the give the love they receive back multiplied by one hundred.

Western, your daughter is a natural in the saddle. I love to ride but I'm happy if I can stay in the saddle, wow she took that turn with so much grace. Love the pictures.

1 Reply

@Red cv,

Red;33441 wrote:

I love dogs, horses, birds most animals but sadly I really don't like cats. Horses remind me of Down Syndrome Individuals, the give the love they receive back multiplied by one hundred.

Western, your daughter is a natural in the saddle. I love to ride but I'm happy if I can stay in the saddle, wow she took that turn with so much grace. Love the pictures.

Thanks Red. She is a wonderful rider in all disciplines. But, she was scared to death of horses when she was younger. When she was 7 years old I had a horse come over backwards on me and shattered my femur. Still have a steel rod from my hip to my knee. After that, it took her several years to get her confidence back. Sundance did that for her. Now she can ride any horse!

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Is rodeo cruel to animals?

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