Revisiting the Arcadia All-Florida Championship Rodeo

Rodeo competitors (photo credit to Bruce Tompkins) 

It had been more than a decade since I last attended the Arcadia Rodeo, known as "The Granddaddy of 'Em All." The Arcadia Rodeo dates back to 1928 when the American Legion needed a new building and decided to host a rodeo to raise the required funding. The event features professional cowboys -- and cowgirls -- who hope to garner enough points to compete in the national finals in Las Vegas. 

In the past ten+ years since I attended, the rodeo hasn't changed much, but the venue has. The new Mosaic Arena is a big step up from the rodeo's digs in 2011. It's a professional arena with overhead fans and seats with backs if you're willing to spend a few extra bucks. Still, the first thing that hit me when I entered the arena was the smell. It's a fact of life when you have all that livestock in one place. Happily, I either quickly adapted or the smell dissipated when we got to our seats. 

Some of the mutton busters 

The first event was a fan favorite -- mutton bustin'. In this event, children between the ages of four and six don a helmet, climb on a sheep and hold on for dear life. It's hard to imagine these kids woke up one morning and told their parents this is something they wanted to do. Note the one child who seems to be sucking his thumb. Talk about grooming. 

Many of the sheep weren't even fully out of the chute before the kid fell off. The audience laughed and clapped and the child got up and staggered back to mommy and daddy. I believe it was the dark haired girl standing proudly in the center who managed to hold on until the sheep had made in to the center of the arena. That was truly impressive. With the warm-up event under our belts, we were ready for some adult rodeoing.

Bareback rider 

The adult events started with bareback riding. It's similar to the mutton bustin' except that the cowboy is on a horse that's been trained to do its best to throw the rider off its back as quickly as possible. High kicks are encouraged and rewarded with a higher score. (Half of the points in the event are awarded for the horse and half for the rider.) Although there's no saddle, there is a small piece of leather and rawhide between the horse's shoulder blades for the cowboy to hold on to for dear life. The goal is for the rider to stay on for eight seconds. The riders who were bucked off before the eight second mark were thanked for their participation but given no points for their efforts. 

Attempt at bull riding (photo credit to Bruce Tompkins)

Then, of course, there's the bull riding. My official opinion is that bull riding is really, really hard -- and dangerous. The clown is there to distract the bull so he doesn't run over the cowboy after he's been bucked off. The other guy is the wrangler, or the person responsible for getting the bull back into the pen. I wouldn't want either job. 

Again, the goal is for the rider to stay on the bull for eight seconds. (FYI, the time limits in these events are in place for the safety and well-being of the animals, not the riders.) During his outing, the rider grips a flat rope with one hand; if the other hand touches the bull at any time during the event, the rider is disqualified. If he stays on, the score is comprised of points for the rider and points for the bull. The rodeo program provided information on each of the events, and I found this tidbit under bull riding particularly interesting/confusing. It read, "Because the bulls are selected at random for the riders, this event truly tests the riders' 'bulls' manship." Cue the music for "macho man" (although I suspect these guys don't listen to the Village People). 

Barrel racing 

Just in case you're wondering if women participate in the rodeo, I'll close with a note about the ladies' event -- barrel racing. The objective is for the rider to maneuver her horse in a clover leaf pattern around three barrels as fast as she can. Those horses come out of the gate blazing fast. The times I noted were in the 16-17 second timeframe. 

The "fun facts" about barrel racing had an interesting tidbit. Pre-1948, scores weren't based exclusively on speed. The rider's horsemanship was also a factor, which I can understand. But her outfit was also awarded some amount of points. Um, what? In fact, the racer's attire is still celebrated in some competitions. Click here to see the winners of the Jerry Ann Taylor best-addressed award for barrel racers. FYI, Jerry Ann Taylor was a trick rider, meaning she'd perform stunts like doing a shoulder stand while riding or hanging upside down off her horse (intentionally). I bet she did some mutton bustin' when she was a kid. 

And so concludes my ode to the Arcadia Rodeo. In the words of Roy Rogers, "Happy trails to you until we meet again."