Rodeo for Dummies Cheat Sheet

The Wild, Wild West is alive and well — and all around. Rodeo is the most dangerous sport on dirt, and as daring as it is for the cowboys and cowgirls who compete, it’s even more exciting for the spectators. This Cheat Sheet can help you follow along on a journey of grit, glory, and gold buckle dreams. Get ready to kick up your boots and pull down your hat!

The basic makings of a rodeo

Most rodeos are made of the same core events and exhibitions. Some rodeos take place in coliseums or stadiums, with light shows, live music, and big screens. Others stay true to tradition in uncovered, outdoor arenas that include Native American heritage and an atmosphere that feels straight out of an old Western movie. All PRCA-sanctioned rodeos feature a standard order of events:

• Grand entry: Rodeo participants and sometimes adjacent committee and community members ride into the rodeo arena parade-style to be introduced to the spectators before the evening’s events start.
• Opening ceremonies: Each rodeo begins with a prayer and the U.S. National Anthem. Some major rodeos also feature the Canadian National Anthem if the rodeo takes place in Canada.
• Bareback riding: A cowboy rides a bucking horse by holding onto only a bareback rigging — essentially, a leather handle — strapped to the horse. The rider want to stay on for eight seconds while the horse bucks. The rider’s free hand, the hand not holding the rigging, must remain in the air without making contact with the horse.
• Steer wrestling: Also
• known as bulldogging. A cowboy dismounts from their horse, grabs a running steer by the horns, and wrestles it to the ground by flipping it onto its side. Time stops when the steer’s nose touches the ground.
• Team roping: A two-person team competes — one rider ropes the steer’s horns, and the other ropes the steer’s back legs. The goal is to rope both parts of the steer in the shortest time possible. Time penalties apply for missing a horn or a leg.
• Saddle bronc riding: Similar to bareback riding, but the rider uses a bronc saddle. The cowboy must hold onto the bronc rein with one hand and keep their free hand in the air while riding the bucking horse for eight seconds. The horse also wears a flank strap, or a soft, painless leather strap that encourages a higher bucking motion, which arena personnel remove when the rider dismounts.
• Tie-down roping: A cowboy on horseback chases a calf, ropes it, and dismounts to tie three of its legs together. The clock stops when the rider successfully and securely ties the calf.
• Barrel racing: Primarily a women’s event, the rider on horseback races around three barrels arranged in a cloverleaf pattern. The goal is to complete the course in the fastest time without knocking over any barrels.
• Bull riding: The rider sits atop a bull, strapping their hand down with a bull rope. They must stay on the bull for eight seconds while it bucks. The rider keeps their free arm (the arm not tied in the bull rope) in the air and can’t touch the bull with that hand for the duration of their ride. The bull wears a flank strap, which is a soft, painless cotton strap loosely fastened around the bull’s flank to encourage a bucking motion.

Some rodeos also feature events such as steer roping and breakaway roping.

Merry-go-rounds

Here’s a quick rundown of the structure of rodeo events and winners:

• The perf: The main rodeo performances, where riders compete either in a progressive-round structure or a single-round structure.
• The long go: The longest round in a rodeo, which has the contestants who compete against each other to make it to the championship round. Sometimes, the long go runs at the same time as the slack.
• The slack: The section of competition for the overflow of contestants who didn’t make it into the long-go perf (whether because of scheduling issues or lack of space). Can occur on the same days as the long go or prior to the long go (in which case, it acts as a qualifier). Scores, times, and placements in the slack still count toward regular season aggregates (if a contestant in the slack scores higher than a contestant in the perf, that is taken into consideration for the rodeo payout and tracked with regular season earnings).
• The short go: The final round of competition; also referred to as the short round or the championship round.
• The average: The aggregate of scores or times across all the rounds of that particular rodeo. The contestants who has the lowest average time or highest average score across all rounds is considered the rodeo champion in their event. Some rodeos choose to weigh the rounds separately, so one round counts more than another toward the average total. Whether and how rounds get weighted varies from rodeo to rodeo.

Winning the round

• The perf winner: The winner of a given event in a single perf.
• The round winner: The winner of the long go or the short go, across however many days of perfs that particular rodeo uses for those rounds.
• The average winner: The contestants who have the highest average score across all days of competition, taking into consideration some rounds are weighted more than others. The average winners are also the overall rodeo champions and receive the highest payouts.

Rodeo lingo you should know

Attending your first (or even your second or third) rodeo can be overwhelming. There are tons of people, rules to learn, judging decisions to process, and phrases being used that you have perhaps never heard before. This list should help you understand what is being discussed at the rodeo, and hopefully empower you to join in on the conversation.

• All-Around Cowboy: The top award at every rodeo, which also comes with additional money and prizes. Awarded to the cowboy who earns the most money in more than one event (not necessarily the cowboy who earns the most total money that week). If no cowboy earns money in more than one event, the All-Around goes to the cowboy who earned the most combined money while entering more than one event.
• Average: Usually used to describe the aggregate score for a contestant who competed in more than one round.
• Barrier: A thin rope used in all of the tying events and steer wrestling that stretches across the exit of the starting chute to ensure an even start for all competitors. Any cowboy who breaks the barrier before the calf or steer releases the rope on the way out of the chute is penalized 10 seconds.
• Box: The area where a horse and rider wait before starting a roping or steer wrestling run.
• Bull: An uncastrated male bovine. Well-bred males are raised to father cattle in a cow herd.
• Bullfighter: Person responsible for drawing a bull away from the rider after they get bucked off. Bullfighters help herd the bull out of the arena and remove flank straps. Injuries are part of the gig, including broken bones and bruises.
• Chute: The pen or row of pens where livestock are kept and mounted during roughstock events.
• Cow: A female bovine, usually one that has already calved. This term is also often used as a generic reference to cattle.
• Crossfire penalty: In team roping, if the header doesn’t change the direction of the steer before the heeler catches. This penalty leads to disqualification.
• Dally: When roping, wrapping the rope counter-clockwise around the saddle horn to hold the animal or object roped.
• Flank strap: A padded leather strap placed around a bucking animal’s flank to encourage kicking.
• Free hand: The hand that roughstock riders must keep in the air while the other hand holds the rigging, bull rope, or bronc rein. If the free hand touches the animal or gear before the eight-second timer goes off, the ride results in a no-score.
• Gelding: A castrated male horse. Horses are gelded to help guarantee good temperament.
• Go-round: Many rodeos have more than one round of competition, each called a go-round. All cowboys entered in that rodeo compete in each go-round unless the competition includes a semi-final, final, or progressive round.
• Hang up/hung up: When a cowboy’s hand, foot, or other body part becomes caught on the animal and they can’t free themselves.
• Hazing: A component of steer wrestling (also called bulldogging). The hazer rides on the right of the bulldogger and steer and attempts to keep the steer between their horse and the bulldogger’s horse so that the bulldogger has a better chance to jump on the steer and throw it down. The word haze is used to mean push or herd the animal.
• Heifer: Young female cow who hasn’t yet calved.
• Hog tie: To tie both back legs and one front leg of an animal together securely so that it can’t get up. Cowboys use a piggin’ string to accomplish a hog tie in the calf roping event.
• Hooey: The knot that a cowboy uses to finish tying the calf’s legs together in tie-down roping.
• Mare: An adult female horse or the adult female of other equine species.
• Mark out rule: A cowboy’s feet must be above the point of the horse’s shoulders when the horse’s front feet hit the ground on the first jump in bronc events.
• Nod: Shaking the head in an affirmative motion to signal to the gatekeeper to open the chute in a roughstock event.
• No score/no time: A penalty that, when committed, results in the ride not receiving a score or time.
• Pick-up riders: Riders positioned around the arena to assist bareback and saddle bronc riders in their dismounts and to remove flank straps on animals after a ride.
• Piggin string: Short piece of rope used primarily to tie the legs of livestock for doctoring or tagging.
• Professional Bull Riders (PBR): The governing body and producer for major bull riding events.
• Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association (PRCA): The governing body and producer for major rodeos across the United States and Canada.
• Re-ride: If an animal doesn’t buck as expected, the rider can go again on a different horse or bull in the hopes of a better score.
• Roughstock events: Riders have to mount a bucking horse or bull and complete an eight-second ride to receive a score. The score is based on control, difficulty, and other factors. These events include bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, and bull riding at most major rodeos.
• Slack: The name given to the competitions held before or after the main performances because of time restrictions, the scores from which count the same in the overall standings. Ensures larger entry fields and higher payouts for winners. Typically free to attend for fans. Doesn’t include roughstock events.
• Stallion: An adult male uncastrated horse. Usually kept mainly for breeding purposes, although many are shown and ridden.
• Steer: Castrated male bovine. Steers are usually raised and fed well to provide meat.
• Timed events: Winning is based on the fastest time to completion, such as barrel racing, tie-down roping, breakaway roping, steer roping, team roping, and steer wrestling.
• Women’s Professional Rodeo Association (WPRA): The governing body for women’s rodeo events including, but not limited to, barrel racing and breakaway roping. The WPRA partners with the PRCA to have these events included in major rodeos so that men and women may compete on a level playing field for wages and purses.

Walk the walk: The cowboy uniform

Although you don’t have to wear a uniform to a rodeo as a spectator, you may want to understand the basics of the getup in case you want to add some pieces to your wardrobe:

• Cowboy boots: High-topped boots that have heels specially designed to keep them from slipping through saddle stirrups. Some also have heels designed for comfortable walking. Soles are usually made of slick leather to keep them from catching when dismounting, but they can also be rubber. Styles are often regional and defined by function. Boot socks (socks with a high calf, intended to be worn with boots) can help your boots wear comfortably.
• Cowboy hat: Has a 4- to 6-inch brim and acts as an umbrella in stormy weather and a shade from the sun in hot weather. Usually straw, palm leaf, felt, or a fur mix. The most common Western cowboy hat is made of beaver pelt or beaver pelt mix.
• Jeans: Denim jeans are a staple in any Western wardrobe. Most who work in the Western industry opt for a boot-cut pair of jeans to wear with their boots.
• Western shirt: Most Western competitions, including rodeo, require competitors to wear a Western shirt, a long sleeved, collared shirt that has buttons down the front.
• Wild rag: Kerchief or scarf worn at the neck, sometimes elaborately knotted, most often made of silk. Used for warmth in the winter and cooling in the summer.

Of course, what makes Western culture so special is that it was born out of a sense of rugged, untamed rebellion. Western fashion is no different. Lean into the colors, textures, structure, and stones that speak to you.