Josie & The Bucking Bulls

Josie & Colored by Arctic.  Photo courtesy of Josie McElroy.

Knowing what I know now, if I could go back and be 16 years old again, I’d want to be Josie McElroy!  Josie is the daughter of K-C Bucking Bulls owners Kenny & Cristy McElroy.  Josie’s grown up around bulls and horses on the ranch.  I asked her when she started working with the bulls and she answered, “when I was born.  At 18 months, I rode horses by myself.”  Now Josie works with the bulls on a daily basis.

But let’s back track alittle.  Josie is a sophomore in high school (for 10 more days, she noted, when we chatted on the phone!)  She enjoys barrel racing with her horse, hunting, fishing, swimming and just about any type of outdoor activity.  She’s a star softball player, who plays 3rd base, short stop and pitches.  She hopes to carry that star play to LSU and play softball there, on her way to getting in to Veterinary Medicine.  After school, it’s the bull business.  I asked Josie if she’s felt any pressure from her family to follow in the bucking bull business.  She said, “no.  I love bull riding and animals.  I can’t imagine doing anything else.”

For now, Josie is involved with FFA, Future Farmers of America.  The SAE project that she’s working on, “K bar C Bucking Bulls” is a daily record book of the animals she cares for.  In detail, she must record what she feeds them, how she works with them, what events she goes to and the number of days they get exercised.  There is state scholarship money (up to $25,000) at stake, so it is important to take this project seriously!  She’s working with her FFA teacher, so her trip to Las Vegas for the PBR Finals in October can be counted as a FFA Field Trip.  Otherwise, she would miss too much school.  (I’m thinking that caring for some of the top bucking bulls in the world is pretty darn good experience...but that’s just my opinion!)

Josie also hopes to enter her 2 year old bull, Marty, in the ABBI Futurity in Vegas come October.  “Marty is a bucker”, Josie tells me, “he’s pretty dang juicy!”  So I asked her how will this work out, since she’s still in school and playing softball.  “I’ll fly to Vegas on Saturday, and enter him in the Futurity on Monday.  Either my Dad or [K-C partner] Keith Strickland will haul Marty to Vegas, since the bulls need to be there Friday morning.”

Josie has been to Las Vegas for the PBR World Finals twice before.  She said she can’t really do too much in Vegas, because she’s too young.  She and her younger brother will watch movies and play Uno.  (She did mention the he always beats her at Uno and he’s just 6 years old!)  Josie explained that she will go to the back pens to check on the bulls before an event and then afterwards, she goes back to help her Dad load the bulls and then unload at bull housing.  Then it’s time for feed and water.

Over the summer break, K-C Bucking Bulls gets involved with local rodeos, and I asked Josie what, if any, involvement she has with them.  She explained, “when I don’t have softball,  I go to the rodeos.  I carry the American flag on horseback, I barrel race, then I help Dad flank the bulls, and then I’m back on horseback to carry the American flag again.”  Sounds like a pretty busy event to me! 

I know from speaking with Kenny, Josie’s Dad, that he’s proud of the fact that she flanks the bulls!  Josie explained “we have 2 types of flanks. We have a wide red flank [rope] and a round red and white flank. With the red flanks, they are much wider than the round flanks. Only certain bulls wear these type of flanks because they have a little bit of stretch to them while they buck. With the wide flanks, it gives them ways to move. With the round flanks, you can make them as tight as you want and they won't loosen up or stretch”.  Josie said she flanked Uppercut once and the rope was too loose.  She flanked Where’s the Whiskey and he was rank!  She told me that particular day she was wearing a black shirt and Whiskey was shedding.  When she was done flanking him, she was covered in white hair, and as the cowboy bucked off a trail of white hair followed!  She also mentioned a time she flanked Stinger.

Stinger

 

That day Josie was wearing a white shirt, and Stinger pooped while she was putting the flank rope on.  She said she stood up and had poop all across the front of her shirt!  Then she had to go out and carry the American flag again!  I guess that’s just one of the hazards of working with bucking bulls.  :)

I asked Josie about her relationship with Cool Spot.  She said that she and Spot just have “a connection”.  Spot would charge her Dad, but she would come in to the barn and yell at him and he would come right over and stand by her and let her scratch him.

Josie & Cool Spot.  Photo courtesy of Josie McElroy.

Cool Spot was quite sick earlier this year.  And Kenny credits Josie’s love and attention to helping Spot in his recovery.  In fact, Josie is called “the bull whisperer” for her ability to work with Spot!  Josie shared a funny story about her and Cool Spot.  She said that her Dad told her to go out and get Spot.  He’s kept in a separate pasture because he likes to fight.  So Josie goes out with her stick and gets her boots caught in the mud and one of her boots comes off.  She’s stuck there, afraid that Spot will charge her.  Cool Spot did just the opposite!  He came around the corner and just stood there ,looking at her.  I can just imagine what was going through his mind!

Lastly, I asked her about the different bulls her Dad owns.  She said, “Superbad is a snot!  He charges you and is not nice.  Colored by Arctic is a big baby.  He is lackadaisical, comes in to eat, takes a few bites, then lets me pet him.  King Lopez is all power and kick.  He’s shy.”  She added, it’s when they are at home, that you really get to see their different personalities.  “Hells Bells, he is another one of my favorites. He is so powerful coming out of the chutes, that he could possibly pull a shoulder out of socket.  At home, he is a lazy bull that loves to eat, as they all do. He needs to work on some of his people skills because he's not too friendly if you know what I mean”, explained Josie.

Hell's Bells would not stand still or quiet down while I visited his pen, Mohegan Sun April 2012

 

Where's the Whiskey, Mohegan Sun April 2012

It was a pleasure to chat with this extraordinary young woman!  She works hard and gets to care for some of the finest bulls in the world.  Her Dad is very proud of her and the way she is following in his footsteps.  In fact, he beams with pride when he talks about her!  I look forward to see how Josie’s future unfolds and how long before we see the next female stock contractor behind the chutes at the PBR!





Photographs by Susan Hanrahan, unless noted.