Terrific Two's!

This young bull seemed quite annoyed that I was standing above his pen!  He backed in to the corner, was pawing the dirt and throwing snot up in the air!!  Or, maybe he was mad that I could not come down to give him a good scratch! ;)

 

 This blogger has been on vacation, and one of the highlights of my western adventure was the PBR event in Pueblo, Colorado.  Not only did the Pueblo Invitational span 3 nights, with a 15/15 Bucking Battle, but it also allowed me to see the ABBI Futurity and the Back Seat Buckers inaugural competition.  Five glorious rounds of bulls - large and small -  entertained me, scared me, and delighted me over the course of 3 days.

These 3 black & white bulls were as sweet as could be!

Upon arriving at the outdoor arena on the Colorado State Fairgrounds, which by the way was no easy task, we walked around to the back side of the arena to see the bull housing pens for both ABBI and PBR events.  I say it was no easy task because there were no signs and every PBR employee I asked didn’t know a thing about the Futurity!  Had I not received an email about it, I would have turned away and missed 38 two year old's filled with strength, determination and snotitude!  I’m not sure why this event was the best kept secret in Pueblo, but with my in-bred NJ stubbornness and my own version of snotitude, I persevered, found out where I needed to be and got there just in time, so not one bull was missed!

Starting the sorting process for the event.

 

Once the sorting process was underway, the event prayed over, and introductions made, the 2 year old's came out flying!  Those little bulls jump so high and try with all their might to get that bucking dummy off their backs!  Several fell down, and that seems natural as they learn and gain strength.  I hate to see them fall down.  I want to run out and cuddle them (I know, I know - you don’t cuddle bulls!) but it just breaks my heart.  At that point they are pretty much out of competition, but hopefully their potential is seen and lessons learned.

The "village" included bull man extraordinaire, Kent Cox (2nd man on right).  He was in charge of the bucking dummies.

It truly takes a village to prepare one of these little bulls for action!  Extra care is needed as the bulls are not used to the chutes, and perhaps bothered by extra people, noise, unfamiliar smells and the fact that it was Friday - who knows!  but the art of standing quietly in the chute is an aquired skill!

These high-flying youngsters are quite proud of themselves once that bucking dummy is on the ground and they will usually take a victory lap or four, with their heads held high!  Safety man, Mike White had his hands full with running bulls, charging bulls and stubbornness when it came to getting the bulls out of the arena.  And those rascals were quite good at wiggling their way out of the lasso’d rope!

Strike a pose!

Uh oh!  One too many victory laps?

"I buck you off.  Now I stomp you!"

This young bull gave Mike fits!  He charged that poor horse a few times.  It was quite a while before Mike got him out of the arena.  Guess this bull wanted his 15 minutes, and then some!

Hmmm.....what could this be?

One of the hardest and most terrible things I’ve ever seen was a young bull get tangled up in the bucking dummy, panicing and breaking his back leg in the process.  My husband quickly pulled me away so my witness of this horrible accident was minimal.  I don’t know the outcome and if the bull was saved.  I hope I never see anything like that again!!  But it is a harsh reality in this sport that I love.  

Seeing the Futurity event was a real treat for me.  These events are never held here on the east coast, so being in Pueblo and learning more about how the bulls are trained and bloodlines involved was fascinating for me.  My husband was real trooper as he spent this afternoon watching the bulls and listening to me calling each and every one a sweet baby!  He’s a good man!!

Beautiful eyes.

My next blog will be about the Back Seat Buckers and the Pueblo PBR event, so please check back next week.  Thanks for the support of my blog and for your interest in the bulls I love so much!




All photographs by Susan Hanrahan