PBR World Finals 2012

Quite honestly, I don't even know where to begin!  I had an awesome week in Las Vegas, and I tried to pack the week full of as much bull riding as possible!  A decade separated the 2 year old bulls I saw at the different Futurity events and the retiring World Champion, Chicken on a Chain.  I saw 3 year old's, 4 year old's and older.  I saw mini bulls and I saw huge monster bulls.  I saw bulls who were sweet enough to scratch and I was charged and hooked by bulls who wanted nothing to do with people.  I saw bulls relaxed enough to sleep during the Bull Housing tour and bulls who were so amped up, they would not stand still.  I saw white bulls, brown bulls, black bulls, brindled bulls and all colors inbetween.  I stepped in poop, had snot thrown on me, and had hands so dirty that I clogged the sink trying to wash off the hair and dirt! I loved every minute of it!  My only regret is that I could not figure out a way to get the mini bulls home on the plane with me!

Started the week off right with a trip to Bull Housing.  My bull crush, King Lopez, was looking handsome as ever, but not necessarily thrilled to see me!  He's just not a "people-bull"!

World Champ Bushwacker was not in the mood to receive an adoring fan.  I'm sure he had other things on his mind!  He looked great!  He'd lost 100 pounds and Bushwacker's handler, Kent Cox, told me that he'd been exercised well and feeling good.

Asteroid trotted right over to see me.  He was happy to get some attention and a good scratching!  He looked great and is such a sweet bull!  He was amazing in the bucking arena!!!

On Monday, I also attended the Exclusive Genetics Futurity event.  Seeing those two year old's was fun and nerve-wracking!

Tuesday, I was able to visit with the mini bulls for the first time.  These little bulls have the same attitude as the big bulls but they are just so darn cute!!  Hemi, pictured above, just stole my heart.

Tuesday night brought the first round of the ABBI Back Seat Bucker's.  I'd seen the first round in Pueblo, in May of this year, and it was interesting for me to see how much these bulls had grown in a matter of 5 months.  This dude was showing off his snotitude!

I was thrilled to see Legends Bull, Voodoo Child!  Unabomber, I'm A Gangster and Deja Blue were also in Vegas.  It was great to see these bulls again!  I sure do miss seeing them on tour!

Round 1 of the PBR Finals brought the rank pen of bulls!  And, rank they were!!  Here, Bushwacker bucks off his rider and Bushwacker was awesome.  He scored 46.75 pts and tied Asteroid for high bull score of the round.

Thursday, I attended the ABBI Futurity and Junior Futurity event.  This bull bucked off the bucking dummy and stood in the arena, as if to say, what's next?  It sure is exciting to see these young bulls buck, but with the fun comes a serious downside.  Two young bulls broke their legs, which is a terrible thing to witness.  I suspect I know the outcome, but really don't want to know.  It certainly makes watching this type of event much harder, and I suspect it will be a while before I can stomach it again!  On the bright side, my friend, Josie McElroy, competed in the Junior Futurity with her handsome two year old, Marty!  He's a rank little dude and I look forward to seeing him progress!

Thursday afternoon I was able to see the Mini Bull Riding competition.  These young cowboys are learning to ride rank bulls, that are just compact in size but not in attitude or ability to buck!

Thursday night was an ABBI Classic bull round of competition.  Here, Jungle Juice was fussing in the chutes.  Thankfully, Guilherme Marchi was right there to help rider Marco Eguche get out of this scary situation.  Finally, Marco was able to get out on Jungle Juice and rode him for 8 seconds!

Friday morning was the Posse Fan Club Bull Housing Tour,  Always a major highlight of the week!  The retiring Chicken on a Chain had a constant stream of visitors.  Chicken looked amazing for a 12 year old bull.  All of us bull fans consider ourselves fortunate to have witnessed the career of this magnificent bull!

Friday afternoon was the Touring Pro event and ABBI Derby for 3 year old bulls.  There are some great young bulls on their way up the ranks!  Exciting times ahead!!

Friday night during round 3 of the Finals, Unabomber (above), Black Pearl and Chicken on a Chain were formally retired.  Such magnificent bulls!  Their owners were brought up on stage for the ceremony.  I wished that the stock contractors would have been given a moment to talk about their bulls.  I must confess, I cried!

Saturday morning I was back at the South Point Arena for the Maturity Event and Claimer.  A good number of the bulls were claimed and headed home with new owners.  Looking forward to seeing many of these bulls bucking in the future.

Saturday brought Chicken on a Chain's final out.  He bucked off retiring cowboy Chris Shivers in what proved to be one of the most touching moments of the week.  Both bull and cowboy are true champions!

The championship round on Sunday was spectacular.  Here Bushwacker bucked off Agnaldo Cardoza in under 4 seconds and was scored 46.25 points.  Bushwacker looked amazing.  I was disappointed in his score.  I think it was too low.

So, I guess the debate will rage on for awhile about the World Champion Bucking Bull outcome.  I was thrilled for Jeff Talley, Gene Melton and the folks at Circle T Ranch for Asteroid's win.  That bull has bucked his heart out all year and proved he is one of the best!  But as happy as I was for Asteroid, I was devastated for Bushwacker and his owners, Julio Moreno and Richard Oliviera!  With all due respect to Asteroid, I think (and this is just my opinion) Bushwacker was underscored.  He bucked great and was out in the arena long enough for the judges to get a good look at him.  I will continue to be conflicted over this outcome, and perhaps wish that Bushwacker and Asteroid could have been co-champions.  They both deserved it!

It was an awesome week in Las Vegas.  With all of the drama, excitement and amazing animal athletes, I realized I am more in love with this sport than ever before.  Now there are two long months to get through before the 2013 season kicks off in NYC.  May all of the bulls rest up and enjoy their time off.  May all of the cowboys heal up and prepare themselves for a new season and even ranker bulls.

Thank you to all the stock contractors who work so hard in breeding, raising and hauling these incredible animal athletes to the PBR events.  I believe these folks don't get enough credit or time in the spotlight for all they do!  Keep up the great work!

So, until next season....







All photographs by Susan Hanrahan