Rodeo Tough

For no good reason, a phrase from long ago drifted thru my mind the other morning. “Rodeo Tough”, it took me back about 40 years or so and I’ve seldom heard it since. Now days the catch phrase seems to be “cowboy up”. But, in my mind, they don’t equate.

From first hand experiences, “rodeo tough” is dislocating your riding shoulder on a head of rough stock Friday night, jamming it back in place behind the chutes, loading up, going on down the road, being up on another bull the next day and taking him to the buzzer. It’s going to the hospital to get a bone set and cast and then hurrying on to the next “show” ‘cause you’ve already paid your entry and you know you can still ride hurt. It’s a 135 lb. cowboy-clown-bullfighter putting himself between a bucked off cowboy and an 1800 lb. bull and taking a real beating because “that’s his job”; sacrificing himself to keep another cowboy safe. In short, it’s doing what has to be done, irregardless the cost, how broke up you are or how much the pain you’re in when the chute gate opens because that’s how you’ve learned to live your life. No-Matter-What!

Today’s rodeo cowboys still have a “get-r-done” attitude and do play hurt. They’ll “cowboy up” and give a better try than most because that’s their nature. But, rodeo’s changed over the years and today’s cowboys are athletes. They take care of their bodies and don’t seem as prone to take the extreme chances as their predecessors did before them. Probably, that’s a good thing because you don’t see as many hands ruined for life being that they’re too stupid to take any care of themselves and instead just tough it out. However, I miss the old time attitude. It strikes me as much the same thing that made our country great: “Damn the Torpedoes, Full Steam Ahead!” Don’t hear that any longer, either.