Cowboys catch buck fever

Video and photos of the Pioneer Days rodeos

RONAN - It sounded like something out of a bad horror movie.

First, you could hear a knocking sound from hooves that jolted your senses and a loud grunt from something that was definitely not human.

Then you see the horns.

It wasn't Hollywood's latest creation to scare theatergoers. This was a bull from the Pistol Creek Rodeo Company and plenty of them were in attendance at the Pioneer Days Rodeo last weekend in Ronan where, surprisingly, there were also plenty of brave cowboys willing to jump on their backs.

"It's about courage and strength," bull rider Austin Reynolds, of Ronan, said.

Throwing out strategy and technique, it usually comes down to the cowboy with the biggest heart, he said.

And they need that kind of heart before they even get into the rodeo arena. One of the most dangerous things about bull riding is getting into the chute with the bull before they're let loose.

"As many bull riders get hurt inside that chute as outside of it," rodeo announcer Joe Warner said.

Several cowboys are usually huddled around a chute, adjusting, pulling ropes and ensuring that the competitor gets on the bull safely.

"It is dangerous," Reynolds said. "But it's easier being around your buddies."

Then the chute opens and all heck breaks lose. That extremely unhappy bull that was raising a fuss in a confined space now throws all its energy towards bucking off a human being less than one-fifth of its total body weight.

Many bull riders agreed that eight seconds seems like a lifetime.

"How many of these riders have gone seven and a half seconds?" Warner asked the crowd during Friday night's rodeo after another rider just fell short of a score.

Gus McDonald, of St. Ignatius, is a relative newcomer to the sport of bull riding, having started just a year ago.

"I've wanted to do it as a kid," McDonald said.

He had seen plenty of bull riding as his uncle, Elmo McDonald, is one of the owners of the Pistol Creek Rodeo Company, which is based in Ronan.

"He threw me in," McDonald said.

While he picked up a no-time on Friday, he plans to turn in eight seconds to the judges very soon.

"I haven't ridden one [for eight seconds] yet," McDonald said. "I plan on doing it."

Bulls aren't the only fearsome animals at the rodeo. The true power of a bucking horse was demonstrated last Friday night when a horse crashed into one of the fences of the rodeo grounds and bent it over like a tin can.

"My horse was good. They all were good horses," saddle bronc-rider Dalton Collier, of Arlee, said.

Along with bull-riding, saddle bronc riders have to get their practice in by either finding animals to practice on at their own farms or farms of others.

"Whoever you can find who will let you practice," Collier said. "Before you get to the rodeo you have to get equipped mentally."

Whether it be an animal or a barrel in the backyard, the rider has to come to terms with what's going to happen once the chute is opened.

"I like the rush part," Collier said. "Heck, I want to get out there. You only live once."

The worst injury Collier has suffered so far during his first year of riding on rough stock has been a broken hand in May.

"That horse did everything except pull a knife on him," exclaimed Warner after another rider met an early ejection.

No knife was needed, as many animals during the Pioneer Days rodeos gave their rider an exciting ride, something that is needed since the judges grade the animal's bucking during the run and the rider's ability to hang on.

"You just have to focus," Reynolds said about what goes through his mind before a run.

The other thing a cowboy has to do is have to get enough courage to sit down in a chute with one of the snorting, restless animals.