Fiesta de los Vaqueros: Boots, Bulls and Bucking horses

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In previous blogs I wrote about the old Wild West feel in the nearby city of Tombstone and at the nearby Old Tucson film studios.

This weekend, however, it was time for the more contemporary cowboys, because Tucson was all about horses, bulls and boots, or the Fiesta de los Vaqueros. This annual Rodeo event really is a big thing here, with more than 60,000 visitors each year.

The rodeo grounds breath stereotypes, with basically everyone wearing cowboy hats, leather boots, strolling around in wrangler jeans, plaid shirts and big buckles. Surrounded by Ram trucks, Ford advertisements and the strong smell of testosterone and horse shit. When you came unprepared (or directly from Europe) you can buy your own hat, boots and buckles at the stalls on the grounds. And of course eat steak, burgers or delicious taco's if you're hungry. It's just all very typical American. And, well, when you are in America, do as the Americans do!

So last year we were lucky to be able to go to one of the rodeo days of the event. I can tell you that it was surprisingly entertaining. The main event takes a couple of hours and consists of 4 different elements: steer roping (getting a young steer to de ground with a rope), steer wrestling (getting a young steer to the ground by jumping on it from a horse), barrel racing (racing around 3 barrels on a horse), 'rodeo' (staying on a bucking horse) and bull riding (crazy guys sitting on a bucking bull for 8 seconds).

Of course one might (and should!) question the well-being of the animals involved. The horses don't jump around for no reason, the bulls don't either. Although I always believed that the animals were bucking because they had a rope tied around their testicles, this fortunately is not the case. They do wear a flank strap, to encourage bucking. But the animals were trained to do so and are not harmed in any way to make them buck (or so they say). Having said that, they all looked good and healthy, which makes the rodeo more fun to watch.

The finale of the rodeo, the bull riding, is the most spectacular and most dangerous part of the event. A good documentary about this aspect of the rodeo, is the Netflix production called 'Fearless'. It shows what the competitors have to endure, how passionate they are, the risks they take to be the best. You really have to want this, to voluntarily sit on a bucking bull for eight seconds. To risk breaking your bones, end up being paralyzed, or even die. For them it is a lifestyle, a passion. To be able to sit on a monster with nothing but muscles, and stay on it. And yes, the money helps.

Because the winner of the day? He walked away with 10,000 dollars, and probably a couple of broken bones.