History of The Rodeo


All rodeo activities and events come from actual chores and responsibilities of ranching.
Although, these days, American and old Western tradition is stressed as being a big part of rodeo, it actually originates from practices of Spanish ranchers and vaqueros. Their cattle wrangling and bull fighting dates back to the 16th century.
Bull Riding and Steer Wrestling are just two events we celebrate that were introduced by the spanish.
Steer Wrestling in Texas can be contributed, also, to the black cowboy, Bill Pickett, who invented a new way of wrestling the steers; the same way we practice it today.
Each event has significance in ranching, even if some of them do seem silly.
These events were combined with theatre to create entertainment in the form of "Wild West Shows", which were later met with competition from "Cowboy Competitions" which were less formal. Of the two, Cowboy Competitions survived, and were later joined with Wild West Shows to become what we know now as "Rodeo"

Home