Eureka and the bulls

Springs that is. In NW Arkansas. Hot water comes out of the ground. People soak. Artists work. It's another artists conclave. Shop after shop after shop. We took the trolley to move from place to place. Big biker area. Lots of people riding these three wheel cycles (Tricycles?) and pulling little trailers. It's been a beautiful few days with sunny skies and highs of about 70.


On the way home, listening to a great country station, 94.3, we heard about a Bull Riding Rodeo going on over in Huntsville,Ark. Looks about an hour away, so we rush home, drop off groceries and head out. Lots of windy country mountain roads. Takes an hour 15 to get there. The arena is called Sky Hi and we take a dirt road next to a Conaco station way back and up into the woods. It is sky-high, and there are bulls and cowboys everywhere. If you ever watched any bull riding, you know how violent and jerky they buck to get folks off their backs. They weigh up to 1800 lbs., are all muscle, and mean in disposition. As the guy behind me said as he spit tobacco juice into a cup, "they wasn't made for ridin', they was made for eatin'."They had the last four or five years national champs out there riding these beasts. You have to make it to the bell to get a qualified ride and advance. The first guy up, one of the champs, got tossed and the bull landed on him. The rodeo workers and a mounted cowboy with lariet and bull whip keep the bull away from the downed rider while they remove him. A later rider caught a spur and was held on by one heel as the bull continued to spin, kick and buck. You have to be nuts to get on one. To get mounted, they run the bulls, one behind the other, through narrowing steel fencing until it's so tight that the bull can't turn at all. They put a rope under him and cinch it up, which really irritates the bull. The rider is then loaded and he wraps that rope around his hand and grabs a braided piece of bull mane, which further riles the bull. When the rider says ready, they throw open the gate and out they come. Some rider were thrown before the gate was fully open. After they separate the two, the mounted cowboy tries to herd the bull out, but some of them really have an attitude. The bulls leave when they're good and ready. If they didn't clip and shape the bulls horns, nobody would get near them. The show also included precision riding by twelve cow girls with American flags tearing around. One of them opened the show singing the National Anthem acapella while sitting on an alert and anxious horse. A very good performance. We didn't stay for the last round, but it was an entertaining evening.