Townsville Rodeo

Just a few kilometers north of Townsville Queensland is Black River stadium. A sports arena for motocross , concerts, horse events and rodeos. Sun Bus provide a Charter Service to the events . The annual Rodeo event is currently on. Participants range from novice to past Australian Champions and are drawn from all over Australia . Further events in the circuit are planned at Hughenden , and Charters towers later in the month.

Stock management at the rear of the chutes was my first objective. the yards are unlit and massive 5 ton Brahman Bulls along with a scraggily mob of yearling with uniform 10 inch horns ( handelbars ) stand lazily in their respective enclosures . Twenty or so 6 mth old calves stand about forlornly looking for food. There job is to sprint to the other end of the stadium trying to avoid the lasso of the following horse women in the 'Break Away' events.

Horses are being prepared and warmed up These horses include the umpires horses , safety attendants horses, pickup riders horses. I seen on the events board a For Sale sign for a 5 year old cutting Horse for $15,000.00 . Experienced and able to do anything. I'm sure some of the better horses would fetch 20 to 30 K

The Safety Clowns, Akruba Hats, Cowboy shirts and leather boots were in abundance. It is a cooler evening with a chilling breeze up the river, good for animals but a need to have an extra layer on to prevent an evening chill. The logistics of managing an event became evident when i took stock of the assistant and participants in the ring and around the chutes . Gate release , Judges and commentators , Photographers , and retrieval and marshaling staff. The Commentator kept up an informative announcements of events participants and some background music to add to the atmosphere.The crowd has swelled to in excess of 5000 spectators .the small Stadium is full. Cleveland Bay Lions Club catering for the crowd through out the evening, Chips , wedgies, Hot dogs , Steak sandwich and Burgers Tea and coffee along with non alcohol drinks .

Special area around the Bar , Security monitoring ensuring the alcohol is only consumed in the designated area . Early on , I lined up for a Burger and was impressed with the slab of porterhouse along with lettuce and tomatoes captured between very thick bread.

I sidled up beside the security man who had oversight of the marshaling yards. I assume his job was to to keep the Riff-Raff for bothering the Cowboys . I asked him a few inane questions, he had little interest in the proceedings and even less knowledge of the process. He allowed me on into the preparation enclosure . Saddles, ropes , head halters, chaps, bridles and an array of flank straps which is the primary tool to encourage the horse or Bull to throw his hind legs skyward.

The Bull riders were bandaging their left arms which had me intrigued . The elastoplast was wrapped tightly around the Biceps and again around the for arm . A bridge link of twisted tape joined these to bandages to protect and prevent over extension of the cowboys elbow. The Left hand is locked into a glove and attached to a handle or belt which goes around the girth of the bull. This helps to keep the riders center of gravity closer to the animal and negate the flailing effect of centrifugal force as the bull rotates violently in his effort to dislodge his tormentors.

The evening events are a variety of different forms of action . The Horse Back buck jumping is either Saddle bronc riding or Bareback further divided into novice or Open. The Ladies are involved in animal roping , barrel racing and providing back up to the yearling wrestling of the horned yearlings. The Bulls have one outing for the evening and are always ridden bareback . The animal's have done it all before and are very familiar with the routine. I did not see any maltreatment they only received a slight pock with a stick to move them forward into the respective chutes.

Injuries of course this is a high risk sport these cowboys undertake . The bulls objective is to get rid of the flank strap which is pissing him off and secondary is the small scrap of humanity which is atop his back . The final seconds in the chute see the assistants give the flank strap a tweak . On one occasion this tightening, propelled the bull skyward about three feet while still in the chute. The cowboy bellowed in pain as his legs where scrubbed up against the metal railings of the gate . The bull seemed to sense his riders displeasure and repeated the skyward jumping a further five time inflicting severe injuries on his jockeys legs . ( Very similar to a cheese grater) the Cowboy was smartly unravel led from his hand attachments by the chute attendants and extracted across the chute fence. I could see the amount of excruciating pain from his crush injuries he was in from his inability to stand , the paleness of his face, the juice running from his eyes. Paramedic in attendance quickly managed him out of then environment towards the ambulance.

I suppose he could have been allocated a re re ride of he so desire.

Alvin