40 Fun Facts About Bull Riding

Which Beverly Hills, 90210 star played world champion bull rider Lane Frost in the film 8 Seconds?

Luke Perry played Frost in a film whose title is the time a rider must stay aboard to score. Its director had earlier made Rocky and The Karate Kid.

Rodeo cowboys who went on strike at Boston Garden named their new union, forerunner of the PRCA, after which animal?

Turtles gave the Cowboys' Turtle Association its name in 1936. The cowboys said they were slow to organize but unafraid to stick their necks out.

Which actor rode a mechanical bull at Gilley's honky-tonk in the film Urban Cowboy, sparking a bar craze?

John Travolta and Debra Winger showed filmgoers how it was done in 1980. Rodeo riders still train on mechanical bulls, sharpening their skills without the risk of a live animal.

Before moving up to calves and bulls, young rodeo riders traditionally start out by clinging to which animal?

Sheep are the mount in mutton busting, where a small child hangs on as the animal runs. Age and weight limits on the riders protect the animals.

After Lane Frost was fatally gored in 1989, fellow rider Cody Lambert designed which now-mandatory piece of safety gear?

A protective vest was Lambert's answer, based on the one his jockey brother wore. He was the only bull rider using one for months; by 1996 it was mandatory.

Which city hosted the PBR World Finals for more than 25 years before the event moved to Texas?

Las Vegas staged the first World Finals in 1994 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena and stayed the event's home for over a quarter of a century.

Before winning PBR world titles, champion José Vitor Leme spent years as a semi-professional in which other sport?

Soccer was Leme's game for eleven years, and he says many of its moves translate to bull riding. In 2021 he set a PBR record with a 98.75-point ride.

How large is the bonus the PBR pays its world champion bull rider at the end of each season?

$1 million goes to the champion on top of his season's winnings. Chris Shivers was the first rider to collect the bonus, in 2003.

Adriano Morães, winner of the PBR's very first world championship, comes from which country?

Brazil sent Morães north after he won national titles at home in 1992 and 1993. He became the first rider to win three PBR world championships.

Lane Frost died in 1989 after a ride at Frontier Days, the huge July rodeo held in which Wyoming city?

Cheyenne has held Frontier Days since 1897 and bills it as the world's largest outdoor rodeo. Frost had already finished his ride when the bull turned on him.

Which bright yellow bull of the 1990s was known across rodeo as the world's most dangerous?

Bodacious was retired in his prime by owner Sammy Andrews after seriously injuring two top riders in quick succession. He was a Charolais cross born in Oklahoma.

Which bull went unridden in 309 professional attempts before Lane Frost beat him in a seven-match series?

Red Rock was brought out of retirement for the 1988 Challenge of the Champions, and Frost rode him in four of their seven meetings.

Which bull bucked off 42 straight PBR riders before J.B. Mauney finally lasted eight seconds on him?

Bushwacker had already thrown Mauney nine times before that 2013 ride. The bull won three PBR world titles and retired after the 2014 World Finals.

Which champion rode his last bull at the 1989 National Finals an extra eight seconds in memory of Lane Frost?

Tuff Hedeman, one of Frost's closest friends and traveling partners, stayed aboard for sixteen seconds as he won that year's world title. He later co-founded the PBR.

Which PBR co-founder and seven-time all-around world champion cowboy later competed on Dancing with the Stars?

Ty Murray joined the show in 2009. The singer Jewel, then his wife, was cast for the same season but withdrew after an injury in practice.

Which Oklahoma cowboy won 16 world championships and owned the famously unrideable bull Tornado?

Jim Shoulders, nicknamed the Babe Ruth of rodeo, set his record of 16 titles in 1959. He also helped design Wrangler's cowboy-cut jeans.

Which veteran cowboy made rodeo history in 1967 by riding Tornado, a bull that had thrown 220 riders?

Freckles Brown ended Tornado's unbeaten run in a moment still known simply as The Ride. The bull is buried at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.

Which Mesquite, Texas, cowboy won eight PRCA bull riding world titles between 1974 and 1984?

Don Gay grew up at the Mesquite Rodeo, which his father Neal ran, and both men are in the ProRodeo Hall of Fame.

Which English songwriter and lifelong fan of the American West bought a share of champion bull Little Yellow Jacket?

Bernie Taupin, Elton John's lyricist, bought an interest in the North Dakota bull, who won three straight PBR World Champion Bull titles from 2002 to 2004.

What must a bull rider keep clear of the bull and of his own body for the full eight seconds?

Free hand contact with the bull, the gear or the rider himself means no score, however long the ride lasts. The other hand stays wrapped in the rope throughout.

What hangs from a bull rope beneath the animal, adding weight so the rope drops off after the ride?

A metal bell is strapped to the rope's knot and clanks under the bull all ride long. Its weight drags the rope off the animal once the rider is gone.

Which substance do bull riders work into the glove and the tail of the rope to improve their grip?

Rosin comes from pine trees, and the same resin helps violin bows bite the strings and baseball pitchers keep hold of the ball.

Which piece of tack is tied around a bucking bull just in front of the hind legs to encourage kicking?

Flank strap is the term, and despite popular belief the soft cotton rope is not tied around the bull's testicles. Tie it too tight and the bull will not buck well.

In a multi-night bull riding event, what name is given to the final round for the top-scoring riders?

The short go, also called the championship round, brings the leading riders back for one more bull, and the highest total score wins the event.

What is the rodeo name for the comic entertainer who works from a padded steel drum in the arena?

Barrelman is the title, and the idea dates to the 1930s, when clown Jasbo Fulkerson first used a wooden barrel with a solid bottom for protection.

The rodeo clowns who distract the animal from a fallen rider are now usually known by what name?

Bullfighters once handled the comedy too, but the job has split in two. Most no longer dress as clowns, though they keep the bright, loose-fitting clothing.

Skilled bull riders can earn extra style points from the judges by using which piece of gear during the ride?

Spurs used on bulls cannot be sharpened or carry a fixed rowel, and the PBR permits only two types. Working them during the ride impresses the judges.

Which colorful leather leggings protect a bull rider's legs and add some flair to the sport?

Chaps are probably the most noticeable thing a bull rider wears, and cruiser motorcyclists have adopted the same garment for protection on the road.

Once the grip is set in the bucking chute, how does a bull rider signal for the gate to open?

A head nod is the signal, and the chute gate then swings open from the side to let the bull storm into the arena.

Bull riding grew directly out of charreada, a tradition of ranch-skill contests from which country?

Mexico's own form of the sport, jaripeo, dates to the 16th century, and its riders still try to stay aboard until the bull tires and stops bucking.

Which bull rider and six-time all-around champion is the subject of the Oscar-winning film The Great American Cowboy?

Larry Mahan won five straight all-around world titles from 1966 to 1970 and a sixth in 1973. The film took the 1974 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

After a bull shattered his face in 1983, champion Charlie Sampson rode the National Finals in which headgear?

A lacrosse helmet and a neck roll protected Sampson's rebuilt face that December. A year earlier he had become pro rodeo's first Black world champion.

Which two-time PBR world champion recorded country music albums and later coached the Nashville Stampede?

Justin McBride released two studio albums after a riding career that brought PBR world titles in 2005 and 2007 and 32 premier-series event wins.

Which actor played a PBR bull rider in The Longest Ride, the film of a Nicholas Sparks novel?

Scott Eastwood had four stunt doubles for the bull scenes, and only one, PBR rider Bonner Bolton, managed a near eight-second ride on the top-ranked bull Rango.

Most bucking bulls are crosses of which humped, heat-tolerant breed developed in America from Indian cattle?

Brahman crosses weighing 1,500 pounds or more fill the bucking pens, and a good one starts work at two or three and reaches its prime at five or six.

Cowtown Coliseum, which staged the first PBR event and houses the Bull Riding Hall of Fame, is in which Texas city?

Fort Worth's Stockyards are home to the coliseum, and in 2024 the PBR moved its world headquarters into the same historic district.

In what kind of place in Scottsdale, Arizona, did bull riders gather in 1992 to found the PBR?

A hotel room hosted the meeting, and each founder put in $1,000 to start a tour that would stage bull riding on its own, away from the other rodeo events.

Wade Leslie's ride on the bull Wolfman is famous as the only one in rodeo history to earn what?

A perfect 100 has been awarded just that once in any rodeo circuit. Wolfman came from champion bloodlines: one of his grandfathers was the Hall of Fame bull Oscar.

American Bucking Bull, Inc. verifies the parentage of registered bucking bulls using which laboratory method?

DNA testing came to bucking bulls through rodeo announcer Bob Tallman, who proposed it in the 1990s after using it in his own breeding program.

Along with a trophy cup and a cash bonus, the PBR world champion receives which wearable gold prize?

A belt buckle is the champion's badge, and the PBR's gold one has been valued at $20,000. Team Series winners lift a trophy shaped like a giant version.