The International Professional Rodeo Association (IPRA), presented by the Rawhide Rodeo Company, will make The Paris Fairgrounds a stop on the 2012 Professional Rodeo Season Series.
Bull riders must have the reflexes and the body control of a gymnast if they hope to be successful. A bull rider stays on by means of a flat braided rope with a loose handhold. Using his grip and a little dry resin, he keeps that rope tight around the girth of the bull, just behind the front legs.
The contestant hangs onto the horse using only a custom fitted handhold in a rawhide and leather rigging. As in the saddle bronc riding, the mark out rule is in effect and a cowboy must have a consistent spurring motion to earn a high score. Marking for bareback spurring motion is different.
The cowboy rides a specially fitted, regulation bronc saddle. He holds onto the ‘swells’ of his saddle with his thighs while lifting on a single rein with one hand to keep him down in the saddle. Aside from getting bucked off before the eight seconds, a contestant can also be disqualified for touching the horse or his equipment with his free hand during his ride.
After beginning behind a barrier, the steer wrestler rides along the left side of the running steer. He then slides off his horse, grabbing the steer by the horns. After stopping or turning the steer, the steer wrestler uses leverage, strength and technique to wrestle it to the ground.
Requires two cowboys working together. The ‘header’ begins in the left-hand box behind a barrier. When the run begins he ropes the steer, ideally by the horns. After the catch is made, the header ‘dallies’, or wraps the tail of his rope around his saddle horn and turns the steer to the left.
In barrel racing, the contestant enters the arena at full speed on a sprinting horse. As she enters, she triggers an electronic eye that starts the clock. Then the racer rides a cloverleaf pattern around the three barrels and sprints back out of the arena, tripping the eye and stopping the clock.
