A Brand New Season

Billy-Bob start of 2008 season at BBar Ranch.

Billy-Bob started a brand new season in 2008 with excitement and a little fear.  Mike and I were hesitant to pay for his membership in the W.R.B.R.A and hesitant to find a sponsor for Billy-Bob.  We didn't want to end up like the first year and have him pull out after just a few rides.

One thing was good, he was still young enough to ride on sheep and not calfs yet.  Calfs buck, sheep run and occasionally jump.

One thing about bull riders, even the tiny ones, are the superstitions that develop over time.  Billy-Bob doesn't have any that revolve around his riding clothes, thank goodness, I can wash the clothes after each ride.  Some of the boys wear the same pants or shirt all season.  The clothes become filthy dirty, and sometimes ripped.  Some of the boy have religions symbols on their gear, some wear religious and secular medals, some have different bands over their vest and some have different rituals that they will do before each ride.  Billy-Bob has sheep wool in his vest pocket, for his luck.  He's even had one of the boy's ask "Do you have you're luck?"  In a sport that is dangerous even with safety equipment and bull fighters, judges, and arena men in the arena superstitions are a way for the riders to negate the danger.

For the sheep riders the danger is much less.  The sheep can run the kids into the chute, the gate, or into another sheep.  Billy-Bob's first injury came from being stepped on when his sheep ran between two others, leading to a scrape on his back.  There's also the bumps and bruises from falling off the sheep.  The goal is to ride until the bull fighter pulls you off but there's a lot of skills to put together for that to happen and the reality is falling of... a lot.

Billy-Bob had some other odd superstitions surrounding his rides.   He always looked for the same boys to help him in the chute.  He'd get jumpy if the sheep were rolled to many times.  Animals in the chutes are moved forward, rolled, into open chutes so that other animals can loaded from the alley.  This keeps the pace of the ride moving.  Billy-Bob also got nervous every time he thought he was going to have to ride the one black sheep that the assoc. had.  I really never figured that one out, it did have a tendency to jump when it first left the chute although I don't know if Billy-Bob was aware of that.  All he would tell me was "I don't want the black one, its tougher".

Billy-Bob insisted that I was the one to take him behind the chutes, get him signed in, and help him put on his gear.  Heaven forbid if Mike tried to help put on Billy-Bob's spurs.  Billy-Bob also developed a routine for getting ready.  He would have me hang out his chaps and vest.  I would also help Billy-Bob in getting his rope tied up so that the rope could be rosined.  We always arrived in time for Billy-Bob to get all of that done and then go and play with the other mutton busters.  I found that if we arrived to late to allow this down time Billy-Bob didn't do so well on his ride.

Billy-Bob still has his luck in his vest pocket even though he's moved into calfs.  I am sure he will develop more as the years go on and let others drop to the wayside.  Billy-Bob is already looking forward to the hand me down riding boots that are on their third rider.  They bring luck.

"See Mom I said I wouldn't be scared."

March 2008 before Billy-Bob quit.  It think at Lincoln, Ca.

Billy-Bob said, "Remember mom I said when I'm five I won't be scared" and he wasn't.  He didn't cry or scream or freak or try to climb off.  After Middletown Billy-Bob walked a little taller.  I think that Billy-Bob was proud of himself for conquering a fear.  I don't think that Billy-Bob would have termed it conquering a fear, I don't think he'd really understand that completely at the age of five.
To Billy-Bob, he was excited that he was riding, excited that he was seeing friends again, and excited to get a toy!   Mutton busting was something to do that was a combination of exciting and scary.  For Mike and I, mutton busting was something to keep Billy-Bob busy.
Billy-Bob is my active child, moving full speed from morning to night, his teacher this year calls Billy-Bob her squirrel.  An apropo nickname as we've often compared Billy-Bob to Hammie from "Over the Hedge".
Billy-Bob didn't crawl as a baby.  He did try to pull himself up a few times.  But at eight months and three days Billy-Bob stood up and ran.  He hasn't stopped since!
Billy-Bob exhibitioned in two more rides after Middletown before the season ended.  Billy-Bob never covered the rest of the year but he had a lot of fun and both of us learned.
For Billy-Bob there was the rush to get ready, the grand entry, and the rush to find his sheep.  For me there was a new routine and a lot to learn.
Just getting the sheep rope rosined is an artform in itself.  And trying to learn the knot was beyond me.  All rough stock ropes, from the sheep ropes all the way up to the bull ropes have to be tied in a knot, one that won't slip but is easy to adjust for the size of the animal.  Sometimes the ropes have to be tied into a double knot, which is not twice as hard to tie but about 100 more times harder to tie, if the animals are small for the rope.
Then there is the task of hanging the rope on the animal.  The bells go on the bottom and the rope has to go around but leave the room for the tail to come up to let the Billy-Bob take a wrap and still have excess left over.
Once that is all done it's time for Billy-Bob to climb down and get set.  Getting set is a skill that has to be developed but unfortunately I did not know what to teach.  So it wasn't until 2010's season, Billy-Bob's first on calfs, that Billy-Bob started to really learn what to do when in the chute and when it was time to go.  Normally other older boys helped Billy-Bob when he was riding sheep which was a good thing for Billy-Bob but unfortunately the older boys would contradict each other, which wasn't such a good thing.  Sometimes the dads would offer advice.  This was more helpful.
After those last few rides we had six months to get ready and prepare for the new season.
Then it was time to go and go we did!

Equipment: Traditional and Safety

Billy-Bob, Big Vinnie, unknown cowboy.  NorCal Jr. Rodeo Clements, Ca. 2010

I want to take a moment to go over the equipment that is used.  Equipment is important in an rough stock event. 

     Now a sheep, calf, steer, or bull can be ridden in basically any attire but there is a standard that should be followed for both tradition and safety. 

     We'll start at the top and work our way down.  In the youth events a helmet is required.  In the adult events and in the youth events where the child has turned 18 a helmet is strongly recommended but not required and you will see some of the adults just wearing their cowboy hats.  Billy-Bob and most of the kids use a youth hockey helmet, with a bit different face mask.  A hockey helmet is pretty easy to find and we went to our local feed store to order one.  As we've gotten further along on Billy-Bob's adventures we have had a chance to look at all the different kinds of helmets that are worn, from the standard hockey helmets to made for bull riding helmets.  The little kids' helmets have chin straps but as they move up a chin strap becomes a hindrance because a helmet needs to be able to come off if a bull's horn catches the helmet.  Billy-Bob was small when he started and finding something that would keep the helmet up high enough that he could see was not easy.  I padded the top with socks, washcloths, and finally used kotex.  I'm sure that kotex is not something a dad would think off and we did get some funny looks, but with the sticky backing the kotex stayed in place while everything else fell out.  Now Mike needs to adjust the helmet up as it's finally tight on Billy-Bob's head.

     Moving on is a mouth guard.  Billy-Bob likes a mouth guard that attaches to his helmet.  Which for a kid that hits the dirt face first a lot is kind of nasty!  I rinse it out with a water bottle every couple of rides but still that dirt has all kinds of things I don't even want to think about.  On the other hand this keeps Billy-Bob from losing his mouth guard.  We tried everything not to lose the mouth guards and they were kept at various times in the case one came in, in Billy-Bob's vest pocket, and my all time favorite (said sarcastically) in my pocket both before and after the guard had been in his mouth.  We went through about five mouth guards, sometimes buying them on the way to rides and using hotel microwaves to boil the water to shape them to his mouth.  We also found out that Billy-Bob had such a tiny mouth when he first started that even trimming cutting the thing down to fit still left little sores in the back of Billy-Bob's mouth. 

     The long sleeve western shirt is a must.  We live in an area that can get HOT in the summer, over 100 and sometimes over 110, a long sleeve shirt is miserable.  Billy-Bob and I usually carry ours in the car and put them on once we get to the event.  Billy-Bob does not like to change his shirt behind the chutes, amazingly enough he's shy of other boys seeing him, he used to wear a shirt swimming, so he will normally change in the car.  Occasionally Billy-Bob will just put his western shirt on over a t-shirt.  Not wanting the boys to see something they shouldn't, I have learned to change quickly in the SUV.  I open the front and back doors, stand facing the inside of the car and whip off my shirt and pull on my western shirt.  The western shirt is worn not just for tradition but safety also.  A long sleeve shirt gives a layer of protection to the kids when they hit the dirt, sometimes the shirt is ripped but the skin's not even scratched.

     The next important piece of equipment that the rider wears is a padded vest.  These are tailored looking and can adjust to fit, with velcro on the shoulders, and pull tabs with velcro on the sides and they are zippered fronts.  Again, Billy-Bob was so small when he started that his aunt put in extra vecro down the front to get the shoulders to fit.

     A glove for the riding hand is a must.  Billy-Bob started with a TeeBall glove but has since moved into a youth bull riding glove.  We had such a hard time finding these gloves.  Linda down at our feed store spent a lot of time and energy trying to get Billy-Bob a glove ordered.  We took measurements and once Linda even called a company while we were standing there.  The first glove that got ordered was from a company that, after promising we would get the glove in time, never did send anything.  The next glove we ordered was way to big and got sent back.  The glove Billy-Bob now wears finally fits him.  It spent a year in his gear bag until Billy-Bob's hand grew enough to wear and still has to be taped onto his wrist to make it tight.  The gloves are made out of leather and Billy-Bob's goes down his wrist and has a tail of sorts that tightens on and velcros in place.  The problem with a too big glove, especially in calf riding, is that the child can not get a good grip on his/her rope and the fingers can bind under and get hung up in the rope.  Not a safe issue at all.

     Most cowboys wear a belt with a belt buckle.  But you will notice that the riders don't normally keep the belt buckles on.  This was not a big thing in mutton busting but once Billy-Bob moved up to calf riding, the belt needed to come off for safety.  We had a bit of a problem as Billy-Bob is usually in slim pants and still needs the belt to cinch them tight.  A young man that rode NorCal Jr. Rodeo this last season, Lane McNearny, showed Billy-Bob a neat little trick.  Take a piece of two of the fringe from the chaps and use that to tie two belt loops together.  This keeps the pants up safely.

     Onto pants.  Would any old pants do?  Why only wear jeans?  The answer starts in tradition but ends in safety.  Denim material is pretty thick and can withstand a hoof scraping down the side of it, mostly without tearing.  Sometimes, with the older boys, it can hold up to a bull horn also.  Not that I'm saying it won't rip or tear, one young man two years ago got the seat of his pants ripped out by a bull's horn, but the skin under was still intact.

     Chaps look like they are just for decoration don't they?  All prettied up with fringe a-flying?  Some boys don't use chaps or are saving for chaps.  Chaps are made of leather and depending on how fancy they are stamped depends on the price.  Billy-Bob's going on four years with the pair of chaps he's using, he started with them way above his belt and now they have been dropped below.  I am hoping that he'll win something this year that will have chaps as a prize, otherwise he will need new ones next year.  Chaps also play a pretty important role in safety also by adding an extra layer between the foot or horn and the skin. 

     Boots are traditional and safety wear also for the riders.  You may notice the cowboy lifesafers, the bull fighters, wearing tennis because they need traction, but the riders will be wearing boots.  Boots give the foot more protection for being stomped on and we have come to learn, instead of boot ties, long lacers are the best.  Boot ties are straps that go  around the boot to tighten the top of the boot so that the boot does not come off during the cowboys ride.

     Two last important pieces of equipment are the spurs and the mutton, calf, steer, or bull rope. 

          The spurs are traditional but they are very functional also.  Spurs have three parts, the spur, the rowel or the jangly part at the end, and the boot strap ~ the part that goes over the top of the boot to hold the spur in place.  The rowels on bull riding spurs are not supposed to move.  Billy-Bob started with a generic pair of child's spurs.  These are smaller roping type spurs, where the rowel moves.  In riding and training horses rowels need to be able to roll so they do not inflict damage on the horse but still work as an aid in cueing the horse.   But bull riding spurs need to stay fixed in aiding the rider to get a better grip on the side of the animal . We used a piece of baling wire to fix Billy-Bob's rowels from moving.  This last year we bought Billy-Bob bull riding spurs.  Linda again went through the catalog and found the smallest pair of bull riding youth spurs she could find, with a 45 degree tilted inward angle.  Mike still had to heat them and squeeze them smaller to stay on Billy-Bob's feet.

         Finally the rope.  Billy-Bob got a brand new hand tied Pro Calf Rope from Tom Scrivner owner of Reata ropes this last season.  It has a half sized handle, for his smaller hand, a braided handle, to keep it from rolling over, and a braided tail, to keep the tail from twisting.  Billy-Bob's first mutton rope came again from a catalog order.  Just a basic white cotton rope.  The year he was going to start exhibitioning in calfs, to get ready for the step up from sheep, we bought a calf rope for twenty dollars from a steer rider, unfortunately, I didn't know this, the handle was starting to roll over, which will get a kid hung up.  Then we ordered a calf rope online, the one that came was so small it would have fit the sheep he'd been riding and it was not in the color shown, red.  Finally a steer riders dad showed my his son's rope and we ordered the Pro Calf Rope.  I don't think that Tom had made a Pro Calf Rope before as he kept referring to it as a Pro Steer Rope, but it is a nice rope and was reasonably priced!

     There you have it, all the gear a mutton buster, calf, steer, or bull rider will use for each ride.  They all carry other things in their bags, water, food, good luck charms, wire cutters, wire brushes, rosin, glycerin, pliers, wire, phones, and toys to name just a few.

Everything has a use and an importance.  Unfortunately due to my lack of knowledge in the area and Billy-Bob's young age, it's taken us a long time to learn the ins and outs of the usage of a lot of the equipment.  Just ask Billy-Bob now though, and he will give you a demonstration and a lecture why he uses each piece.

Taking a moment to organize

I have been trying to find pictures from Billy-Bob's first forays into the mutton busting arena.  Unfortunately, due to a fire in 2007, I am missing almost all the pictures from that time.  We have been hunting and scanning pictures from my mom and in-laws the last week or so.  I am going to try to post on Sundays through Thursday nights so that I can be consistant and take Fridays and Saturdays off.  I am hoping that I can add more pics as I go and find them.  Right now I am not sure where Michael has scanned and saved them to.

On with Billy-Bob's tale.
As of January 1st of 2005 Billy-Bob was listed as a 3 year old for the Northern California Bull Riders Assoc., even though his birthday is in the middle of January.  So he was riding as a 3 year old when he was actually 4.
My mom and my in-laws drove up for his first ride of the year with gear and all.  I took him again behind the chutes.  What was nice about this assoc. was that the older boys and girls, yes girls, were all willing and eager to help with the littler ones.  All I had to do was ask what do I do.
I handed Billy-Bob down into the chute to Sara, a bull rider, and climbed down in with them.  Billy-Bob cried and cried this time as soon as he sat on the sheep.  Sara was very good with him and we finally got the chute open.  Billy-Bob didn't make it very far, I don't think he even made it out of the chute before he fell off, but at least we had another ride down.  I had to go and carry him out.  I wasn't sure what the heck we were all getting ourselves into or if he'd ride again.
The answer, of course, was....

Toys.
You thought I was going to say Yes huh.
All mutton busters get a toy.  They also compete for a buckle but no money and really at 3,4,5, and 6, toys are great!
We watched the bull riders and back to the hotel we went.  This was a 2 day event. 
In my head is still the picture of Billy-Bob wiped out asleep in the hotel bed with his Elmo Blankie and Pooh Bear, alas, that was on the computer that burned.
My little cowboy and my little boy all rolled into one.

You may ask...

You may be asking why would a mom encourage her son to ride calfs? Why encourage the beginning of bull riding? Sure riding sheep is cute, but calfs? He could get hurt!

Billy-Bob was a deceptively calm and quiet baby, only three sleepless nights in the first year.

Of course that was just to lull us into a sense of calm.

Ignore the fact that he was starting to roll over at 3 days old. I thought he was a bit ahead on his milestones but the doc. didn't, he didn't try to crawl, pull up, or walk.

But at eight months and three days I get a call from the hubs. Guess what Billy-Bob did today... He stood up and ran!

OMGosh help.

He hasn't stopped since. Although the boy sure can sleep hard. We've had to find something for him to keep him busy.

Along came a young man that bought our colt. He was a nice young man, Nic Lica, with a bit of a hard life. My oldest knew him from riding lessons, he was in junior high and both boys immediately idolized him. Nic worked off his colt by doing chores and exercising horses for us. He also wanted to ride bulls. Eventually Nic was going to ride steers in Jr. Rodeo and asked us to come watch him. Billy-Bob was three and was enthralled. He didn't want to leave the fence. At the next rodeo we talked with another parent who told us of an association that had sheep riding.

Thus starting our adventures.

Hello!

Welcome!
Thanks to my sis-in-law, Cathy Chapin, for recommending that I start this blog.
My son Billy-Bob rides calfs in rodeo. He started riding sheep on and off when he was three. He's eight now and just finished his first full year competing on calfs.
In Billy-Bob's first year of calf riding, he has made the Youth World Bull Riding Finals in Texas this year, www.YBRnow.com , the first week in Aug.
Join me, if you will, on Billy-Bob's adventures this year.
Share in the stories of a mom in the back chutes.
Watch as Billy-Bob grows in his sport and in his maturity!