Bulldogging Takes
Roth Skill, Strength
Wrestlers Must Study
Tricks of Trade
There's something fasscinating
about watching a man wrestle a
steer three times his size and
throw it to the ground with his
bare hands.
Steer wrestling—or bulldogging
a-. it’s frequently called—looks
like a job that takes not much
skill but a lot of brute strength.
Bulldoggers, at least, are a 11
strong, husky young athletes.
On the contrary, it takes as
much skill and training to throw
a rank steer in less than 10 sec
onds as it does to drive a clean
wood shot 275 yards off the tee,
straight down the middle of the
fairway.
Rodeo’s top steer wrestlers
study the technique of their trade
as avidly as any football squad1
goes through long hours of skull
practice.
They make films of good
wrestlers in action, run them
in slow motion to study the
fine points of fining and bal
ance needed to get an 800
pound pile of bone and muscle
to lie down.
Many doggers have a few steers j
on their home ranch and in the
k
off weeks of the long rodeo sea
son you’ll probably find them out
in the corral, practicing to im
prove their technique.
Watch them in action at the
rodeo and you’ll appreciate that
steer wrestling is not as easy as
years ot practice make it look.
Steer wrestlers compete against
each other for the best time and
the first thing a cowboy must do
in this event is make a good start
out of the chute, whether the lo
cal rules call for starts behind
the barrier or lap and tap.
In some large arenas, the steers
are till given a pre-determinod
head start marked by a score line
.several feet in front of the chute.
Next to the score line stands
one of the flag men. with a line
to a spring latch holding a rope
across the box where the con
testant awaits. As the steer
crosses the score line, the flag
man drops his flag to indicate
the start of time and simul
taneously pulls the rope barrier
in front of the waiting bulldog
gcr.
If the dogger starts too soon,
hr breaks the barrier and a 10
sreond penalty is added to his
tim.” If he starts too late hr los
es precious seconds trying to
catch up with the steer.
In lap and tap starts the steer j
is given no head start and the1
dogger can jump it right at the
chute gate. !! the cowboy starts
loo soon he gets ahead of the
steer and it gets away.
The next problem is the jump.
—a
Throwing a steer three times your si/.e to the ground takes some doing. 'Dogger ean’t start too
soon or faees a penalty.
No two steers run alike and you'll
see quite a variation in their
speed. On the opposite side of the
steer another cowboy rides as a
hnzer to keep the steer running
straight. There’s always the dan
ger that the steer will “set up”—
stop .just as tlu1 wrestler slips out
of his saddle—and the cowboy
will take a hard fall in the dust.
Once he has a frim grip on the
head of the critter, the cowboy
must bring the running steer to
a complete stop by planting his
boot heels in the dirt ahead of
the steer. If his feet get behind
him he'll be dragged along help
lessly.
Time is up when the steer falls
an its side with all four legs free
and tiie feet and head pointing m
ihe same direction. If the steer
‘dog falls," with its legs under it
ar spread eagled, the cowboy us
ually has to let him up and start
aver. And at any minute the big,
sturdy animal may wrench free
and escape.
As soon as the steer is prop
erly thrown, the other flagman,
mounted nearby, drops his flag
in a signal to stop the timer’s
watch.
"Houlihanning’’ -- jumping on
; h c head of the steer so it’s
uiocked off its feet—is out. If it
lappens accidently, the dogger
r.ust let the steer up and throw
lim by hand. “Pegging"—driving
i horn into the ground to gain
everage—is also outlawed.
Like roping, steer wrestling de
lends on the closest possible
eamwork between cowboy and
torse. The horse muse not jump
;ut o! the box too quickly or lag
ichind when the barrier drops,
mmediately, he must gauge the
:peed of the steer and get in just
he right position close alongside.
Vhen the dogger drops the reins
ind starts to slip out of the sad
lle, the horse must hold both
iace and position. If he shies to
he left he’ll drop the cowboy on
lis head; if he rides too close he
an cause a serious injury.
But no matter how scientifical
y its practitioners approach it,
teer wrestling is still a man
ized job. Jumping from the sad
ile at full gallop to tangle with
he horns of an 800-pound steer
ill never be either safe or easy.
Frontier for printing!
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