Rodeo in Brazil, My Experience in the State of Rio De Janiero in 2009 Riding Bulls

I have been competing in rodeos since I was 12 years old and riding horses since before I could walk. I’ve been in hundreds if not thousands of rodeos now and in the rodeo, as in many other things, some stories are going to come up. A couple of years ago, when I was at a rodeo in the quaint town of Meadow Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, I rode a bull that was red and huge. When I say huge I mean he was as tall as the slides (his back was level with the top rail of the slide which is six feet off the ground, his head and horns were taller than that) and well I quickly got my ass delivered to me for him I can remember being upside down with my hand still on my rope and my feet in the air thinking “I wonder how far off the ground I am still?” When I finally did, I made my way back to the falls as fast as my feet would carry me, even though it was only about seven feet since I didn’t really last very long.

A little embarrassed and a little bruised, the bull’s owner, Kody Kropius, was impressed and asked if I wanted to go to Brazil in August for a rodeo there. Kropius meets Jim Ivory of Cody, Wyoming, the president of the International Pro Rodeo Association (IPR). The following Monday I called Mr. Ivory and he gave my number to Dici Birtche from Brazil, the International Director of IPR, who invited me to compete in his rodeo, which ended up being only two weeks from that day. It turned out that there were two open spaces, so a friend came with me, another bull rider named Jordyn Robinson. We both managed to get our visas together and we hit the road. Arriving in Brazil and its overwhelming humidity, Dici Birtche himself met us at the airport and we were on our way to ride bulls in Brazil! It was great to finally meet Dici and it was just the beginning of being in Brazil for the rodeo for the first time.

We drove through the city of Rio De Janiero as the sun went down and the colorful and vibrant city hummed around us. Once we settled into our hotel room, I crashed on my stomach for a few hours and later woke up in a haze, unable to believe I was really here. It was like a dream. I couldn’t do much more than smile and be grateful for this incredible opportunity. That afternoon we headed to Copacabana, the world famous beach, to see the sights and swim in the ocean. The afternoon flew by. The next day we packed up and drove four hours north to the town of Campos Dos Goytacazes, still in the state of Rio de Janeiro, the town where we would compete.

The first night the rodeo was to take place, we were a bit confused as to how time worked there. We got there around eight at night and it started to rain, so we took shelter under the announcer’s booth and waited for it to pass. Pretty much every event I’ve been to has an actual set start time, but they threw that rule out the window there. In fact, it was great, we just waited until the rain stopped and then we started the show. Even when it was raining, it wasn’t too bad because it was quite hot. When the rodeo finally started, the opening was absolutely unreal. There were fireworks and performances you wouldn’t believe. They made a big deal out of each of us as confetti flew from the cannons, we took our flags down the stairs into the arena and into the spotlight.

After all the preparation for the opening, I was excited to ride my bull that night, and every other night for that matter. I remember being in the fall and they kept turning the lights on and off. It was like they were on a dial in your bedroom at home and the rodeo producers turned on the lights just as you were ready to ride. The production of the event was exceptional, even though we didn’t get to ride until probably around one in the morning, the stands were still packed and you could feel the energy of the arena. As for the bull riding I did there, it didn’t go very well either. 95% of the bulls in Brazil are Brahmas and almost none have horns. They roll a lot to the sides and expel the stars. When I mean that, I mean that they kick with their hind legs so high that they are almost straight up and down. On the three bulls I tried to ride there, I could have done 8 seconds on all three bulls combined. It hasn’t improved much on my recent trips to Brazil.

Those of you who have traveled know how out of place you feel in a foreign country. Well take that and add having to compete in your sport and only one or two people within a mile of you speak your language, the announcer is out on the slide pumping up the crowd in Portuguese the whole time while you try to focus on competing. Long story short, I didn’t stay at any of my bulls there, but I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people. In fact, there’s a picture of me on the promoter’s website where I’m face down in the dirt upside down and the bull is about three feet in the air showing off for the crowd. All in all, it was an experience I won’t soon forget. The people of Brazil are some of the best people in the world you could ever meet and I will be back whenever I get the invitation in the future.