- Breeding
- ELITE DINING AND HOSPITALITY CLUB TO DEBUT AT 53rd WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL HORSE SHOW
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- Feeding and Management of Horses During the Transition from Warm to Cool Weather
- Buying a Horse
- How to Buy a Horse
- When Dealing With Horses Get It in Writing - Sign Up for May 16 FREE Webinar
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- General Horse Articles
- The Riding Tree: Communication Through Aids
- How to Find the Best Riding Schools in Your Area
- Healthy Horse Boutique Supports Haddad Staller In Her Olympic Quest
- Horse Feeding
- Ingredients in Feed that Affect Behavior
- Calcium - More than Just Bone
- Targeted Nutrient Therapy for Insulin Resistance
- Horse Grooming
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- eZall Shine & Detangler Transforms Ratty Manes and Tails Into Flowing Tresses
- What do do when the Panic is On to keep our Horses Safe!
- Horse Health Issues
- Let's Talk About Equine Probiotics - Equitivia
- An Equine Electrolyte for All Seasons - Electro-Ryte™
- Common Horse Illnesses: Laminitis
- Horse Training
- Equine Experts Send Us Your Best Tip - Win $750 Worth of KAM’s Healthy Horse Products and More
- Equestrian Education: Choosing the Right Horse School
- Relive Southern Eighths/Nikon Three-Day on YouTube
- Horses & History
- The Missing Equine Link: How the Modern Horse Came to Be
- Battle-Ready: A History of the War Horse
- Top 5 Strange and Unusual Horses
- Horses & Sports
- Cookies With a Clue For Your Horse
- ELITE DINING AND HOSPITALITY CLUB TO DEBUT AT 53rd WASHINGTON INTERNATIONAL HORSE SHOW
- Submit Your Grant Proposal To USA Equestrian Trust
Are Rodeo Events Too Rough? A Closer Look at Charreadas
03/30/2009
If you’ve ever seen rodeo events like reining or barrel racing, you know how thrilling they can be. Horses tear through obstacle courses at break-neck speed, stopping on a dime, kicking up dirt and sand in a frenzy. But what makes them so thrilling is pre
If you’ve ever seen rodeo events like reining or barrel racing, you know how thrilling they can be. Horses tear through obstacle courses at break-neck speed, stopping on a dime, kicking up dirt and sand in a frenzy. But what makes them so thrilling is precisely what makes these rodeo events so dangerous—the danger to the horse.
However dangerous traditional Western rodeo events are, they have nothing on the Mexican charreadas. Charreadas are rodeo events that pop up everywhere from California to Illinois. At these rodeo events, Western riding is taken to its extreme. Rodeo events like reining become escaramuzas charras, a female drill team sport that involves dancer-like dressage precision practiced at a full gallop.
But perhaps the most disturbing of the charreadas’ rodeo events is the practice of horse tripping. Similar to calf roping, horse tripping (piales en lienzo) rodeo events involve several lasso-wielding cowboys trying to lasso the front legs of a horse, bull, or a steer, causing it to trip and fall to the ground. These rodeo events cause deep gashes in the horses’ flesh, broken teeth, necks, legs. And those that can survive these rodeo events are often so lame by the end of the season that they are quickly slaughtered.
The charreadas argue that horse tripping and other sorts of rodeo events are centuries old, and they have a right to practice tradition. Many people disagree. Horse tripping rodeo events are now illegal in 8 states, with Nebraska being the latest. But the charreadas argue back that horse racing in general—not just their rodeo events—is a dangerous sports for the animal. Some schools of dressage are so severe, many of horses have tendon injuries similar to these rodeo events. And how many broken necks and legs can you find a year in thoroughbred racing?
But it can be argued that American rodeo events have changed in recent years to avoid undue cruelty. Steer roping became outlawed around WW1 because of the percentage of steers that broke their necks due to their enormous weight. Calf roping replaced steer rodeo events, and the tradition was allowed to continue, though in perhaps a more moderate form.
But even then, has that been enough? In rodeo events, bucking straps are cinched very tightly over the bellies of a horse to try and irritate them into bucking. This causes injuries—both from the bucking rodeo events themselves, as well as the sores created from bucking straps. It’s not unusual to see rodeo horses with large open sores on their sides. That isn’t even addressing the issue of how the back of the horse is hurt as it tries to twist itself free of the straps in these rodeo events. Mercy For Animals recently had a veterinarian conduct a survey of horses and other rodeo livestock, only to find the animals so extensively bruised from their rodeo events that they had punctured lungs, broken ribs and spine, and gallons of blood accumulating under their skin.
While this is all very graphic, we do have to keep in mind that it’s easy to keep rodeo events safe. It only takes care and attentiveness to ensure that rodeo games stay friendly—instead of violent. But as for horse tripping, well—not all traditions are worth keeping.
