I'm at a miniature bull riding competition in Helena MT to photograph a couple of Blackfeet kids who are competing. I'm holding back from posting stuff from that project, but here are a couple of others.
I'm not saying this with any moral opinion here, but I've never witnessed something so potentially terrifying to a young kid in my life than bull riding. At one point the announcer said jokingly something along the lines of mini-bull riding is a Montana approved form of child abuse.
This kid was pretty darned scared to get on the bull. He hesitated for a long while, but after some encouragement from his pops, decided to go for it. What followed was pretty brutal. The kid got flung all over the place by the bull, tangled up, thrown off and then got his arm stomped on. Sometimes the bull will continue flailing around after the rider has been thrown to the ground, at which point generally about 10 cowboy dads all rush out and pile on top of the bull together. Its quite a site, and it shows how protective the dads are albeit in their cowboy way. The picture to the right is from after the ride. I talked to the kid's father a bit, and he said that he'll will probably ride again tonight. Wow.
For the most part, the kids seemed to love it, in addition to the parents, so I think its cool. It did definitely make me aware of the still 'tough' values of neo-frontier life.
4 comments:
! Wow! Thanks for posting, Serge! MT still??? I'm thinking of a little MT trip here at the end of the month... but do let me know if you get down this way, as usual!
XOX Rachel
When I was at the Indian Days Rodeo in Browning the announcer said, "That bull looks like my wife when I try to get her out of Wal-Mart".
I hope you are doing well!
Wow. That woman sounds like a real hazard to other shoppers. He should just let finish shopping on her own.
Thanks for looking Thea! Hope you are well too.
Yeah that seems pretty intense especially for a young kid. Thanks for the insights Serge.
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