Argumentative Essay On Rodeo

Rodeo is the sport of cowboys and cowgirls that compete in various events on horseback, or on the back of the bull, all related to the Wild West and ranch type activities. Some of these events include bull riding, bronc-riding, calf roping, team roping, goat tying, barrel racing, etc. Rodeo is sport for all ages, which youth rodeo associations, little britches rodeo, junior high associations, high school associations, college rodeo, all the way up to the professional rodeo. In a recent article posted on Celerity Insider, the article discusses how the ‘Counting On’ stars, Joy-Anna Duggar and Austin Forsyth, were ridiculed for attending the Fort Worth Stockyard Rodeo in Fort Worth, Texas. The couple was harassed by the viewers of the post for

them not caring about animal welfare and the safety of the animals. They claimed that rodeo was a terrible sport and that this young couple was horrific individuals for even attending the rodeo. (Kerr, 2017)

Many animal rights groups such as PETA, Northern American Animal Liberation Press Office, and SHARK are against the sport of rodeo and are doing everything they can to put a stop to it. A major way to achieve their goal is simply boycotting rodeos. This is something that many individuals against rodeo feel the best way to make rodeos disappear are to boycott them. In a letter written by Lynn Trakell, she states “Brutality towards animals for entertainment is unacceptable and teaches our children the wrong lesson.” (Trakell, 2002, para.6) This is teaching younger generations a misconception about rodeo. This also spreads false information about what rodeo truly is.
Later in the letter, Trakell states “All animal welfare organizations oppose them, including the RSPCA.” (Trakell, 2002, para.7) The definition of animal welfare groups is the concept that implies that we as human kind are responsible for caring for the animal’s physical, mental, and behavioral needs. People that are considered “animal welfarists” are those that believe in the protection, care, and humane ethnicity. They feel that it is okay if animals are used for food, research, and a fast and painless death. If we can raise animals to be researched and tested on in ways that can be painful and unfair to animals, why can’t we use livestock that are treated way better than the average lab rat? Also, many animal rights groups and animal liberationists are against rodeo as well, but when looking at the actual details of what these individuals believe, there stands no chance for anyone who has any interest in any sort of use for animals. Animal rights believers feel that animals should not be eaten, used for research, hunted or killed, and are against vivisection as well. They believe that animals should only be used for what animals need for themselves, and that humans should have no interaction with animals at all. Therefore, it doesn’t matter if a calf is roped or a hamburger is eaten, or a dog is neutered, they are against any use of animals. Liberationists have the goal to end all types of animals, and are willing to use terrorism and commit arson in order to end the use of animals.
The letter written by Takell ends with “Don't support cruelty. Please boycott rodeos.” (Takell, 2002, para.7) If we take into account what the different animal welfare leaders, rights activists, and liberationists we would barely be allowed to have pets. These individuals are simply looking at an overview of such a complex sport, and do not take the time to understand and ask questions, based on their already set standards they have created in their minds. Not once have they spoken to a rodeo athlete, official, judge, and rule maker etc. to find out what actually happens behind the scenes. They simply see an animal being used and immediately run to social media to tell all of their “followers” why they should follow in their footsteps and boycott the sport of rodeo. They never walked to the behind the scenes of a rodeo where the roping stock and bucking stock are settled into a nice fresh bed of shavings, with fresh water, hay, and feed to ensure the perfect condition of each livestock.

Within any sport, hobby, event, lifestyle choice, there are always going to be individuals who feel that what you’re doing is wrong based on their opinion that they have and the emotions that it strikes within them. For example, vegetarians will always be against meat, and they always seem to influence others their opinion based on their beliefs. There is one thing common between every sort of opinionated individual; they all use one common source, the Internet. The ‘Counting On’ stars were ridiculed for attending a rodeo on the internet. These individuals hide behind their computer screen, jump on the next greatest band wagon and decide that they want to be against something they have no idea about. Most of the time these people who decide to be against a particular thing, often claim they “learn” everything they need off the internet, which is most often complete false information that they believed to be real facts.
Media sources have taken many photo graphs and flipped them around to misrepresent what they truly mean, as well as twist other’s words in order to allow the media source to hear what they want.

A very popular media page that is against rodeo is SHARK, which stands for Showing Animals Respect and Kindness. This page has a ton of articles that encourage others to view rodeo as cruel. SHARK had written an entire article on the Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, and how cruel the rodeo was. After the article went viral, many Internet surfers began really discussing how cruel rodeo was and suddenly more protests began, and more and more people began boycotting rodeos. Once this happened Rodeo Spokesman began talking and firing back at the negative comments proving their statements were in fact false. Soon after this major upturn, an article was written in the Wyoming Tribute Eagle, titled CFD Rodeo: Safe or Cruel? The article discussed what SHARK had mentioned in their article and what the rodeo spokesman said in return. “SHARK said a different horse died Tuesday in the arena after its rider rode dangerously close to a fence. The group said the rider may have created the accident by riding too close to the fence. CFD responded that an autopsy by a board-certified veterinarian showed the horse died from aortic aneurism. "There was no trauma" from an injury, Budd said. The death could have happened anywhere. The horse "died of a medical condition, not an injury."” (Orr, 2013, para. 1)

This is just one example of how rodeo was looked down upon in a horrible way, yet when in reality, all of the so called information was completely false in the first place.
Perspective Three: National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association and Competitors
College rodeo competitors and associations often have to take on the harassment from other college associates, animal rights activists on campus as well as at the rodeos, and very rarely do they get to share their story as to how well their livestock are cared for and treated. The National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association (NIRA) has a very large book of rules and regulations, followed by fines to competitors who break those rules. For example, there is a $250 fine for any competitor that whips, or hits horse; this ensures the safety of that animal. NIRA finds it very important to ensure the safety of all livestock and competitors throughout the entire rodeo season. Not only are their rules for the horses, but for the stock used as well. The bareback and saddle bronc rough stock are not allowed to be used more than twice in one day. That means each animal is used for no more than 16 seconds in an entire day. The reminder of the time they are properly cared for bedding, grain, and hay, all while being constantly looked over and checked to ensure they are comfortable and unharmed. There is an entire section in the NIRA rulebook dedicated to ensuring the livestock are cared for properly and humanely. Such rules include, there must be a veterinarian on call at all times, any NIRA member or stock contractor, who is found guilty of mistreating any of the livestock can be subjected to fines of $250 or more, all roping steers must have horn wraps on them, and many more. NIRA and all competitors and supporters of the industry do their very best to take pride in their work and care for the animals behavioral, mental, and physical needs to ensure a fun and safe rodeo. (Walters et al, 2016)

As a competitor for the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, I can personally vouch for the care given to these livestock competitors.

“Bulls are amazingly tough animals, according to Dr. Willis, and are more likely to be injured fighting one another in a pasture than bucking in an arena.” (Nolen, 2012, para.11) It is important that we stay away from the media sources that harass such competitors when they are ultimately giving these livestock a job that they learn to love. The celebrity couple mentioned in celebrity insider was harassed over social media only because of the alleged mistreatment of animals that is displayed by false sources that have one goal, which is to end

rodeo.
The common misconception of livestock being beaten, murdered, harassed, and harmed needs to become a thing of the past. If individuals truly looked into the care, rules, and regulations that each rodeo has, there would be fewer misconceptions that floated around the internet and fewer individuals would be harassed over the internet, protests would stop and the celebrity couple would have never had to explain themselves for simply attending a rodeo that they enjoyed. If we come together to make a stance against these animal rights groups and their followers, rodeos could be more enjoyable by many and there would be no reason to boycott America’s toughest sport, rodeo.