Last night at the Buffalo Chip, Vaquero Joe Freedman rode a bull. Yes, a real sized-rodeo bull. The Chip has been having these bull riding sessions out back of the saloon and Joe told me he was going to ride. Now I had mixed feelings about this because, yesterday was Joe's best day ever at True West. He sold a ton of ad space, more than he has ever sold, IN ONE DAY! I thought to myself, finally, after a year, Joe gets untracked and then he gets trampled by a bull and comes in on Thursday a vegetable.
Well, he did hurt his wrist from the, ahem, dismount, but he survived.
Speaking of bull, working on another True West Moment about Tom Horn coming to Phoenix in November of 1889 to participate in a Cowboy Competition (it wouldn't be called rodeo until the 1920s). He turned in a record time of 58 seconds and the locals all agreed it was a record that would stand for a very long time.
Yes, that's Camelback Mountain in the background. My hunch is the arena was way out of town, probably at McDowell and Central in a vacant field. Also, the steers got a fifty yard headstart, and there were no fences. The cowboys were adamant that it had to mimic cowboy life in the wild.
My, how that has changed.
"The art of living is more like wrestling than dancing."
—Marcus Aurelius
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