W O R L D ’ S
O L D E S T
R O D E O ®
History & Culture B Y
WORLD’S
OLDE ST
R O D E O ’S®
It survived two world wars, the Texas Revolution, the U.S.Mexican war, the American Civil War, and the 2020 pandemic. In the early years of the United States, it started as a simple ranch versus ranch competition, with no chutes, gates, or time limits. As Larry Bastian wrote and Garth Brooks sang:
It’s boots and chaps It’s cowboy hats It’s spurs and latigo It’s the ropes and the reins And the joy and the pain And they call the thing rodeo You are witnessing the culmination of hundreds of years of skills that came to be known as rodeo, from the Spanish word rodear, to surround. It is a magnificent mixture of cultures, genders, and traditions that showcase the ultimate human and animal athletes. What we know of rodeo today most likely started with Spanish ranchers and Mexican vaqueros, whose traditions began a century earlier with the conquistadores. Blending Anglo and Spanish cultures led to the birth of the American cowboy era in the early 1800s. The real-life skills
50 WORLD’S OLDEST RODEO® • 1888-2022
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