SteerWrestling

What is Steer Wrestling?

All the basics of the steer wrestling event
Steer wrestling, also known as bulldogging is the quickest of the rodeo events. It requires strength, speed, and timing. Many of steer wrestlers are large, hefty cowboys which is why this event is sometimes called the big man’s event. Steer wrestling is a timed event, and cowboys compete against each other and the clock.

Bulldoggers start out in the box just like the tie-down and team ropers. The barrier is placed across the box and the steer is loaded into the roping chute. As soon as the cowboy nods his head the steer is released and he charges after it on his horse. The steer wrestler catches up to the steer as quickly as possible and then leans over, jumps off of his horse and grabs the steer by its head.

The bulldogger then plants his feet and tosses the steer onto its side, thereby stopping the clock.

Steer wrestlers require the use of a hazer to keep the steer running straight and from turning away from them.

A winning time is usually between 3 to 4 seconds, but these big boys keep getting faster and faster. Breaking the barrier in the steer wrestling results in a 10 second penalty which effectively puts you out of the money.
Speed and strength are the name of the game in steer wrestling. In fact, with a world record sitting at 2.4 seconds, steer wrestling is the quickest event in rodeo.

The objective of the steer wrestler, who is also known as a “bulldogger,” is to use strength and technique to wrestle a steer to the ground as quickly as possible.

That sounds simple enough.

Here’s the catch: the steer generally weighs more than twice as much as the cowboy and, at the time the two come together, they’re both often traveling at 30 miles per hour. Speed and precision, the two most important ingredients in steer wrestling, make bulldogging one of rodeo’s most challenging events.

As with tie-down and team ropers, the bulldogger starts on horseback in a box. A breakaway rope barrier is attached to the steer and stretched across the open end of the box. The steer gets a head start that is determined by the size of the arena. When the steer reaches the advantage point, the barrier is released and the bulldogger takes off in pursuit. If the bulldogger breaks the barrier before the steer reaches his head start, a 10-second penalty is assessed.

A perfect combination of strength, timing and technique are necessary for success in the lightning-quick event of steer wrestling. In addition to strength, two other skills critical to success in steer wrestling are timing and balance.

When the cowboy reaches the steer, he slides down and off the right side of his galloping horse, hooks his right arm around the steer’s right horn, grasps the left horn with his left hand and, using strength and leverage, slows the animal and wrestles it to the ground. His work isn’t complete until the steer is on its side with all four feet pointing the same direction. That’s still not all there is to it.

To catch the sprinting steer, the cowboy uses a “hazer,” who is another mounted cowboy who gallops his horse along the right side of the steer and keeps it from veering away from the bulldogger.

The efforts of the hazer can be nearly as important as those of the steer wrestler. For that reason, and the fact that he sometimes supplies the bulldogger with a horse, the hazer often receives a fourth of the payoff.

Steer wrestling is undoubtedly the quickest event in rodeo, often taking only three to five seconds for the entire run. The objective is to wrestle a steer, running at top speed, to the ground using only leverage and strength.

The “bulldogger” (steer wrestler) begins his run behind a barrier along with a hazer, a second cowboy whose job is to keep the steer from veering away from the dogger. After the steer is given a head start, the steer wrestler and hazer chase the steer on their horses, one on each side, until the bulldogger is in position to dismount onto the racing steer. The steer wrestler then slides down the right side of his horse until he can reach the steer’s horns.

Originally posted 2007-05-25 17:05:57.