Bulls and (Free)Birds

I just uploaded photos from PBR Bullnanza and the Rowdy Frynds Tour to our Flickr site. For Bullnanza, you can check a bunch of great action shots that our house photographer James Crisp took. For Rowdy Frynds however, there is a plethora of sets (sub-folders) in event’s photo collection. There are all the load-in and set up shots that I took day of the event, photos of the preshow in the Shops at Lexington Center, a bunch of “From the Stands” photos I took from my seat, and lastly some amazing photos that our house photographer Michael Wright took of all three acts (James Otto, Lynyrd Skynyrd, and Hank Williams Jr.). I know, almost too many photos to handle, but I have faith that you will have it under control.

As with all of our events we LOVE to see what photos the fans took. With your permission we even post them on our Flickr page under a fan photo set giving you full credit. Even if you don’t want us to put them up, we would still love to see them. Feel free to spam rupparenablog@gmail.com with a zillion photos you took from Bullnanza, Rowdy Frynds, or any other event you attended.

I Survived Bullnanza!!

I know what you are thinking right, Bullnanza??? I am a city girl; I really have no knowledge of bull riding or even cows for that matter. But, for the past few weeks a friend at work has been hyping up bullnanza to me. She kind of explained the whole thing to me since I was unsure as to what to expect. She showed me some video of bull riding and told me I would be throughly disappointed if I missed this year’s event. So I told her, sure why not, I hadn’t been to anything like that before.

Let me explain what bullriding is for those who dont know. The object is for the bull rider to stay on the bull for 8 seconds once he is let out of the pin. If the rider falls off before 8 seconds, they are awarded no points. If they stay on 8 seconds or longer, the judges judge their ride based on their technique and a few other things.

I think the most exciting part of bull riding is when they are let out of their holding pen to start their run. The bull comes out of there kicking and bucking with its fullest power and the rider is holding on to just a braided rope. Frankly, I am not sure how they can even hold on to that thing and it just not slip right through his hands. The bulls range from just normal size bulls to some of the largest bulls I have ever seen in my life! It’s hard to describe actually watching this event, so I shot some video for you:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_yENDqYiOg]

One of things I expected was for this to be really country, which it’s definitely not. Ya, there are some cowboys there, but nothing over the top. I think why this event appeals to so many people is because they try to make sure that there is something for everyone. They played everything from rock music, to popular hits that everyone knows, to country and even some rap! I think having the broad spectrum of genres there helps it appeal to everyone’s taste.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7gUH18r44CY]

One of the (i don’t want to use scarriest, but it really is) scarriest parts of the whole thing is when the rider falls of the bull. You can hear the crowd as a whole say things like, “watch out” or “oooooh”. A lot of times I guess the bull is trained to go back into the holding pen where they come from. But also a lot of the time, that is not the case. It almost looks like the bull wants a little revenge and he abruptly turns around and starts heading for the rider or the “clown”. I promise you you will not be able to take your eyes off of it when it happens. Most of the time the rider can get right up and runs to the side, but sometimes the bull is just too quick and that’s when the “clown” comes in. He tries to distract the bull and even sometimes pull him away from the rider on the ground. And even sometimes, which is funny, the bull tries to attack the “clown” and starts running after him. I am not really sure what the “clowns” are called now, but they have their faces painted and wear brightly colored clothing, but not like a traditional clown, to try to get the bull to notice them, so that is what I call them. And then sometimes, the bulls aren’t even distracted by the clowns and the guy and his horse have to come lasso the bull and pull him back into the pin.

One of the promotions they had was an audience member got to come out onto the floor and get down on all fours, and being blindfolded look for a $100 bill that was placed in dirt somewhere. I don’t know about you, but $100 isn’t worth it for me to get down in my good clothes and rummage around in the nasty dirt. (Also, notice the clown i was talking about before; he is the guy with the cowboy hat on.)

This bull riding competition was part of the PBR group and they evidentally tour nationally. So the cool thing is that they have the opportunity to come back to Lexington for their next competition. I would say this is just something that you have to see in person. Watching the video is nothing like being there and watching these riders try to hang on to these bulls for dear life. You have to just be there to experience the excitement! I know i will definitely go again next time they come around!