DONE Rodeos Cowboys Okalahoma

The spirit of the old American West can still be found at rodeos. Modern-day cowboys compete to stay on wild, jumping horses, or struggle to ride bulls that weigh up to a ton. Cowgirls also compete in rodeos.

Rodeos used to be found mainly in small towns out in the country. But today Americans in big cities also get the chance to shout "ride 'em, cowboy!"

(MUSIC) VOICE TWO: The first major open-air rodeo of the season is called La Fiesta（假日） de los Vaqueros -- Spanish for the Celebration of the Cowboys. And the cowboys will be celebrating February eighteenth to the twenty-sixth（18-26） in Tucson, Arizona.

Current and former world champions of the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association will take part. In all, about seven hundred competitors will demonstrate their skills.

And if that is not enough, there is also the Tucson Rodeo Parade on February twenty-third. Organizers call it "the world's longest non-motorized parade." Who needs a motor when four legs and a horse will do?

La Fiesta de los Vaqueros is one of hundreds of professional rodeos in the United States. Rodeos have long been a tradition in the West. But the sport is also popular in major cities in the Midwest like Chicago, Illinois, and Minneapolis, Minnesota. In fact, rodeos can be found from coast to coast. Georgia and North Carolina are two Eastern states with rodeo programs for high school students.

Some rodeos are held in big sports centers. And some are shown on television. A rodeo might also have related events. In December, the Minneapolis Invitational held parties to celebrate the New Year. Rodeos have gone from small, local events to big business. For example, the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo took place in January in Denver, Colorado. It gave away five hundred thousand dollars in prize money.

(MUSIC) VOICE TWO: American rodeos developed long ago from the skills that cowboys needed to work with cattle in the West.

Cowboys had to know how to train wild horses. They had to be excellent riders. And they had to know how to use a rope to catch and tie a runaway cow.

By eighteen fifty, cowboys were competing in roping and riding in New Mexico. But Pecos, Texas, is called the "Home of the World's First Rodeo." The event was held in eighteen eighty-three. It took place on July fourth, America's birthday. Other early rodeos took place in Wyoming, Colorado and Arizona.

In nineteen twelve, some wealthy businessmen in Canada agreed to pay for a rodeo in the town of Calgary, in Alberta Province. That rodeo was called the Calgary Stampede. If offered cowboys prize money up to a thousand dollars.

VOICE ONE: Today, rodeos include events like bull riding, calf（小牛） and steer（闫牛） roping, steer wrestling, saddle bronc（野马） riding and bareback（无马鞍） bronc riding.

Bronc is short for bronco. A bronco is a wild horse, or a horse that still acts like one. A steer is a young male cow that has been neutered（阉牛）

Steer wrestling and bareback bronc riding developed as rodeo sports in the twentieth century. Saddle bronc riding, however, was a traditional cowboy skill. It developed because of the need to train a wild horse to accept a saddle and rider.

The rider gets on a saddle bronc in a narrow space. But a good saddle bronc hates to be ridden. The horse will buck.（弓背） It will jump up and down and kick its back legs high in the air. The horse wants to throw its rider.

The door is raised, and the animal and rider burst out in front of the crowd. The cowboy rides the horse as if he is riding an earthquake. He is supposed to stay on the bucking bronco for eight seconds. He also must show good form.

Professional rodeo judges rate each rider. Half the rating depends on how violently the animal bucks. So cowboys hope they get a really lively one.

VOICE TWO: Cowboys also compete to see who can ride a bull the longest. And they compete to see who can bring a cow under control the fastest.

In one event, the cowboy throws a rope around the neck of a calf, and then has to tie three of the legs of the young cow. In another event, the cowboy jumps off his moving horse to take a full-grown（ cow by the head. The cowboy has to pull the animal to the ground.

Cowgirls also compete in professional rodeos, but not to the extent they did a long time ago. In fact, men and women used to compete together in the same events.

Now at mixed rodeos the women take part in timed events in barrel racing. Barrels are big round containers. The cowgirls have to make sharp turns on their horses to race around three barrels. It takes a lot of skill.