When Bull Hits The Fan

 

A few years back my wife, Peggy, and I took an interest in watching professional bull riding on television.  Attempting to ride a bull looked like quite a challenge and loads of fun.  I thought bull riding was something I would have tried if I lived in the West where it is a common sport, even for high school students.  I thought at the very least I could attend a bull riding event to witness first hand all the sights, sounds, smells, and excitement first hand.  Maybe even get a look at the behind-the-scenes action in the chutes that you don’t get to see much of on television.  Unfortunately Virginia doesn’t offer a lot of bull riding events.  When an event did come to the Commonwealth we always seemed to be too busy doing something else to travel several hours to attend.   That all changed in August when a professional bull riding event came closer to home.  Peggy and I made the extra effort to attend our first bull riding event at Great Meadows, just forty minutes from home.

 

A few weeks prior to the event, Peggy was telling me about a bull riding game we hadn’t seen before.  We had seen Bull Poker, where a group of four contestants from the audience sit at a poker table as they let a bull loose in the arena.  Last one still sitting at the table wins.  But we had not seen the Circle of Fear game played.  In this event, two circles of rope are laid in the arena; one audience contestant steps into each circle.  Then they let the bull loose.  The object is for a contestant to have his two feet, and at least two of the bull’s feet, in the circle at the same time. When that happens the contestant scores one point; the first to score two points wins the competition.

 

As we arrived at Great Meadows and paid our $15, we followed a rescue squad ambulance into the field for parking.  That should have been my first clue that someone could get hurt that evening.  On our way to look for a seat on the lawn overlooking the arena, we passed the announcer’s booth.  Just at that moment they announced they needed two volunteers to participate in one of the events.  I figured I was in the right place at the right time since I wanted more exposure to the bull riding experience.  I promptly volunteered and was then told what I was volunteering for.  A little hesitation started to creep in but not enough to keep me from signing the release form.

 

With most of the bull rides over for the evening, it was time for the Circle of Fear contestants to report to the bull pen area.  It was great being right there with the riders and seeing first hand all the preparations and excitement the riders went through for what hopefully would be a short eight second ride.  This made volunteering for the Circle of Fear worth it.  These guys aren’t afraid of these bulls so I shouldn’t be either.  Besides, I figured they wouldn’t let anything but an old, small, hornless bull loose on a couple folks from the audience. 

 

It was time to get in the ring and play a game.  The cowboys laid out the two rings of rope about 10 feet in diameter.  I stood in one ring and the other contestant, Patrick, stood in the other ring.  They opened the bull pen gate and out trotted the tallest, widest, meanest looking bull of the evening, and he had plenty of horn to share on us want-to-be cowboys.

 

At first we both stood still while the bull, looking a bit confused, sized us both up.  Then Patrick decided to make something happen.  Waving at the bull he drew his attention and the bull promptly chased him to the other end of the arena.  Never having witnessed this game before I figured that I needed to draw the bull’s attention to me and coax him to join me in my ring instead of my competitor’s.

 

Walking to the other end of the ring I approached the bull head on as Patrick tried to move back towards his ring.  The bull dropped his interest in Patrick and gave me his undivided attention as I approached to within about 10 feet.  We both stood there looking at each other trying to figure out who was going to make the next move.  He lowered his head and rolled his big eyes up to get a different view so I gave it to him as I kicked a little dirt in his face trying to get him to move towards me.  That didn’t seem to faze him at all so in the interest of a little showmanship, I did it again.  That did it!  Cocking his chin back a litt le toward his feet, he charged.

 

Running backwards towards my circle as fast as I could, the bull gained on me quickly.  I remember the bull’s wide nose at the base of my feet as I bent forward with outstretched arms in an attempt to keep him away from me.  I don’t really remember the hit exactly but I recall through my peripheral vision the sight of the announcer’s booth, then the tree tops going by in a blur.  Finally all I could see was the blackness of the night sky above with the whiteness of the arena lights casting their beams, but from somewhere below me.  The bull had thrown me up ten to twelve feet and backwards twenty to twenty five feet rolling me on my back so I was ascending skyward belly up.  

 

That wasn’t so bad.  Kind of a nice ride actually.  Then was the descent back to earth.  Not being able to see the ground I had no idea how far away I was from it.  As the fall progressed I thought it should be about time I land now.  Then the wind passing by me from the fall seemed to double in speed as I gained momentum on my reentry.  About the same amount of fall time passed again and then I got a taste of the dust rising from my crash landing.  An immediate pain stuck my back as I landed on the left side of my back, sliding in the dirt and stone of the arena grounds.  I felt my pelvic bones violently pivot backwards as my left hip hit.  I immediately cringed at the pain in my back and tried to get up but all I could was bend my legs in an effort to stand.  Nothing else seemed to be working or in my control.

 

The announcer made a comment to get me out of the arena before the bull hooked me again.  Almost immediately six to eight of the bull riders were picking me up and pushing me up the arena fence to safety.  I looked back and the bull was calmly watching all of this and surprisingly stood still while I was being helped.  At the moment I was fine, out of danger, and regaining the breath I had lost when I hit the ground.

 

I wasn’t hurting at all after my rescue. It was about ten for fifteen minutes before I started to feel the aching ribs and sore hip.  The next day I noticed a huge bruise where the bull’s horn had hit my hip while launching me into space.  I was pretty sore all along my left side and neck.  I had busted a rib in the back, another busted in the front and had torn all the groin muscles around my left leg.  It’s been 3 weeks as I write this and I’m almost able to stand and balance on my left leg without assistance, my ribs still hurt and will for quite awhile, and the stiffness in my neck is waning.  Would I do it again?  Even though things didn’t work out the way I had hoped, it was one of the most thrilling and exciting adventures I’ve had.  Yes, I would love to do it again – but my wife won’t let me!  At 50 years old I can count this as one of my one time only mid life crisis adventures.

 

Copyright© Allen B Easterly, 2004

 

Send comments to Allen about his "When the Bull hits the Fan" story to alleneasterly@yahoo.com