Hang on tight -- tighter! -- because bull riding class is in session

Eight seconds.

That's all a cowboy's got once the splintery chute gate flings open and the 1,500-pound snorting mass of fierceness beneath him starts kicking.

A rider who can stay astride eight seconds, maintain control and get out of the ring alive is a rider who will taste victory in bull-riding -- a sport in which guts and grit make a hero, and injury or even death are but a careless mistake away.

Not everyone is cut out to strap on the chaps and give it a go. Some don't feel the need to try; others are too afraid to chase a thrill down a punishing road of inevitable broken bones, concussions, hoof kicks and horn gouges.

The crowd hanging out around Gary Laswell's LazTech Ranch near Blue Diamond doesn't make those excuses. They have cuts, surgical scars and aching backsides, but these guys don't whine. Every bruise, every break is merely another point on their learning curves -- where they went wrong, what they now are doing right.

Because getting it right is what it's all about.

Laswell, who's been competing for years, wants up-and-coming riders to excel and avoid the deadly consequences of sloppiness. He's developing his newly purchased ranch as a tool to help them learn, sharing his bulls so cowboys can progress.

With support from PostNet, Big Horn Plumbing, Broken Hart Rodeo and Intermountain Farmers, and the teaching expertise of Brett Leffew, son of former National Finals Rodeo world champ Gary Leffew, Laswell last month held his first bull-riding school. In May he'll offer $15 practice sessions the first and third weekend of every month.

Laswell's grander aspiration: boosting bull riding's following in Southern Nevada.

"Kids around here grow up playing football, baseball, soccer, because that's all there is to do," Laswell said. "Unless they grow up on a ranch or know people who do it, they never find out about bull riding or know where to go. Hopefully I can help them."

Chris persists

Nearly 200,000 fans pack the Thomas and Mack Center each year when the 10-day NFR comes to town. Millions watch rodeo on television. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association alone has paid out more than $28 million in prizes a year.

Rodeo, clearly, has made its mark.

Which is why Muriel and Lloyd Johnson understand their son Chris' fascination with turning pro.

Leaning on the metal railing outside the bull pen at the LazTech Ranch last month, they watched -- without breathing -- as Chris, 19, managed to hang on for several seconds before the beast knocked him off. It knocked the wind out of him; the bull's hoof landed within inches of Chris' chest.

"You always worry," Muriel Johnson said, a nervous laugh breaking the tension after her son, dazed, managed to get himself up and out of the pen. "You just don't say too much about it. I hold my breath 'till it's over."

The Johnsons were worried last year when Chris said he wanted to be in rodeo. They figured they could stop him by making money the obstacle.

"We told him he'd have to buy his own equipment," she said. Their seemingly clever plan, however, failed.

Chris spent the summer working at a rose farm in Pahrump and at a second job pouring concrete to get the cash.

"All that money," she said, "was gone within one trip to Adam's Western Store!"

Leather chaps can cost as much as $500. A bull rope runs $150 on average. Helmets -- optional in most competitions -- are around $350. Flak-style compression dispersion vests to protect kidneys, spleen and other organs cost up to $300. Next to mouth guards, $25 deerskin gloves are the cheapest bit of gear but wear out quickly and must be replaced.

A senior this year, Chris' high school competition days are almost over. His parents say their boy's future is his decision, bull riding or not.

Lloyd Johnson tipped back his hat, watching his son step up for another ride. "It's what he wants to do."

The learning curve

Chris Johnson and eight others came out to the LazTech Ranch for school last month. The $225 weekend tuition included practicing on a spring-mounted metal drum -- followed by the real thing.

Their experience level ran the gamut from virtual first-timers to a high school all-state champion who one day may be chasing the multimillion-dollar purses on the pro circuits.

Rides were videotaped to help work out mistakes.

Plenty of mistakes can happen, no matter how long a cowboy hangs on.

A rider who isn't centered on a bull's back can be flung to the ground in a flash. Balance can be lost by misplacing a hand, stiffening an elbow or hunching shoulders.

And never take your eyes off the bull. Leffew said a rider can anticipate the animal's moves by watching its shoulders and head. Glance to the side, the ground or the railings and you'll likely be seeing stars.

Leffew showed photographs and videotapes of all-time greats Lane Frost, Tuff Hedeman and Michael "G-Man" Gaffney in competition.

No two champions have the same style, yet the images proved Leffew's point that good riders rely on basic moves to stay in control.

The classic posture sees a cowboy with one hand -- the "free hand" -- overhead for balance, the other hand near his groin gripping the rope tied around the animal and his legs squeezing the bull's rib cage.

"If you want to be the best, you have to study the best and develop the basic mechanics," said Leffew, who, with his father, has taught thousands to ride and prepared Hollywood stars such as Keifer Sutherland and Luke Perry for bull-riding roles.

"Break," "drive" and "push" are repeatedly used in Leffew's descriptions of a rider's fundamentals -- breaking, or bending, at the waist; driving the hips forward and the arm overhead; and pushing, or bearing down, with the fist to keep a rider centered above the bull.

Upper body control and strong legs are essential. A rider wants to stay forward or "over his hand" to avoid being tossed around or whipped off when the bull spins and bucks.

'Superstar bulls'

A cowboy's goal is to steal the bull's thunder in a clean, injury-free ride.

Competitions demand holding on for eight-second -- what cowboys call "covering." A maximum of 100 points are possible, with judges splitting points between cowboy and bull.

"Superstar bulls separate good riders from superstar riders," Leffew said.

Bulls are athletes in these circles. The tougher and meaner they come, the larger the reputation and selling price.

Stock producer Terry Williams of Carthage, Texas, shelled out a whopping $31,000 to buy fast-spinning Panhandle Slim. It proved a good investment: Williams was handed a $20,000 prize at the Professional Bull Riders World Finals when Slim's wicked performances won the 1997 Bull of the Year title.

And then there are monsters such as Bodacious, a two-time Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bucking bull of the year, retired in 1995 after crushing too many cowboys' faces.

Laswell's bulls aren't nearly that fierce. One is so passive that Laswell can place his 3-year-old niece on its back without a worry.

"So many good young riders are ruined because they are hurt too soon and lose interest by getting on bulls that are too tough," Leffew said.

"It's the equivalent of getting in the ring with Evander Holyfield or learning baseball and going up against Roger Clemens. Kids don't need to be tested with NFR bucking bulls. You need to bring riders along slowly. This isn't a game where you're guaranteed a second chance."

There is variety in LazTech stock, and there are rules: no rough ropes can be used and aggressive spurring is not allowed. Laswell will not permit his bulls to be harmed.

Rigid jaws seemed to clench tighter during the school as students were paired up with their bulls. When the gate finally opened, no rider likely heard his classmates hooting on the sidelines. Even on calmer bulls, the adrenaline rush is almost deafening.

"There's nothing like it," Chris Johnson said, his second chance on the bull's back a significant improvement. He held on as long as he could, then smoothly hopped off and landed on his feet as the bucking bull danced away in the dust.

"The school has helped me not give up so easy," Johnson said. "It's given me more confidence to keep getting back on."

'It changed my life'

Some get hooked seeing it in the movies. Others, such as Mike Madrid, 17, pick it up from their friends.

Madrid had played his share of basketball, football, soccer and baseball -- and loved every minute of it -- until about three years ago, when he started talking to Adam Turner, a friend at school.

Turner was rising through the ranks in Boulder City High's rodeo club. Madrid watched him ride and was addicted in no time.

"It changed my life," said Madrid, whose stellar performances in dozens of competitions in the years since led to his winning the 1998 High School Bull Riding Champion of Nevada title last year.

This teenager lives and breathes his cowboy life. He keeps his grades up to compete -- a requirement in high school sports. He's frugal with sponsorship money, funneling every penny into gear and traveling costs for competitions around the country.

Madrid rides horseback to work on balance. "I ride alone," he says. "I close my eyes to feel the horse move."

About the time Madrid started riding in 1996, Turner, then 15, hit a bull's horn and cracked his skull during a ride at the Boulder City Open Rodeo.

It was a harsh reality, Madrid said, watching Turner recover the past few years. He lifts his pant leg to show his own scars: Doctors needed screws and a metal plate to restore the teen's knee after a bad landing.

Still, Madrid savors the challenge bull riding brings.

"I can travel the 15 to 20 miles down the road on the way to a competition and feel the bull underneath me," Madrid said. "I can see the ride 10 times a minute in my head."

archive