What is ‘bucking bronco’?

Wyoming rodeo. Man on saddle bronc. Image by Calvin Tatum from Pixabay.

A bucking bronco is a half-broken horse that is difficult to handle. You hear the phrase used in the old Western movies. The name ‘bronco’ has a Mexican influence and comes from the Spanish word ‘bronco’ meaning rough. Bucking broncos are desirable for rodeos. The term applies to any type or breed of horse. Horses are bred to be bucking broncos. Selective breeding is employed to create the desired quality in a rodeo horse. They are referred to as roughstock breeders. There are bareback and saddle bronc competitions. Bareback bucking broncos (‘broncs’) are normally smaller and faster than saddle broncs which have endurance and strength.

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For an animal advocate this is animal abuse, I would argue. I am with PETA on this. Animals are not ours to use for our entertainment and to breed horses to be rough and difficult to handle in a human world limits them to one use or activity: rodeo, it seems to me. What does that lead? What happens when the horse is no longer needed because it is too old? Knackers yard? Dog food? I guess or am I being too cynical? And when in a rodeo the horse wants to remove the rider. This indicates that the horse is distressed. So pepole are breeding horses to be distressed as part of the horses ‘work’. Not a good look for me.

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