High School Rodeo under investigation for animal abuse

Is it possible to have a rodeo without animal cruelty? I thought sadistic cruelty defined the rodeo experience.

Sadistic cruelty? And what experience do you have with rodeo? Or like so many "animal rights" people are you simply following the party line and making a statement you are completely unqualified to make?

Before you choose to make this flawed observation I would challenge you to visit a rodeo stock contractor either at a rodeo or at his home ranch. What you would see are animals being cared for by someone whose livlihood depends on the health and well being of animals. None of these animals would have a life at all without rodeo. While many of the bucking horses are bred specifically to buck, some are former ranch, pleasure or competition horses that simply bucked too much to keep in their previous disciplines. What would happen to them without the option of rodeo. And, speaking from experience, these horses and bulls love what they do.

Look at the statistics. There are far more human injuries than there are animal injuries. And one last point. Look at nature. Have you ever seen a lion pride kill a big eyed baby gazelle? Talk about sadistic. Something should be done!

Steve in Aztec wrote:

And, speaking from experience, these horses and bulls love what they do.

They love it so much that they need to have electricity applied to make them buck? Who is just spouting their party line here?

People can watch the videotape for themselves by searching YouTube for NHSFR Abuse.

Animals and people have very different pain tolerances. Can you imagine a human giving birth outside in a snowstorm? It would kill a person. A hotshot is little more than an annoyance to an animal the size of a horse or bull. Again , Mr. Taylor, I would ask you, what is your qualifications in regards to animals? Do you have a background in anything other than small pet ownership?

I am not trying to be confrontational here. But critics of rodeo are too misinformed. Contact a stock contractor and see how well these animals are treated. And realize there is a huge difference between people and animals in regard to pain tolerance.

In an earlier article about the National High School Finals which was unrelated to the issue of cruelty, I commented that the Daily Times and its editor were remiss. At that time I believed that the DT would not report the shocking of horses and bulls.

I also charged that the newspaper was a rodeo sponsor. This claim came as a result of the DT and some other entities being thanked in the rodeo program for "donations and support."

I must now retract those statements, and I am doing so in the same public manner in which I made the original accusation. My apologies to the editor and all concerned. The Daily Times and reporter James Monteleone have done a good job of bringing an important issue to light.

There is never an excuse for outright cruelty, but "cattle prods" are manufactured for a reason -
as a method of attempting to regain control if an animal's behaviour becomes so out of control that it becomes a danger to the animals or humans around it. At one time, an animal such as this might have been shot.

Ever hear of the "taser" used by law enforcement personel as a non-lethal means to control an out or control human suspect? Is the taser, when used against humans, inhumane as well? At one time, a human that out of control might once have been shot.

If the allegations against some individuals at the National High School rodeo turn out to be true, then justice should be done according to the law. There is no reason for a rush to judgement based on an emotional reaction.

If one wants to really have an effect against animal cruelty, I suggest you do a little research into the "horse killer buyers" who travel the United States buying horses from seemingly innocuous livestock auctions, only to pack those horses into trailers never intended to haul horses, where they are jammed together like sardines, often unable to even lift their heads. These horses then make a terrifying, several day journey, without food or water, to slaugherhouses in Canada or Mexico where they are killed for human consumption in a pretty sadistic fashion, either with a "captive bolt gun", where they are shot in the skull repeatedly with what amounts to a nail gun with a retractible nail, or in some cases, a man merely plunges a knife into their mane in an attempt to cut the spinal cord, prior to the horse being hoisted up by it's hind legs, stunned, but still alive, and having their throats slit to be bled out.

This happens to all sorts of horses, wild, domestic, young, old, sick, perfectly healthy, sometimes mare and colt, often without regard to what perfectly acceptible drugs have been given to the horse in it's previous care which might make the meat dangerous to humans.

Recently, there was a case in Florida where several horse were stolen from a loving horse owner, only to end up being slaughtered for food in this fashion. The business is that profitable to the dispicable "killer buyers" who procure the animals for slaughter.

In this economy, more horses than ever before (tens of thousands per year, according to some reports) are suffering this fate because of people's inability to afford caring for loved pets. The horses are either given away, sold at auction, or in some cases even sold through normal classified advertising means, to a person posing as a caring horse owner, who in reality is one of these "killer buyers" who is only interested in profiting from the sale of the horse for it's meat.

So, if the people of New Mexico really care about animal cruelty, I suggest you educate yourselves of the whole process used to slaughter American horses for consumption in foreign lands. There are plenty of resources on the internet available.

It's a dispicable business.

The issue still is that no matter if prods are used or not - Rodeos are totally cruel & frivolous entertainment. Absolutely unnecessary animal abuse. I've watched enough videos and read enough personal accounts to know these animals suffer immense pain for our pleasure.

I see rodeos as being no different than dog or rooster fights - It's all just for the "enjoyment" in the name of "sport".

To the reader who asked what would happen to these animals if they weren't bred for the industry - clearly, we would stop breeding them. And stop the BLM from capturing them. Let them live out their lives free from man's incessant need to control absolutely every living being for minor whim and fancy.

Who pays for these investagations??

The taxpayers?

If there is no cruelty found does the animal rights activist pay back the funds??

Spend a little time looking in to Steve Hindi's life before he discovered an easy way of making big bucks by begging donations for his cause.
It's sickening.
This is not a person to listen to. He's nothing more than a wind bag who discovered a way to live like a king while traveling around the country at the expense of little old ladies and others who send in donations.

If animals are truly abused, rodeo people would be the first to remedy the situation.

The state of NM needs to hold their ground against this trouble maker (money maker) and don't give in to a scam artist.
Anyone, you or I,could do the same thing he's doing and make a few bucks from donations but he's gone big time with his racket. Investigate him fully, please!!!

Another thing, you will notice posts all at once from all over the nation. Does anyone actually believe these people have viewed the Farmington news paper this early in the morning? Sounds more like his old tricks of getting on a discussion board under several names and making it look like there's an army out there.
Due to the different locations so far this AM, he must have help from others in SHARK.
Don't fall for his scam.

anti hindi wrote:

Spend a little time looking in to Steve Hindi's life before he discovered an easy way of making big bucks by begging donations for his cause.
It's sickening.
This is not a person to listen to. He's nothing more than a wind bag who discovered a way to live like a king while traveling around the country at the expense of little old ladies and others who send in donations.
If animals are truly abused, rodeo people would be the first to remedy the situation.
The state of NM needs to hold their ground against this trouble maker (money maker) and don't give in to a scam artist.
Anyone, you or I,could do the same thing he's doing and make a few bucks from donations but he's gone big time with his racket. Investigate him fully, please!!!

I've seen NMSU rodeo calf ropers practicing on calves so small they should be on their mother's teat. The rope jerks their little necks off nearly. Some "cowboys" really are barbaric losers.

New Mexico Livestock Board, quit wasting taxpayers
money (remember the state is broke) the bogus
reports from the Animal Rights Group, need to be
ignored

All rodeos are like this to animals.
Then when they get drunk, they take out on people.

Clever_Pseudonym wrote:

Is it possible to have a rodeo without animal cruelty? I thought sadistic cruelty defined the rodeo experience.

You beat me to it.

I'm sure there's nothing a calf enjoys more than running around a pen in terror and then being clotheslined by an airborne rope.

Now, if rodeos were human on human THAT would be a show worth watching.

Steve in Aztec wrote:

Sadistic cruelty? And what experience do you have with rodeo? Or like so many "animal rights" people are you simply following the party line and making a statement you are completely unqualified to make?
Before you choose to make this flawed observation I would challenge you to visit a rodeo stock contractor either at a rodeo or at his home ranch. What you would see are animals being cared for by someone whose livlihood depends on the health and well being of animals. None of these animals would have a life at all without rodeo. While many of the bucking horses are bred specifically to buck, some are former ranch, pleasure or competition horses that simply bucked too much to keep in their previous disciplines. What would happen to them without the option of rodeo.
Look at the statistics. There are far more human injuries than there are animal injuries. And one last point. Look at nature. Have you ever seen a lion pride kill a big eyed baby gazelle? Talk about sadistic. Something should be done!

"And, speaking from experience, these horses and bulls love what they do.".....

How do you know this? Are you able to read their minds? Sounds suspicious to me...

Animal abuse happens at the majority of rodeos. People who don't even like animals have told me how appalled they are at what they've seen happening to animals at rodeos. All it takes is a little empathy to see the cruelty going on there.

Hi Steve in Aztec
Albuquerque, NM
I think you are the one that needs education! Go here http://www.sharkonline.org/...
I hope this will answer your uneducated mind!

Steve in Aztec wrote:

Animals and people have very different pain tolerances. Can you imagine a human giving birth outside in a snowstorm? It would kill a person. A hotshot is little more than an annoyance to an animal the size of a horse or bull. Again , Mr. Taylor, I would ask you, what is your qualifications in regards to animals? Do you have a background in anything other than small pet ownership?
I am not trying to be confrontational here. But critics of rodeo are too misinformed. Contact a stock contractor and see how well these animals are treated. And realize there is a huge difference between people and animals in regard to pain tolerance.

Mate you need education real bad, go here: http://www.sharkonline.org/...
Rodeo is cruel, Rodeo is no family entertainment! Don't visit Rodeo's, simple.

Misuse of electric prods may be the least of it (though the prods were specifically designed for cattle and swine, NOT horses, and should be banned from rodeo). In July alone, 4 animals died at the Calgary Stampede, 3 at the Cheyenne Frontier Days, and 3 roping calves suffered broken legs at the California Rodeo/Salinas and had to be euthanized. And probably the tip of the iceberg. Some "sport"! Most rodeos don't even have the decency to provide on-site veterinarians to care for injured animals. Recent PRCA surveys document animal injuries at 57% of their rodeos. Things are even worse on the amateur circuit. There should be an ON SITE veterinarian at every rodeo, "professional" or otherwise. State legislation should be introduced to remedy this.

SHARK caught Cotton Rosser's Flying U Rodeo Co. on videotape last year at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo in Castro Valley, CA hotshotting six horses in the holding chutes, in direct violation of arena policy (which I helped to draft in 1986). Rosser was fined $2,500, and nearly lost his contract (and damned well should have).

As G.B. Shaw might have said, "Anyone who rodeos wouldn't hesitate to lie about it."

And how about this quote from an 18-year-old rodeo queen in Oregon: "What me and my rodeo friends really hate are Democrats, environmentalists and gay people." Lovely. These are the same yahoos who put G.W. Bush in office not once (mostly stolen), but twice. There's far more going on in rodeo than just animal abuse.

Most of rodeo is bogus from the get-go. Real cowboys never routinely rode bulls, or wrestled steers, or rode bareback, or practiced calf roping as a timed event (recently re-named "tie down roping" - can you spell "hypocrisy"?). It's all hype to put fannies in the seats:$$$.

Boycott all rodeos. For most of the animals, it's merely a detour en route to the slaughterhouse. They (and we) deserve better.

x
Eric Mills, coordinator
ACTION FOR ANIMALS
Oakland, CA
e-mail - afa@mcn.org

Pondering wrote:

<quoted text>
Some "cowboys" really are barbaric losers.

Yeah! Like that POS that was in the white house for eight years.