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Behind the Scenes with Rodeo Stock Contractors

© Diana Rowe Martinez

The cowboy behind the scenes might surprise you. Oftentimes, he was a former rodeo cowboy himself, but now he's sitting in a different saddle providing stock and even entertainment for the rodeos. These cowboys are the stock contractors of rodeo.

According to 1996 figures, seventy-five men (and a few women who have inherited operations from their husbands) provide livestock to PRCA competitions. "Livestock" includes bucking horses, bulls, steers, calves and saddle horses. But livestock isn't always where the stock contractor's responsibilities end. Contractors can also handle many other responsibilities associated with each rodeo. Some produce the rodeo itself and provide all the equipment--arena panels, bucking and roping chutes, and sometimes even the grandstands. In all situations, the contractor has an obligation to the rodeo committee to ensure the rodeo runs smoothly, but the contractor also must deal with the cowboys.

According to the PRCA, there are several different classes of contractors. Those that handle only the small shows, both professional and amateur, usually in their own circuit or region. Others travel the country working the small to mid-size events and subcontracting their top stock to the big shows. Then there are the handful of stock contractors that work, as the "big" show stock contractors, capable of handling all aspects of the very largest professional rodeos, like the NFR.

The contractor behind the scenes knows the cowboys need time in chutes to prepare mentally and physically. The contractor is aware that the cowboy must battle bulls that can weigh up to a ton, broncs that can kick the senses out of a cowboy, or a nervous calf roping horse unable to remain quiet in the roping box. The cowboy's agenda is to defeat his adversary in the arena, adding points to his NFR year and dollars to his pocket.

And the contractor knows this. But deep down inside, the stock contractors secretly hope that their bucking animals win and the cowboy's end up in the dirt, or in roping events, that their animals run straight and true, eluding the cowboy. The contractor's reputation with cowboys and the rodeo committees depends on the strength and wiliness of his bucking animals and the tests they put the cowboy through. The more an animal bucks or evades the cowboy the more proud the stock contractor gets. It's his job, after all, to provide the best and sometimes rankest stock possible.

During the rodeo, the contractor works behind the chutes, making sure each bucking horse or bull is lined up properly, and the equipment is adjusted correctly. Some contractors even give tips to the cowboys in a fair evaluation of the stock, i.e. like which direction the bull leaps, how many jumps the animal might take out of the chute, etc. One cowboy relates that the stock contractor is to rodeo like the mechanic is to professional car races. "The mechanic knows the car better than the driver, but he's out there getting into the car. The stock contractor knows his stocks, but he doesn't get on the stock."

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