by Hamilton Ellis, The Crockett Times
It’s not an unusual sight on a Friday in Friendship, TN: the grass parking lot at the riding arena is filled with pickup trucks. Men in cowboy hats and women in jeans walk the grounds as volunteers at the concession stand sell food and drinks to the hot and hungry spectators on rows of metal bleachers who come to watch the riders. The Friendship Saddle Club regularly meets at the arena, and the scene from the outside of the riding ring was little out of the ordinary. On Friday, June 3, there is one distinct difference: there wasn’t a single horse in the arena.
That night, young men aged 11 to 21 mounted bulls trapped in metal chutes on the far side of the round pen. When they’re ready, the doors at the front of the chutes fly open with lightning speed and the cowboy flies out almost as fast. The young riders have one goal: keeping the bull between them and the ground. The bulls always seem to have a disagreeable difference of opinion.
The boys at the Friendship Arena were taking a hands-on course in rodeo, in this first year of the Rodeo School in Friendship. The idea for the rodeo school started in the early 1990s when Ernie Roberts moved to Tigrett, TN with his family. Ernie had been active in rodeo competition for several years, so it’s only natural that his son John would show an interest in the sport. “He wanted to ride bulls and he had some friends who wanted to ride bulls. I told him if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right,” said Ernie. He bought a couple of bull chutes from the University of Tennessee at Martin and began to teach young men to ride bulls at his house.
As more people heard about what was going on at the Roberts’ house, more people wanted to learn to rodeo. Today, the Rodeo School that started at the Roberts’ home now has 20 students. “We put a limit on the amount of boys we take so we’ve got enough time to give them all personal instruction,” said Roberts. The smaller cowboys ride the smaller bulls, the older boys ride the big ones. They receive top-notch instruction from accomplished cowboys like two- time NABA World Championship Bull Rider Ronnie Maness, Pro Bull Riders finalist qualifier Shawn Turner, and two-time National Federation Bullrider Justin Carlton.
The boys are taught the fundamentals of bullriding, like how to fall without causing great injury to themselves, and how to get out of the bull’s way once they’re off. Rodeo is a contact sport, an endurance sport, but it’s also a team sport.
Although sometimes it seems like the bull rider gets the attention at the end of the rodeo, he owes more than his success to a group of well trained, highly dedicated men who make sure he stays safe after he gets off the bull: the bullfighters. John Roberts specializes in bullfighting now. As a young man he was a successful bull rider, but as he grew older, he grew so tall and lanky that bullriding soon became impractical. He decided to become a bullfighter instead. Bullfighters distract the bull’s attention from the rider after he falls, so he can get to safety without being mauled by the animal. Roberts is now passing down his knowledge by teaching young men how to fight bulls.
Ernie Roberts’ passion for sharing his knowledge of the rodeo is now a generational success. At the Rodeo School, Mike Merchant watches his son from outside the arena fence. Merchant was a competitive bullrider for the University of Tennessee at Martin. He cites Ernie Roberts as a huge influence in teaching him how to ride bulls. Now his son Marshall, 11, is learning to ride bulls at the Rodeo School.
There is much more to learning to ride bulls than athleticism, dedication, and simple physics. There is a kinship among the cowboys that goes beyond mere actions. They share stories, songs, and poems (Ernie writes and recites cowboy poetry); they share the risk of getting hurt at a rodeo; they share their faith (the young men and instructors held a cowboy church service just before coming to the arena). Being a cowboy is more than a style of dress or way of doing things, it’s a way of life. Judging by the growth of the Rodeo School, quite a few folks agree it’s a good way of life.
Photo Cutline: Twenty young cowboys were at the Friendship, TN riding arena on Friday, June 3, 2011 to learn the ins and outs of bullriding and bullfighting. The Rodeo School initially started as a father-son activity at Ernie Roberts’ house in Tigrett, TN, but soon became a full-blown rodeo school with several instructors who are active rodeo bullriders and bullfighters.
It’s not an unusual sight on a Friday in Friendship, TN: the grass parking lot at the riding arena is filled with pickup trucks. Men in cowboy hats and women in jeans walk the grounds as volunteers at the concession stand sell food and drinks to the hot and hungry spectators on rows of metal bleachers who come to watch the riders. The Friendship Saddle Club regularly meets at the arena, and the scene from the outside of the riding ring was little out of the ordinary. On Friday, June 3, there is one distinct difference: there wasn’t a single horse in the arena.
That night, young men aged 11 to 21 mounted bulls trapped in metal chutes on the far side of the round pen. When they’re ready, the doors at the front of the chutes fly open with lightning speed and the cowboy flies out almost as fast. The young riders have one goal: keeping the bull between them and the ground. The bulls always seem to have a disagreeable difference of opinion.
The boys at the Friendship Arena were taking a hands-on course in rodeo, in this first year of the Rodeo School in Friendship. The idea for the rodeo school started in the early 1990s when Ernie Roberts moved to Tigrett, TN with his family. Ernie had been active in rodeo competition for several years, so it’s only natural that his son John would show an interest in the sport. “He wanted to ride bulls and he had some friends who wanted to ride bulls. I told him if we were going to do it, we were going to do it right,” said Ernie. He bought a couple of bull chutes from the University of Tennessee at Martin and began to teach young men to ride bulls at his house.
As more people heard about what was going on at the Roberts’ house, more people wanted to learn to rodeo. Today, the Rodeo School that started at the Roberts’ home now has 20 students. “We put a limit on the amount of boys we take so we’ve got enough time to give them all personal instruction,” said Roberts. The smaller cowboys ride the smaller bulls, the older boys ride the big ones. They receive top-notch instruction from accomplished cowboys like two- time NABA World Championship Bull Rider Ronnie Maness, Pro Bull Riders finalist qualifier Shawn Turner, and two-time National Federation Bullrider Justin Carlton.
The boys are taught the fundamentals of bullriding, like how to fall without causing great injury to themselves, and how to get out of the bull’s way once they’re off. Rodeo is a contact sport, an endurance sport, but it’s also a team sport.
Although sometimes it seems like the bull rider gets the attention at the end of the rodeo, he owes more than his success to a group of well trained, highly dedicated men who make sure he stays safe after he gets off the bull: the bullfighters. John Roberts specializes in bullfighting now. As a young man he was a successful bull rider, but as he grew older, he grew so tall and lanky that bullriding soon became impractical. He decided to become a bullfighter instead. Bullfighters distract the bull’s attention from the rider after he falls, so he can get to safety without being mauled by the animal. Roberts is now passing down his knowledge by teaching young men how to fight bulls.
Ernie Roberts’ passion for sharing his knowledge of the rodeo is now a generational success. At the Rodeo School, Mike Merchant watches his son from outside the arena fence. Merchant was a competitive bullrider for the University of Tennessee at Martin. He cites Ernie Roberts as a huge influence in teaching him how to ride bulls. Now his son Marshall, 11, is learning to ride bulls at the Rodeo School.
There is much more to learning to ride bulls than athleticism, dedication, and simple physics. There is a kinship among the cowboys that goes beyond mere actions. They share stories, songs, and poems (Ernie writes and recites cowboy poetry); they share the risk of getting hurt at a rodeo; they share their faith (the young men and instructors held a cowboy church service just before coming to the arena). Being a cowboy is more than a style of dress or way of doing things, it’s a way of life. Judging by the growth of the Rodeo School, quite a few folks agree it’s a good way of life.
Photo Cutline: Twenty young cowboys were at the Friendship, TN riding arena on Friday, June 3, 2011 to learn the ins and outs of bullriding and bullfighting. The Rodeo School initially started as a father-son activity at Ernie Roberts’ house in Tigrett, TN, but soon became a full-blown rodeo school with several instructors who are active rodeo bullriders and bullfighters.
