Taking a look behind the scenes at the California Rodeo Salinas
We’re looking ahead to everything going on behind the scenes of the California Rodeo Salinas as it gets ready to ramp up for the weekend.
Livestock is a big talking point, including how they’re treated during big rodeo events.
Stock Contractors are partially responsible to not only transport livestock here but also to raise them from when they’re babies.
They say the idea that rodeo livestock are mistreated throughout their lives is a big misconception.
“Look at him, do you think he would come up to me like this if I were mistreating him?” says Stock Contractor Jeff Davis as one of his horses walks up to him. “I’ve raised this once since he was a little baby.”
About four main veterinarians are on-hand, with ten acting as volunteers should any livestock or cattle get hurt during the rodeo events.
Tim Eastman has a hand in that. He says a calf got hurt last year but it wasn’t fatal and they were able to help it recover.
“We want the livestock to be okay as much, if not more, than the riders themselves,” says Eastman.
Eastman says on average bulls will have about 80 seconds worth of work each year. Other than that they tend to relax in their pens until the next rodeo season pops up.
RODEO CLOWNS IN SALINAS:
One of the longtime showman at the California Rodeo is Andy Burelle. He’s visited Salinas for the rodeo for 20 years now.
It’s gotten to the point he has his own brand new display at the Rodeo’s history museum.
“I never thought I’d be in the museum here. I’d walk through taht museum and I’d see bullfighter outfits from the heroes I grew up watching,” says Burelle. “To see a mannequin of myself in there, too, it’s amazing.”
He started fighting bulls after his bullriding career started tapering off.
Burelle says Salinas was one of the only places you can go into a bullfighting competition for quite a long time which led him to keep coming back.
He hasn’t turned back since.
“Now we’ve got this huge tour going on over the country for bullfighters,” says Burelle. “For 20 years this has been the best place for bullfighting.”
Burelle will also have the opportunity to serve as a barrel man, keeping an eye on fellow competitors during freestyle competitions.
NETWORKING AT THE RODEO
There’s a group which travels to a lot of the rodeos out of the year and gets a chance to see what each neighboring rodeo has to offer.
This is a “rodeo committee,” and for them it’s not only about checking out rodeos, it’s also about visiting with old friends and people who have essentially grown to become like family.
“We communicate pretty regularly and see each other at a lot of events,” says James Miller. “We work together to get ideas and try to help each other out.”
Miller is with the Red Bluff Roundup just under five hours north of Salinas.
He says he wants the Roundup to have the same sort of atmosphere that the California Rodeo has.
The committee he’s a part of attempts to do that by checking out rodeos across the state, and even across the country, to see how they can enhance the experience at the rodeos they’re organizing.
“We want to all be able to work with them and have these athletes come back to our rodeo,” says Miller.
Be sure to catch KION’s continuing coverage of the 109th California Rodeo Salinas. We’re Central Coasting there tonight at 5 p.m. and 6 p.m. only on KION Newschannel 5/46.
