AUDIO Those Damn Yanks 

The spirit of the west is still alive in the US. By Catherine Rice (US English spelling)

You may think that cowboys just exist in films and on the TV. However, they’re still very popular in many states in the US like Wyoming, Colorado and Texas. And every year millions of Americans head on down to the local rodeo to watch their favorite cowboys in action. So what can you see at a rodeo?

John Wayne

The heroes of every rodeo are of course the cowboys. Cowboys are a symbol of strength and pride in small towns all over the Western United States. The typical cowboy looks like someone out of a bad John Wayne movie. They usually wear cowboy boots, a big hat, a plaid shirt and tight Wrangler jeans. Most cowboys tend to have manly names like Guy, Tuff or Buddy, and often drive big trucks with gun racks. The best way to tell the difference between a good cowboy and just your average redneck is by the size of his belt buckle. Belt buckles are often given away at rodeos in place of trophies, with the biggest buckles going to the best performer. A successful cowboy will sometimes wear a buckle the size of a pizza to show off how great he is.

Bulls

One of the most popular events is bull riding, which involves a cowboy and an angry bull. The cowboy has to ride the bull for as long as possible before being thrown off. It’s an exciting event and one for which the fans go wild. The only problem is that a normal bull isn’t usually angry and would rather just stand still than waste its energy bucking off annoying cowboys. To overcome this dilemma rodeo organizers sometimes use electric rods and sharp sticks to make the bull angry. After all this preparation, even the best cowboys will manage to stay on their bull for eight seconds or so, yet somehow this is enough time to maintain the crowd’s attention and keep the popcorn vendors busy.