12/15/08 The origin of bulldogging

The origin of rodeo traces back to early days of ranching, but one of my favorite events had a different beginning. I'm Jeff Keane stay tuned, I will be back after the break with a little rodeo history. Riding broncs and roping cattle were routine cowboy skills but bulldogging or "steer wrestling" got it's start from just one man. Here' Susan with the story. That's right Jeff and the first African American rodeo star to boot! Bill Pickens was a teenager at the turn of the century and a skilled hand with horses and cattle. He became fascinated with how the early cow dogs (typically part English Bull) helped ranchers subdue steer by biting the animal on its lips. So showing off for a group of cowboys Bill attempted to "bull dog " a large calf and found that with the calves lips in his teeth the animal became docile so Bill easily flipped both of their bodies to the ground and steer wrestling was born. In 1903 Bill preformed his new method for controlling steers at the Prescott Frontier Days and by 1910 bull dogging was a rodeo event. Bill Pickett, the son of freed slaves bulldogged more than five thousand head of cattle gaining celebrity status he went on to perform in the Wild West Show with Tom Mix and Geronimo, while Steer Wrestling still continues to challenge the best of our cowboys today . I'm Jeff Keane.