Cave Creek Rodeo

2025

We recently attended the annual Cave Creek Rodeo that takes place in the nearby community of Cave Creek. The rodeo is a tradition dating back to 1977, celebrating the town’s western heritage. It’s a three day event, culminating with the final round on a Sunday.

Not surprisingly, I brought my camera and was able to capture some shots that I’m happy with. In today’s blog, I’m including a few of my favourite pictures, displaying action from four of the events.

Bull riding

Probably the most dangerous of all rodeo events, bulling riding requires the rider to remain aboard a 1,500 to 2,000 pound bucking bull for a period of 8 seconds. Given the huge difference in size and strength between the bull and the cowboy, the bull would be the betting favourite. To make matters worse, the bulls are very aggressive and prone to attacking a thrown rider.

In this picture, the rider is down, eating dirt and exposed to the anger of the bull. Rodeo clowns play a crucial role in protecting the rider, accomplished by distracting the bull and making themselves the object of his ire.

You’ll note the rider wears a protective vest to shield himself from the lethal horns of his adversary.

Barrel Racing

This is my favourite event to photograph. Barrel racing is a rodeo event in which a horse and rider attempt to run around preset barrels in the fastest time. Barrel racing requires a combination of the horse’s athletic ability and the horsemanship skills of a rider, in order to safely and successfully maneuver the horse around three barrels placed in a triangular pattern.

A horse and rider team are disqualified for failing to circle all three barrels and will incur a 5 second penalty for each barrel they might knock over. A time penalty usually results in loss of the event.

Barrel racing in a professional rodeos is usually a women’s event. I find that this event creates numerous good photo opportunities, due to the rapid deceleration that occurs as the horse approaches a barrel and the subsequent acceleration, following a successful turn around the barrel.

Saddle Bronc Riding

There are two different events where the cowboys’ objective is to remain on board a bucking bronco for an interval of 8 seconds. As their titles suggest, saddle bronc riding is done with a saddled horse; whilst bareback riding is done without a saddle.

In saddle bronc riding the rider’s objective is to remain on the bucking horse for the full eight seconds, using only one hand to hold the reins. (In bareback riding, the rider attempts to stay on the horse for eight seconds without touching the horse with their free hand.)

In this image the rider is about to complete a successful saddle bronc ride.

Once the eight seconds has elapsed, the rider dismounts with the aid of the pick-up men.

My next and last picture for today’s post features the team roping (or, heading and heeling) event. In this event, two ropers on horseback rope a steer. The fastest time wins. In this photograph, you can see that one rider (not visible) has lassoed the steer around the neck. The second rider is about to attempt lassoing the steer’s hind legs.

Once the heeler and header have both lassoed the steer; the heeler must have a full dally and be in control of the run. The rope must be tight from the steer or heifer to the heeler’s saddle horn, the heel horse must be facing the steer, the heel horse’s front feet must be on the ground and both ropers must be mounted when time is taken.

In this case, the team failed to complete the conditions for success.

We enjoyed a beautiful day in the sun, entertained by 2-1/2 hours of rodeo action.