images from the May 2010 Bucking Horse Sale
Every May the prairie town of Miles City, Montana hosts The Bucking Horse Sale, a gathering of rodeo stock contractors from all over North America. Here, over 3 days, they auction their animals and watch amateur and professional cowboys test their courage and skill. Huge crowds pack the grandstand. Under the burning sun they drink beer from plastic cups and watch the riders get tossed, often trampled. The battles are epic, unscripted, and no less exciting for their frequency. It never gets old. From opponents with names like Lunatic Fringe, F-Bomb, Dust Devil, Smackdown, Skitso Skoal and, my personal favorite, Scene of the Crash, few riders escape unscathed. Fans are divided in their support. Well-known broncs and bulls boast fan bases rivaling those of the best riders on the circuit. Extreme performances get the crowd going. They straddle fences and stand on rails for a better look. The more violently the animals buck, jump and twist, the higher the bids. At it’s core, there is poetry; there is will over strength, skill over breeding. There is an echo of a tribute to the rugged individualism that carved a civilization out of rock and scrub and wild animal and dust. But here is also a strange celebration: participants and spectators alike share an awkward enthusiastic appreciation for defeat. It’s the near misses, the chaos and the shared response; like a flood of relief after the crash.