Life is full of surprises. We make plans for our future but one call or text can change the direction we think we are headed. That happened to me in a pretty major way with my career three months ago. In 2006 I accepted a job with the Women of Faith Tour and for the next ten years I traveled to 30 cities a year with my job. Each week was a different arena filled with thousands of women. After Women of Faith ended, I continued to work in Christian live events and with authors and speakers.

Early in March of this year I received a text that was unexpected and ended up applying and accepting a job with PBR (Professional Bull Riders). To be honest, the job description and benefits is why I said yes but what has surprised me is how I am now a huge fan of the sport. You might be asking yourself… is Professional Bull Riding a sport? The answer is yes and it’s the fastest growing sport in America. PBR was founded in 1992 and has been filling arenas with the excitement of bull riding since then. Three years ago PBR started a brand new sport which is called PBR Teams where the riders compete as teams. The riders scores are combined and there are ten teams across the US. My new position is the Marketing Director for the Florida team, The Florida Freedom. There are teams from Arizona all the way to New York and Oklahoma has a team which is the Oklahoma Wildcatters, whose coach is J.B. Mauney, two time world champion. The team is owned by Taylor Gooch, who is a professional golfer and from Midwest City.

As someone who grew up in Oklahoma and helped my Grandma feed cows in the winter, one of the things I’ve found the most interesting is the actual bulls. They are athletes themselves and receive a score that calculates into the final score of the rider. The bulls are beloved in the organization and by the fans and treated like royalty.

Every PBR bull ride takes two athletes – a courageous cowboy and worldclass bovine. The prized animal athletes competing in PBR are cared for as true stars of the sport.

Here are important facts taken from an article about the world-class treatment of the bulls in PBR: “The bulls buck because of genetic breeding. Just as thoroughbred racehorses are carefully bred to run fast, PBR bucking bulls are genetically disposed to jump, kick and spin with power and grace. They are NEVER shocked, coerced, or harmfully prodded to compete. The only training device used to stimulate bucking behavior is a flank strap tied relatively loosely around the haunches of the bull.

The flank strap does not hurt the bull. This soft cotton rope is used to encourage a genetically pre-disposed bucking bull to kick. Imagine a kitten with a ribbon loosely tied around its paw, trying to shoo it away.

Bucking bulls have a carefully regulated diet, heath regimen, travel, and performance schedule. PBR has rigorous guidelines for transporting the bulls, required travel rest periods, and other policies to ensure the welfare of the animal athletes. Bulls compete at most two times in any given weekend, many only once. Beyond that, stock contractors treat their prized animal athletes like members of their own family, including giving them the very best food and health care. Stock contractors determine their bulls’ schedules in the best interests of their valuable animal athletes whose health and well-being impact their livelihood.

These bulls enjoy what they are doing. Each stock contractor has stories about bulls eager to rush into the trailer to go to PBR events. They have a job to do, which they love. They buck with the same prideful zeal as a dog returning to its owner a thrown ball. Just as it is evident when a pet is happy, the bulls exhibit the same energetic, tail-wagging behavior on game day.

PBR bulls live a long and healthy life. Outside the PBR, bulls enter the food supply at the average age of three. PBR bulls enjoy a substantially better fate. Following the first-class life of a professional athlete, getting the very best food, training and medical care, these bulls retire to stud at a relatively young age. They live the remainder of their pampered life breeding on a ranch, where they die peacefully of natural causes. In the bovine world, becoming a PBR bucking bull is like winning the animal lottery.

PBR is a sport that celebrates its animal athletes, who live a great, long life.”

If you have never experienced a PBR event, it is not like your average rodeo. It’s hard to describe and trust me when I say that it’s worth the price of the ticket. Speaking of tickets, the Oklahoma City Wildcatters will be hosting all ten teams at the Paycom Center Arena in Oklahoma City, July 12-14. I will be there and would love to invite my hometown to attend. Go to PBR.com and use promo code 20BULL for 20% off tickets. Hope to see you there!