TO THE crowds at the Cody Stampede—a four-day rodeo that draws thousands to Wyoming over the Independence Day weekend—the bull-rider Bryce Barrios is just a name among many, drawing cheers with a confident, prizewinning ride on a bucking, wheeling animal weighing three-quarters of a ton. Among fellow bull-riders Mr Barrios, a 21-year-old Texan who looks like a schoolboy once he doffs his helmet and armoured vest, means a bit more. He was named national Rookie of the Year in 2015: a hint that, just maybe, he will leave the pack of perhaps 600 cowboys who eke out a living on the circuit into the world of champions competing for six-figure purses.
To devotees of rodeo, young cowboys like Mr Barrios mean something more precious. They see them as guardians of the gritty-yet-chivalrous values of an older America. Among those waiting in the earth-floored, dung-scented arena to greet the bull-riders on July 3rd is Senator John Barrasso of Wyoming, a wiry, genial Republican who as an orthopaedic surgeon spent years patching up rodeo-battered cowboys. “They’re young, they consider themselves bulletproof,” explains Dr Barrasso fondly. He recalls a popular...Continue reading
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