Guide to the gear: bull riding (2024)

Pine tar. Rosin. Helmet. Glove. The equipment manager's checklist for a baseball game? Not this time.

These pieces of equipment are only part of the gear a professional bull rider uses in the arena every night. To get a better "head-to-toe" understanding of what goes into every ride, ESPN.com spoke with two experts. Wiley Peterson and Ross Coleman are both top bull riders on the Built Ford Tough Series of the Professional Bull Riders, Inc. (PBR).

Peterson has won more than $1 million during his nine-year career and is the reigning 2007 PBR World Finals champion. Coleman is currently 11th in the Built Ford Tough Series standings and over his 10-year career has amassed more than $1.2 million in earnings.

1. Headwear — Cowboy hat or helmet?

It's the hottest question in bull riding right now: What should cover a cowboy's head when he rides? The answer boils down to two options: the traditional cowboy hat or a safety helmet with protective face mask. Although a cowboy hat does offer a thin layer of protection between a rider and the hooves of a rank bull, many top riders have begun to wonder if this is enough. Since the invention of the bull riding helmet, it has been widely adopted by riders and is growing in popularity among younger riders.

Resembling a cross between a lacrosse helmet and a catcher's mask, and weighing in somewhere between a cowboy hat and a football helmet, the lightweight protective headgear has faced opposition among bull riding traditionalists.

"Some guys don't like to wear it because it's kind of tradition I think, and cowboys are cowboys so they wear their cowboy hats," says Coleman, who himself began wearing a helmet about two years ago after a series of serious concussions. "But these bulls are getting so big and strong and if they step on a guy in the wrong spot or whatever it could mean life-threatening injuries."

Peterson, who began wearing a helmet during competition in 2003, did extensive research before finally making the switch.

"It was not an easy decision for me to make," he says. "My main argument was that it was too heavy and it would throw off my balance. Plus, I was already in the middle of my career as a professional and I didn't wanna mess that up."

"But the more I looked into it, the more I kind of ran out of reasons why not to use it."

And according to Coleman, wearing the helmet has conceivably added between four and five years to his professional career. Whether bull riding helmets will eventually overtake the more traditional cowboy hat as the preferred headgear of riders remains to be seen, but with an increasing number of junior riders adopting it, it seems a distinct possibility.

2. Protective vest

To the casual fan, the vests worn in the ring by PBR riders might seem like just another place to put sponsor logos. But they actually serve a more serious purpose, and could potentially make the difference between life and death for an injured rider.

Invented by PBR livestock director and former bull rider Cody Lambert after his friend and fellow bull rider Lane Frost was killed during a ride, the vest works to absorb shock and dissipate blows to the body. It also protects the torso from punctures resulting from a direct blow from the bull's hooves.

The vests, made of a high density foam and covered with a thin layer of plastic and then leather, have proved so effective that they are now required for all PBR riders.

"I think it's saved a lot of guys from serious injuries like broken ribs, punctured lungs — all kinds of stuff," said Peterson. "Obviously there's still injuries — you can't take that factor out of bull riding — but that vest has definitely minimized it by quite a bit."

3. Glove

Cowboys wear a glove only on the hand that grips the bull rope. Made from a thin deerhide or cowhide leather, they are mainly used to protect a rider's hands and fingers, as well as to help grip the rope during a ride. Each rider has their own preference for their glove, ranging from seams on the outside to an extra piece of leather inside the palm to avoid tearing a callous.

"They're leather gloves…that are specially fitted for our hands," says Coleman. "So if you've had a broken thumb that's got a little bit of a tweak to it, they're specially made."

"I'll use a glove about four or five times and then get a brand new one and use it because the gloves go really quick."

4. Rosin

For many bull riders, the application of rosin to the bull rope and glove has become an art. The chalk-like substance more commonly known for helping a pitcher grip a baseball turns sticky and gummy with a consistency closer to pine tar when it is mixed with the glycerin from a bar of soap. Adhering to the bull rope, it gives the rider extra hold during a ride, and many riders have developed a precise and personal routine for mixing and applying the rosin.

"A lot of guys make their own rosin, they mix it with different glycerines and stuff and kind of make up their own little combination that they like," says Peterson. "The rosin I use right now is from a guy in Guatemala, and I like it pretty good."

The process of applying the rosin basically consists of rubbing a bar of soap with high glycerin content (like Neutrogena) on the rope where the rider will later be holding it, and then applying rosin on top of it. By rubbing their leather glove up and down the rope repeatedly, the substance becomes hot and gummy and creates an almost Velcro-like feel for the rider.

"Once it's on there, you can't open and close your hand very easily, you've got to really try to open your hand sometimes if you want to let go of your rope," says Coleman. "So when a bull jumps and kicks and spins and moves forward and jumps in the air, if you're just holding on with no rosin on your rope, you've got to hold on super, super tight…unless you have superhuman strength."

5. Chaps (pronounced shaps)

Chaps are a nearly universal part of a cowboy attire at a rodeo. The thin leather is often used to display sponsor logos or show off other decorative elements, but their functionality and ability to protect the riders from injury is up for debate. Peterson and Coleman offered differing opinions on the matter.

"If I had to pick one piece of equipment to get rid of, it'd be the chaps because they provide the least amount of protection," says Peterson, who wears green chaps with a cross and gold accents. "Chaps are mainly for looks, they're mainly to dress up the ride."

But Coleman disagrees.

"They actually do protect you a lot more than you think…you never realize how much they protect you," says the PBR veteran. "It's amazing just how much a little thin piece of leather can protect you."

However, in the end, he adds, "But if a big huge 2,000 pound bull is gonna step on you, he's probably gonna break your leg whether you have chaps on or not."

6. Bull rope

The bull rope is a handmade, tightly braided length of rope that goes around the chest of the bull over the back to where the riders sit. The rope has a handle at one end and a bell at the other and serves as the cowboy's anchor when mounted on the bull. Most cowboys use one of two techniques to hold the bull rope, with the most common being to run the rope between their pinky or index finger.

The alternative, called the split finger or "suicide wrap" creates a bond by going between the ring finger and the pinky finger. Although it gives a little extra hold, it also makes it more difficult for the cowboy to get his hand out of the rope and increases the chance of a rider getting hung up on his bull.

Riders take exceptional care of their bull rope, both out of the desire to score a good ride and because a good bull rope can cost between 250 and 300 dollars.

"We take a wire brush and brush off all the old pieces and chunks and stuff, like maybe if there's dirt and stuff on your rope, basically you take that wire brush and brush it off," says Peterson. "Sometimes it gets real gummy (from the rosin) and kind of built up, so you might even take a knife and scrape off the excess stuff so you don't have too much buildup going on there."

The ropes can be set up for a left-handed or right-handed rider, along with numerous other modifications designed to increase comfort. The final piece of the bull rope is the bell tied to the end; although at one time intended to be an annoyance that would entice the bull to buck, its weight is now simply used to help the rider pull the rope off after a ride.

7. Boots and Spurs

The final piece of a bull rider's equipment is oftentimes overlooked by the casual fan. Cowboy boots aren't all just pull-ons. A majority of riders actually wear boots that lace-up.

"A lot of guys wear lace-up boots because they can just tie them on with their spurs on the bottom. When you get hold of the bull with your spurs on it's gonna pull your boot off if you don't have it tied on," says Coleman, who briefly wore the lace-up variety after breaking his ankle. "So a lot of the guys went to lace-up boots so they don't have to tie their boot on with a piece of leather if they're wearing a regular boot."

Despite this logic, both Coleman and Peterson continue to wear the traditional pull-on variety and tie a leather strap around the top to keep them on during their ride.

The smallest pieces of rodeo gear on a bull rider are the spurs, but they are also some of the most important.

"If you're not using your spurs you're not going to ride very good," says Coleman.

Each rider has different spurs depending on how they turn their toes when on the bull. The spurs are used to grab the thick skin of the bull, but cannot be sharp enough to cut the bull. (If the riders do cut the animal, they are fined.)

Explains Coleman, "if you lean to the right you want to get hold of the bull with your left spur — that way you can pull yourself to the center with your leg (and vice versa)."

A bull rider's equipment can also include such staples of sports and sports medicine as a mouthpiece, knee braces or athletic tape. Depending on a rider's preferences, he can be covered from head to toe in gear and safety equipment for the duration of his ride.

As Peterson says, "all that for just eight seconds."