saddlebag dispatches
denly, there was a flash of movement in front of Pinky. The kid took two running steps and jumped straight up in the air. He twisted sideways in midair and landed with his right hip right between Pinky’s eyes and his waist between those horns without three inches to spare. He grabbed the tail of the rope and jerked just as Pinky tossed him ten feet in the air summersaulting over the back of the bull. The cowboy was loose and the other clowns took over doing their jobs like the pros they were. The kid got up, dusted himself off and went back to work like nothing had happened, but there wasn’t a cowboy, clown, or pick-up rider there that day who didn’t
“If you draw that bull again, Daddy, you turn him out.” Tuff made the promise knowing that the odds of drawing Bodacious again were very slim. The seventh round came, and the unlikely draw came with it. Tuff climbed up the chute and set his rope on Bodacious. God only knows what was running through his mind or the inner battle being fought. There was a gold buckle on the line and Tuff was no quitter. He put his hand in the rope, scooted his boots along the rails to get up over it and nodded for the gate. As the gate opened, Tuff stood up. He’d turned out. He stood on the back rail of the chute and doffed his hat to Bodacious.
make a point of shaking his hand or slapping him on the back. The second incident, the one I only saw on film, happened in the seventh round of the National Finals Rodeo in1995. Less than two months earlier, in the final round of the PBR World Finals, a bucking bull named Bodacious jerked Richard Neale "Tuff" Hedeman hard forward, then throwing his head back, broke every major bone in Tuff’s face. It took several hours of surgery and a lot of steel plates and screws to put him back together. At the National Finals, Tuff’s face was still noticeably bruised and swollen. His young son demanded that he promise,
The crowd went wild. I don’t know what I would have done in Tuff’s place. I can imagine the courage and sheer will it took to keep his promise. But he'd given his word, and when a cowboy gives his word, you can take it to the bank. I hope you enjoy reading this special rodeo issue of Saddlebag Dispatches as much as we’ve enjoyed putting it together for you. Until Next Time, Dennis Doty Managing Editor
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