TUCSON, Ariz. (KGUN) — Bullfighting and bronc riding can be back-breaking for athletes spending day after day in the saddle.
As the Tucson Rodeo enters it's final few days when the event winners swill be crowned, competition ramps up, making rodeo sports even rougher for the ropers and rider in the arena.
What keeps these cowboys getting back up on the horse?
Part of the answer lies inside a red trailer on the rodeo grounds: home to the Justin Sportmedicine team.
“There’s sort of an acceptance that you probably will get injured at some point,” said Jenny Allen.
She's the program manager for Tucson's volunteer medic team and has been working on the sidelines of the rodeo circuit since the early 2000s.
“We see a lot of the same things we see in the normal training room," she said. "Sprains, strains, fractures—I think the forces that we see that these athletes are applying to their bodies are totally different than what we see in any other mainstream sport.”
Unlike other mainstream sports, professional rodeo athletes are private contractors, so they aren't required to follow a team trainer's advice.
“They can choose to not take our advice," Allen said. "These athletes will compete because if they don’t compete, they’re not getting paid. So, they will get on, and part of our job is to make it as safe as we can.”
From wearing heavy gear in hot temperatures to sharing the stage with thousand-pound animals, there's a lot of risk for those in the ring of a rodeo.
“There is no better group of people that keep us going up and down the rodeo road," said Nathan Harp.
Harp's been a rodeo bullfighter for two decades—15 of those years as a professional—so he's no stranger to danger and injury.
While bull riders spend seconds in the arena, the fighters face the full slate of bulls.
“I think there’s 15 bull riders today," Harp said on Thursday. "We’re going to get all of them, and if there’s any re-rides, we’ll be in the middle of those as well. They keep us going. Whether we come in sore or banged up, or we come in and are healthy but just want to get worked on a little bit.”
The bullfighters even use the Justin Sportsmedicine Team trailer as their locker room.
Allen says, in return, the fighters keep their clinic a little less crowded.
“That’s why you don’t see us in the arena a lot during the bull riding," Allen said. "We have great bullfighters. They’re taking care of it before we even get there and preventing injury.”
A give and take that gives some relief in risky rodeo sports.
“Rodeo is truly a family, and we’re one little slice of that family," Allen said.
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Alex Dowd is a multimedia journalist at KGUN 9, where her work combines her two favorite hobbies: talking to new people and learning about the community around her. Her goal is to eventually meet every single person in Tucson. Share your story ideas with Alex via email, alex.dowd@kgun9.com, or connecting on Instagram or X.
