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ProRodeo Sports News Magazine,24 issues-BiWeekly

Legend has it that rodeo was born on July 4, 1869 when two groups of cowboys from neighboring ranches met in Deer Trail, CO, to settle an argument over who was the best at performing everyday ranching tasks. That competition is considered to be the first rodeo which evolved into rodeo as we know it today.

Today's professional rodeo cowboy is a bit different from his 1800s predecessor, but the ideals and showmanship and hard work are still valued by today's competitors. A cowboy's standing in the rodeo community is still dependent on his skill with a rope or his ability to ride a bucking animal. The cowboy code still dictates that a cowboy ought to help his fellow competitors, even though they might be competing for the same paycheck.

While some things have changed since the last century, most of the changes have been for the better.

Now the cowboy travels much of the time in custom-made rigs or flies from one rodeo to another either by commercial airline or charter plane.