Bonnie McCarroll (1897-1929) was bronc riding champion at Madison Square Garden in 1922, at Yankee Stadium in 1923 and at Wembley Stadium in London in 1924. McCarroll was thrown and fatally trampled by a bronc at the Pendleton Round-up of 1929. Ironically, this was to be her last rodeo since she and her husband, Frank McCarroll, had planned to retire. As a consequence of her death, the controversy over whether or not cowgirl bronc riding should or should not be included in rodeo programs was ignited. The Pendleton Round-up committee dropped cowgirl bronc riding immediately. Moreover, the newly created Rodeo Association of America (R.A.A.), the first organization which attempted to regulate and standardize rodeos, was opposed to cowgirl events. R.A.A.-sanctioned rodeos, which never included more than 100 rodeos in its 17-year existence, had to include eight recognized contests, sometimes at the expense of cowgirl contests and events.

Today, videography and still photography play a key role in the marketing and development of the sport of skateboarding as photography played the same role for rodeo in its early years. One such pioneer photographer was Walter S. Bowman (1865-1938) who was Pendleton, Oregon's premier photographer between 1890 and the mid-1930s. While documenting daily life in eastern Oregon, he also photographically captured the personalities and event of the Pendleton Round-up. Bowman owned the first car in Pendleton, possibly a Maxwell, and was arrested for driving twelve miles an hour down Main Street. Ironically, he died from injuries received in a car crash.

The image of the saddle bronc rider on an untamed horse has not only come to represent the sport of rodeo, but also in a way to symbolize the American West and its conquest. Anthropologist Elizabeth Atwood Lawrence delves deeper into this symbolism when she compares saddle bronc riding with bareback riding. She states, "the horse wears a halter and the attached rein gives the rider some control of his mount's head. A saddle with stirrups provides more apparatus to signify control, and the event becomes more highly suggestive of the overcoming of the wild through the imposition of these objects representing culture . . . the rider is judged on the amount of force exerted over the animal, and the horse is evaluated on the degree of wildness exhibited in opposing the contestant."

Photographic postcard
Roy Adams Riding Sea Lion?, Let 'er Buck, Round Up, Pendleton, OR
Walter S. Bowman, Pendleton, Oregon, ca. 1915
Photographic Study Collection, 2003.280.1

A bucking bronco event at Montrose, Colorado in 1887 nearly ended in a fatality, not for the rider, but for a spectator, thus proving the notion that there are no innocent bystanders. "One of the cowboys was riding a bucking broncho when the animal made a dash towards where the ladies were seated and could not be checked before he struck Mrs. James A. Ladd, who was thrown violently to the ground beneath the animal's hoofs. The horse struck the lady with its front feet on her chest and pinioned her to the earth for a second or two, but he was quickly grasped by one or two gentlemen who stood near the lady and prevented from trampling her to death. Every lady on the grounds screamed and one or two fainted."

Photographic postcard
C. E. Morton Six Feet Up on Bucking Bull, Round Up, 1914
Walter S. Bowman, Pendleton, Oregon, 1914
Photographic Study Collection, 2003.280.2

Steer riding (bull riding) began as a humorous and crowd-pleasing exhibition in 1889 at Prescott Frontier Days in Arizona. A youthful cowboy by the name of Jeff Young jumped on steers as they were untied during the steer roping and rode them back to the herd, much to the delight of spectators. In 1913, steer riding became a contested event, and according to the rules, "The steer will be allowed to buck with head free and must be ridden without saddle, reins or surcingle." By 1925 real bulls were used.

Recalling a Fourth of July bronc riding contest at Cheyenne, Wyoming many years prior to 1896, a cowboy reported, "The regular thing was for everyone around to bring in the meanest horses they could get hold of and have some fun. The worst one is picked out and some one goes around and takes up a collection. The next is the riding. A good man tops the horse and stays with him until he gets the dirt out of him. The man busts the horse or the horse busts the man . . . That will be sometimes ten minutes and sometimes half or three-quarters of an hour, and sometimes until the horse is played out. The rider who succeeds in staying with the horse takes the money. If he is thrown they try other riders until one succeeds."