The Texas Tomado
The cowboy was on the Texas Tornado, the bull that had never been rode.
The bull that had broken several cowboys bones as well as spirit. The
ride was fantastic, the bull gyrating and turning, it was a sight to
see, the power under the cowboy was like a freight train churning down
that long track going nowhere. lt hurt to watch the performance going
on in front of your eyes. The clowns and relief riders were trying to
get the cowboy off the bull, no good!!! The cowboys gloved hand was
firmly caught in the rope. The bull bellowing out a roar, the cowboy,
whooping out his triumphant yell. This ride would defmitely go down in
rodeo history. It had already gone past the time for a normal ride of
eight minutes.
The cowboy was raised in West Texas on a cattle ranch, close to
Amarillo. He grew up riding horses, breaking horses, living the full
cowboy life. He started riding bulls about ten years ago. The last time
he had rode a bull was in 1989, it had been the same bull he was on
now. That time he rode he was on the Texas Tomado for about two
minutes. He received a lot of broken bones then. It has taken three
years of mending to come back to the rodeo circuit. During that time he
had attended all the rodeos inthe rodeo circuit going from Texas to New
Mexico to Nevada to South Dakota. The bull left a history of broken
men. Some that would never walk again. This ride today was the first
time he had drawn the lucky number to get the chance to challenge the
black beast from hell.
The cowboy life for ole Hank was like any other cowboy. You are raised
on a ranch, you work on a ranch, you marry, divorce. That is the
way most cowboys wind up.
Hank knew this bull. It was raised on the Tumbling T ranch, just like
Hank. The bull was out of a long pedigree line of famous bulls for the
rodeos. As a young man Hank had tried to ride this bull like all other
cowboys he bunked with, no one until now had stayed on the bull longer
than a few seconds. Hank had followed this bull thru the years, at each
rodeo he watch as many men drew the dreaded #13.
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The crowd were clapping and shouting they knew this was a great
ride. They soon realized that something was wrong. Then they became
worriedow a lot of people screaming and hollowing to do something. The
mood changed from excitement to terror. The ride continued. The bull
making his was to the South end of the arena, that is
where the wooden corral was. This bull was like no other he seemed to
"THINK" he knew if he got to that end he could rid his back of this old
advisory. They got to the end of the arena; the bull broke thru the
gate taking the man with him they still bucked and tumed the bull
trying to pitch the man off. Hank hung on tho. He was swearing and
cussing that ole bull. The bull squalling, and blowing his air out. The
man hollowing whoopee, yea. A small crowd followed as fast as they
could. the clowns, the other contestants, the medical team, the
comrades of the cowpoke. Several pickup trucks and riders on horses.
All in vain! There was a film truck filming the whole adventure. The
crowd watched as Hank and the Texas Tornado bucked to the edge of
the canyon.The bull paused hung his head in defeat; Hank raised
his arm, his hat in
his hand, looked to heaven and said "Thank you God". The
next moment, there was a small rumble; the earth gave way under the
weight of the man and bull. There was a whoosh, and then there was
silence. You could hear only the breathing of the horses. Everything
came to a standstill.
On the news, the great ride was showed to the world. Both the bull and
rider went down in history as the greatest bull ride ever, The ride
lasted twentyeight minutes a world
record. It was said that when Hank was found at the bottom of the
canyon, his face was relaxed and he had a great big Texas grin on his
face. Yes this was the greatest ride ever. Hank and Texas Tornado made
history.
by; Barbara Linn 08-11-01