Colorado Springs, Colorado. (May 18, 2024): That’s right, you can join the military and learn to rodeo. The Air Force Academy operates a rodeo club where cadets learn to ride and rope like the ranch hands of the old west. In this photo by Trevor Cokley, Cadet 1st Class Robert Ball, team captain of the Air Force Academy Rodeo Club, rides his horse, Ferg, during practice at the Academy's Equestrian Center. The club participates in five rodeo events each semester that include bull riding, team roping, barrel racing, calf roping, and steer wrestling.
Started by cadets in 2009, the 50-member Rodeo Club competes at the highest level of competition in a state known for its cowboy history. The club meets twice a week to focus on horsemanship and the care and conditioning of their steeds. Cadets manage it all, from grooming to cleaning up after the horses, as they share experiences with their horses. The Air Force believes the rodeo teaches essential skills like thoroughness, teamwork, and leadership.
Today’s cadet cowboys are following a tradition that dates to the 1800s in the old West and the Mexican “vaqueros”, or horse-mounted herders. These men were mostly itinerant ranch hands, constantly on the move working one spread after another with no other belonging than what they could carry on the saddles. They created the rodeo fashions of leather boots, chaps, and big hats along with the roping and riding skills we see in today’s competitions. In fact, the term “rodeo” is derived from Spanish verb “rodear” which means to encircle or round up.
Always competitive, these rough riders had to see who was the best. Thus, the rodeo as a test of skills was born. The earliest rodeos were informal gatherings that evolved into fierce competitions between different ranches that drew ever-larger crowds and increasingly took on a carnival atmosphere. In later years, the sport gained nationwide popularity with events like Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show which drew audiences in the millions back East.
These Air Force cadets are learning an important life lesson through the rodeo, always strive the be the best.