Cowboys need skill and a little luck

In many ways, the phrase is a nod of respect to the power livestock hold over results; an acknowledgment to matters beyond a cowboy's control.

Get a particularly wild bull or a bronc that does not buck so strong and you are likely to go home without a payday.

So when Marana tie-down roper Joe Parsons drew his calf Saturday at La Fiesta de los Vaqueros, he knew he was blessed with a great shot at making the finals.

"I just drew a really good calf today," he said.

In tie-down roping, a calf sprints out of the chute and the cowboy must track it down, lasso it and wrestle it to the ground in the span of a few seconds.

Three of the calf's legs must then be tied together.

No doubt, it's a sport of skill and timing, but the luck comes with the calf.

Get one that is too fast, and it will outrun the horse. Get one too strong, and wrestling it to the ground will become an awkward affair.

Parsons' calf was just right: Fast, but not too fast. Strong, but not overpowering.

He roped it in 10.4 seconds, winning the event for the day and placing him in today's finals.

"My dad just said rope smart and have fun," he said of his father, Joe, a renowned roper who was also competing.

In the finals, Parsons will be competing against all-around world champion Trevor Brazile, who leads tie-down roping with a combined time of 19.5 seconds in two runs.

In an interview last week, Brazile stopped short of saying luck of the draw was a key to rodeo success. Certainly it was an element, he said, but the skill is in a cowboy's ability to react to and understand an animal.

"There's so much reaction in rodeo," he said. "You're just going off what the animal is giving you."

A case in point Saturday was bareback rider Bobby Mote, who rode his way into the finals on the horse Spider Monkey.

Asked to describe his ride, he started with the draw.

"Spider Monkey is a good little horse," he said. "It's probably the smallest horse out there but has as much heart as any of them."

Mote had ridden Spider Monkey before, and so he was familiar with its moves.

Bareback riders must stay aboard a bucking quarter horse with a rigging similar to a suitcase strap.

The ride must last eight seconds, and the judging is split between the quality of the horse and the style of riding.

A good horse must burst out of the chute, stay strong through the ride and buck in a rhythm that allows the cowboy to score style points.

Spider Monkey did just that.

"She was just as hard when the whistle blew as when she started," Mote said.

Luck of the draw was on Mote's side, but was so was his reaction.

The same couldn't be said for Tyler Corrington, who suffered one of the most vicious falls of Saturday's rodeo during bronc riding.

"He just had a lot of moves," Corrington said, with a twinge of regret.

Had he held on, he said he thought he'd be riding in the finals.

"I had the horse to win," he said.

Tucsonan Mullins draws Sand Trap for finals

Parsons will be joined in today's final by Tucsonan Camo Mullins, a bull rider who scored an 81 on a wild, spiraling ride that left him with a torn shirt and a chance for glory.

For the finals, Mullins will be riding Sand Trap, the most coveted and feared bull at La Fiesta. Sand Trap has yet to be ridden.

StarNet has the Tucson Rodeo covered, from the parade to bull riding to mutton bustin'. See video, slide shows and daily coverage at: azstarnet.com/rodeo