Walking into an enclosure full of bucking bulls can be scary for anyone not familiar with the animals. To Charles Bradley, of Tres Piedras, it’s an everyday routine.
“They won’t bother you,” Bradley said.
Despite their intimidating size and mean-looking stares, the animals moved along without incident as Bradley entered a corral full of the 2,000-pound behemoths.
Bradley owns 6X6 Rodeo Company in Tres Piedras. This time of the year it’s hard to catch him at home because he hauls his stock of bucking bulls and horses all over the western United States to rodeos. He’ll be able to stick close to home Friday and Saturday when he supplies the stock for the Rio Arriba County rodeo in Abiquiú (see box for details on the rodeo).
“I was tickled to death when they started (the County rodeo) back up,” Bradley said. “I used to ride in it when I was younger.”
Bradley has provided the stock for the rodeo since it was reinstated in 200. Abiquiú will be just one stop for Bradley in a busy week. Sunday he was headed to Kansas and Monday to Colorado Springs, Colo.
“I have a truck I bought about two years ago and its already got almost 200,000 miles on it,” he said.
Carlsbad, Cimarron, Fort Sumner, Chama and Springer are among the New Mexico destinations for Bradley, who after riding in rodeos from 1966 to 1983 and working for a rodeo contractor decided to start 6X6 in 1999. He keeps his stock in Tres Piedras during the summer and moves them to another ranch he owns in Kansas during the winter. His son Donnie Bradley helps with the company.
“It’s just not feasible to winter in Tres Piedras,” he said. “In 2007, the temperature was 37 (degrees) below (zero) and that new pickup I’d bought wouldn’t start.
Bradley said that people who believe rodeo stock is mistreated don’t know what the animals mean to their owners.
“These animals make a living for me,” Bradley said. “They only work for 16 seconds twice a weekend. You have to grain them right and feed them right 365 days a year. If you don’t, they will not perform. A rodeo animal is probably taken care of as good as a personal pet.”
Choosing good stock is not just a matter of looking for animals that want to buck.
“If a horse or a bull wants to buck, you can see the potential,” Bradley said. “They can’t be throwing fits in the chute. They have to know how to leave the arena.”
Bradley said that he’d always been raised on ranches. He’s also worked as a pipeline welder and does backhoe and blade work with heavy equipment around Tres Piedras. Bull riding was something he loved.
“It gets in your blood and you like the challenge of seeing if you can do it,” he said. “It ain’t for the faint-hearted.”
The Rio Arriba County rodeo “Showdown “N Old Abiquiú” is sanctioned by the New Mexico Rodeo Association. The rodeo was honored as their “Most Improved” by the Association at its fall meeting.