The Draw: What Is It? Why Does It Matter?

With more than 650 rodeos, many times rough stock contestants will sign up for more than one rodeo in a weekend. What bases their decision? The horse or bull drawn and how well they think they are able to score.

Phil Doyle Photography

In bull riding, bareback riding, saddle bronc riding, steer wrestling, tie-down roping, and team roping, the contestants have to “draw” for their livestock, which they then compete in their rodeo events. In rough stock events, which are bulls, bareback, and saddle bronc riding, the draw can not only be dangerous but plays much more of a role in whether an athlete shows up or “turns out” of a rodeo.

Athletes at the professional level in rodeo are also familiar with the “stock,” meaning the horses or bulls they may draw. They each have a name, their own ProRodeo stats, and a reputation of bucking off even the good cowboys or being just “rank” enough that if a cowboy can last eight seconds, he’ll wind up winning the money.

So, how does the draw work? Picture a slew of poker chips, one set with the cowboys' names on them, and one set with the animal athletes. That’s how rodeos originally handled the “draw.” Some rodeos do still carry through the old-fashioned way, livestock numbers placed on poker chips and placed in a hat, box, or whatever they can find.

However, nowadays, once contestants are qualified to enter a rodeo, their names are entered into a computer program, which a rodeo secretary monitors. The cowboys' names are placed on a list numerically, and the draw is random.

“It’s a mental game.”

Professional Bareback Rider and three-time National Finals Rodeo Qualifier Wyatt Denny (Minden, Nev.) stated that, like most rough stock competitors, you know the horse's ‘style.’ From the point they receive their “draw,” most riders “play a head game” with themselves on whether or not to get on.

“Make the decision right then and there,” Denny urged. If you go the route of looking up videos of how well other riders have done on that particular horse, then you start comparing yourself to other people,” which he says doesn’t help get you in the best headspace before a ride.

Overall, rodeo committees, contestants, and stock contractors know the rough stock draw has every bit of influence on showcasing a good rodeo with a good payout, which is why it’s so important to the sports.

Yet, the final decision is left up to the man who must get on the bucking horse or the bull. No matter what, a cowboy has no choice but to ride what he is drawn or otherwise not compete at all.