Awww, sorry to hear of the loss of such a young life. Condolences to his family and community.

That is awful. Rodeos are very bad for all.
An innocent young man lost his life. They should be banned.

It's very sad, but how often is someone killed bull-riding? Not very often. Lots of sports and other activities involve some risk, but that doesn't mean they should be banned.

"How often is someone killed bull riding?"

Hard to say. Is there a statistic being kept of how often people ride bulls at rodeos or in preparation for rodeos and how many get a life altering injury or are killed? If it was work covered by WCB, then there might be such a statistic and there would be premiums to be paid according to the risk. Likely there isn't though, so how do we know the risk?

http://cbs4denver.com/local/bull.riding.death.2.1063255.html

Last year in Colorado. Quote from the above.

"He has all the appropriate safety equipment on and NOTHING UNUSUAL OR SPECIFIC HAPPENED," Deputy Cathy Bryarly with the Boulder County Sheriff's Department said. "HE WAS JUST SIMPLY BUCKED OFF AND THE BULL STEPPED ON HIM."

It then goes on to say this:

"Buchanan said bull riding is one of the Top 5 most dangerous sports in the world."

Well, we now have at least an attempt at determining how dangerous bull riding actually may be from somenone closer to the so-called "sport" than I am.

All in the name of "SPORT"?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=exjl3pOB8pY

I know this video is a product of animal rights people.

I ask you one thing though. Recall the horses left in the hills near McBride by the Alberta Lawyer. Then compare this video with that event.

Why should his action be called animal abuse and the action shown on the video not be called animal abuse but instead is an accepted spectator sport in which both animals and people are harmed to the extent that there are no statistic kept?

Sorry, I do not normally post this sort of "stuff". But it shows up one thing to me, that we as humans are rather fickle and we often do not even notice it!

"That is awful. Rodeos are very bad for all.
An innocent young man lost his life. They should be banned."

-Lets ban everything with a bit of risk..That will solve the problem..A young man dided at the olympics..Lets ban them too.
-Then we can all sit at home with full body armour and padded walls inside a little protective bubble. Even tv remotes will be banned becaue the risk of carpel tunnel.
-People that get involved with these sports know the risks. Sometimes a passion for something far exceeds risks.

Back to humans.
From a sports medicine journal
http://ajs.sagepub.com/content/30/2/193.abstract

Protective gear is rare .. a macho activity .. in which children obviously participate and sometimes die while fans look on and think nothing of it .....
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17883969

http://www.tulsaworld.com/news/article.aspx?no=subj&articleid=52710&archive=yes

People????

As in a 12 year old knows the risk? An 18 year old? Maybe.

BTW, how can someone know the risk of something if statistics are not being kept and people do not know the frequency of injury?

Did you, for instance, know that bull riding is considered to be among the 5 top dangerous sports in the world? I didn't until today. How many others do not know that?

BTW, northman, I am relating the level of risk of an activity. To ban the entire Olympics based on the high level of risk of one event is a non sequitur.

Remember, keeping to the topic without going to the absurd will help any argument you may wish to bring forward.

This kid was 16 years old.

Should 16 year old kids be allowed to assess the risk? Can they assess the risk? What is meant by "assessing the risk?"

http://www.cornycreeklivestock.com/bullriderskilledridingmemorial.htm

I think 100% of bullriders know the dangers they are getting into. Why would we want to take away a sport that people like particapating in and watching.

Ok lets ban driving at the age of 16... Its too risky.

Too bad! They know the risks and they are willing to accept them. Thank you gus for providing all those links to visit. I am not going to bother because it is not worth the time and effort and it won't change my opinion which is: It's dangerous, the rider knows it beforehand, he falls off, gets stepped on...end of story. Actually, it is not THAT newsworthy.

"Ok lets ban driving at the age of 16... Its too risky."

Interesting you should say that, even in jest. I totally agree!!!!!

The most common legla driving age is 18 in the world. New Zealand is 15. Canada generally 16. Parts are 15. With that it is one of the youngest in the world.

However, with the introduction of the graduated system, depending on the province again, one cannot drive without an older person (minimum 4 years with a drivers license in Ontario) in the passenger seat.

Bull Riding is dangerous, we don't need a study to figure that out. But, so is Base Jumping, Downhill Ski racing, Snowmobile Racing, Car Racing, Cliff Diving, Scuba Diving, Hang-gliding, Skydiving, Motorboat Racing, Mountain Bike Racing, Hang-gliding, Big Wave Surfing, Cave Diving, Mountain Climbing and Rock Climbing, Street Luge, Heli-Skiing, White Water Rafting or Kayaking, UFC, Rugby, Football, Hockey, BMX Racing, Drag Racing, Snowboarding and Skateboarding and on and on. How about Golf, Cheerleading (broken legs and spinal injuries) and Rock Fishing (drowing), Lawn bowling? Many people are injured or die in these sports as well. So, when do you decide something is too dangerous? And, do you want someone else deciding that for you? I don't.

I've got it--lets ban WBC and then there wouldn't be so many people bitching about an ache or a pain. WCB is a pain. I can't count the number of people I know on a WCB disability income, yet they are always out hunting, fishing and doing just what the healthy people do. WCB is for lazy people who know how to bleed the system.

Apparently I missed a few more. Long Boarding, Bungee Jumping, Sky Surfing, Aggressive Inline Skating, Ice Climbing, Wing Walking, Lacrosse, Gymnastics, Horse Racing, Soccor, Baja 1000, Inditarod (dogsled), Solo Yacht Racing, Speed Skiing, Air Acrobatics and the most crazy one is Wingsuit Base Jumping, those guys who are just soaring around in some coveralls with material sown between their outstretched arms and legs and their bodies. This one pretty much tops it for me.

So, calculate all of the participants, the revenue, the businesses, the fans the sponsors involved with all of these sports and ask them if they want them banned. I think not.

risk

the probability of an incident happening factored with the severity of the potential result of the incident

Rhyming off a ton of activities and saying that they can be dangerous really does little to advance the argument.

In fact, being born is the most risky thing that anyone will ever participate in.

The consequence of being born is the most severe - death. The probability of that event happening is the highest - 100%

But if we were to look at the likelihood of dying or getting a life altering injury as a result of a car accident during a normal trip as opposed to a professional race car driver dying, the actual probability of an adverse incident is twice as high as commuting. And the payoff for that higher risk? Certainly not for the thrill! The payoff is getting to work faster. Wow!!! LOL.

The facts still remain:

1. Bull riding is one of the highest risk activities, in the 5 to 10 range of the activities listed above depending on whose stats one might wish to believe.

2. It is a risk that can easily be avoided by not doing it.

3. It is a risk that can be reduced by having standards of fitness and preparedness in place such as many of the other "professional" sports have without taking the "fun" out of the activity.

4. As with other activities, there ought to be age restrictions below the age of consent or majority. As far as I recall, parents are still responsible for the actions of their children and those who needlessly put their child at risk are child abusers in my mind.

5. Finally to get back to my relating that animals are put at risk as well, which is actually higher than the risk that humans are put under, we seem to have two standards – the Renshaw horses standard of animal cruelty and the rodeo standard for animal cruelty. It seems to me that it appears okay to be cruel to animals as long as it is for the enjoyment of the masses while it is not okay to be cruel to animals if it is for personal convenience.

"the actual probability of an adverse incident is twice as high as commuting"

Should read
"the actual probability of an adverse incident is twice as high WHILE commuting"

Here are some probality's..

-.1% of people like gus try to micro- manage and make decisions for the other 99.9% of people who other wise are 100% capable of analizing and knowing risks in their personal activites.

That is not a probability northman. That is a statistic. :-0

And you have even that wrong. Everyone is free to do as they want. We are not in North Korea here. All I am doing is providing some information to those who wish to make informed decisions. Even poker players make informed decisions.

;-)

Here is the latest from the Calgary Stampede. 3 horses dead on the first day.

http://news.sympatico.ctv.ca/home/contentposting?feedname=CTV-TOPSTORIES_V3&showbyline=True&date=true&newsitemid=CTVNews%2f20100712%2fcalgary-stampede-deaths-100712

I see no one is daring to write anything about my opinion that people on here are two faced ....

Renshaw was cruelty, but animals dying in rodeos is not cruelty ....

it is amazing how people can rationalize what they believe in, even if it is stupidity ....