Area cowboys continue New Year’s Day custom
San Jacinto News- Times - January 2010

By CHARLES BALLARD
Special to the News-Times

PINE VALLEY -- Just outside the city limits of Pumpkin, Texas on Highway 150 and down FM 2693 is a community called Pine Valley. Each year, for the last six, there is an event that occurs on New Years day. This year was no different. Mike King of Kingstring and Jake King of Flying T Bucking Bulls hosted a Pro-Am bull riding event called “Pitchin’ in the Pines.” The event is a photographer’s dream for action shots. When a cowboy enters the ring on top of a 1,500 to 1,800 pound bucking bull that is as mad as can be and tries to ride the animal for 8 full seconds, the adrenalin starts rushing. You would think that eight seconds is just a very short time. On top of the mean-est critter around, 8 seconds can seem to be an eternity. Several people said that this year’s stock was very good and aggressive, giving several kudos to Terrell Sullivan, Bubba Cannon, Billy Jones, Alan Murphy for being the stock contractors for the event. During the entire event there was just one re-ride due to a bull problem. The event started at 11 a.m., with the fi rst event being the junior steer ride.

The riders must be under 12 years of age. There were six contestants for the event. Boudreaux Campbell and Justine Bair tied with 76 points so each rider will go home with one of the “Pitchin’ in the Pine” belt buckles. The next event was the junior bull riding. There were 16 contestants for this event. Contestant’s ages are under 16 and included Taylor Hayes, Justin Glover, Ryan Greasie, Jessie Hopper, Brent Wells, Branden Taylor, Dustin Harolin, Chance Hall, Sterling DuBose, Daniel Carter, Rowdy Allan, Chance Strattin, Tyler Wilson, Bobby Porter, Richard Charpion, Tommy Whitely and Allen Corbia. Rowdy Allan totaled the highest number of seconds on the bull with a total of 7.3 seconds. “This makes my 97th buckle and I’ve been riding since I was three years old,” Rowdy said. Matt Rich, the announcer, kept everyone informed and when the main event started, the competition was on. The Colors were posted along with the National Anthem.

These riders have to be 18 years and older, or have a permit or waiver from their legal guardian, or parents to compete in the main event. All of the professional bull riding rules and regulations are followed. The first rider, Colby Jones, breaks the shoot open and scores a big 84 points, riding the complete 8 seconds. This raises the bar for the following bull riders. There were only 9 out of 45 to make a compete ride. So again the stock was very tough to handle. Howard Bailey takes the next score with a nice 79. Buck Bonner showed all the riders how it is done by scoring the highest score and winning the event. Buck’s ride brought a nice 87 points. There were several other riders that also scored. Codrick Murphy scored 79, Donald Frances scored 80, Ronnie Kitchens scored the second place points with 86, only one point behind Buck’s winning ride. Dillion Kasmil scored 83. An impressive part of the competition was the cowboy protection crew. Derek Evers, Justin Wright, Ernie Johnson Aaron Bostick did a fantastic job of making sure that the riding cowboy was always as safe as could be. The cowboy protection crew is ran over, tossed into the fence, butted, kicked by bulls and somehow they seem to be able to get back up and do it again. Entertainment at these events catches one completely off guard.

Mike King said, “I also have added entertainment. Girls bull poker just for laughs.” If you have never seen this before it is worth the entire admission fee of the entire day. Here is how it is played. The judges set up a circle of chairs in the middle of the bull ring, and a table in the center of the chairs. Cowgirls sit in the chairs. Judges turn one or two steers loose in the bull ring. The cowgirls stare down the bulls and the last one that is still seated gets the prize money. The brave young cowgirls are hit by the bull in the ring, run over by the bull and lucky that no one is injured. The entire crowd gathered around the ring when the announcer started asking for contestants for the cowgirl bull poker event. The cowgirls do wear plenty of protective gear, but it is still a scary game. Josh Ward was also present to round out the evening with some country music. This was Josh’s third consecutive year to attend the event.