Rodeo supporters line up against 'horse tripping' bill

Two veterinarians, a county sheriff, a rodeo official, a mayor, state legislators and several ranchers spoke out against a bill that would ban “horse tripping” at rodeos in a hearing May 8 before the House Judiciary Committee. “First of all, what we do is not horse tripping,” said Jerry Rayburn of the Jordan Valley Rodeo board of directors in addressing Senate Bill 835. “It is horse roping with a 20-foot loop.” Secondly, Rayburn said, most, if not all, legislators in the House Judiciary Committee have never seen horse roping and are not equipped to legislate it. “We think it would only be fair if you could witness it in person before you pass judgment on us,” Rayburn said. The event that SB835 would ban, Rayburn said, involves containing horses by roping them around the neck, then roping their front legs. “Any intentional tripping would not only mean immediate disqualification,” he said, “but the contestant could also be banned from competing at our rodeo for at least three years and maybe more, depending on the infraction.” The annual Jordan Valley Big Loop Rodeo is one of only a handful of rodeos in Oregon that includes horse roping as an event. It is a signature event of the rodeo and a ban on it would subtract from the cultural appeal of the rodeo and could lead to a drop in revenue for the small Eastern Oregon town, Rayburn said. Sen. Mark Hass, D-Portland, one of the bill’s sponsors, said, however, the event is inhumane and should be banned. “For those of you who don’t know, horse tripping is the practice of roping the front or hind legs of a galloping horse, causing it to trip and come crashing to the ground for the purposes of entertainment or sport,” Hass said. Hass went on to say that the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association bans horse tripping in its sanctioned rodeos. But Douglas Corey, chair of the Livestock Welfare Committee of the PRCA, said that is not true. “While the PRCA does not have a position on horse tripping, as it has never been held in our sanctioned rodeos, we do have a concern about the language (in the bill) that would prohibit the roping of the horse’s leg,” Corey said. “We do not feel that simply roping the legs of a horse is an act that should be banned,” he said. “While this legislation seemed aimed at equine tripping, the language … seems to go much further,” he said. “I sincerely believe this legislation may have unintended consequences in the future,” Corey said...more