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"Also referred to as the speed category, spin is the most difficult to assess if a bull is only ridden for a jump or two. In this situation, a judge must assume that the amount a bull was spinning (or the number of rounds) would have continued at the same rate for eight seconds. For this reason, it is important, in order to achieve high marks in the spin department, to “turn back” or begin to spin as early as possible so that more time is spent spinning than covering ground.
Determining factors in the spin category are: how fast (how many rounds if ridden eight seconds), and how far around a bull goes with each jump ( bulls who take two jumps to complete a revolution get more credit than those who take four jumps). While bulls that spin without bucking or kicking are docked points in those categories, they still can earn high marks for spin even though they are flat. The fact that they don’t perform well in the buck and kick categories will take care of itself in the total score.
Another factor that makes a spinning bull hard to ride is if they are “ square” or move forward as they spin, or if they drift, or fade across the arena as they spin. These elements are measured in the degree of difficulty category, and need not be assessed along with spin.
A judge must be attentive to whether a bull was in the process of turning back or not as the rider was thrown in order to successfully determine if a bull was beginning to spin. Then he must use that determination to decide how much, or how many rounds would have been accomplished in eight seconds had he been ridden."
