Here are a few more interesting bull riding terms. I know that some of you are breeders and riders and you already know all this. And then some readers of this website don't watch bull riding at all and have no clue what any of it means. Bottom line: I just love words. So here we go:
1. In the well: When a bull spins and the centrifugal forces pulls you into the center of the spin and off the bull, you are in the well. A wellie bull is one that tends to put you there.
Example: "He's pulling him into the well..." This is said by announcers with a mixture of dread and glee, and sort of tails off at the end as the announcer is proven right and the rider does, in fact, go into the well.
2. Muley: A muley is a hornless bull. I wrote an article about horns way back when, and have since confirmed, to the best of my ability, that the hornless (or polled) gene is dominant. A muley bull has to have at least one hornless parent. Major Payne is a muley and I am kind of in love with him and in love with the muley look in general. Something about them, they just look so sweet. Yeah, yeah, I'm a girl. I know they're not.
Example: "We're seeing a lot of big red muleys out of the Northwest."
3. Cornering Bull: This is a bull that turns really sharply. It is not the same as a spin. In a spin the bull whirls like a bottle in a game of spin the bottle. When a bull corners, it turns around and faces in the other direction really quickly. So it's like that bottle suddenly stopped, bent in half and faced in the other direction. Bad analogy, but there you have it.
Example: "When a bull corners like that, it feels like it swallowed its own head." Ty Murray actually said something very close to that about a cornering bull while announcing a PBR event.
There you have it, cowpokes. Check out Lingo, Part One for my first set of favorite terms, and stay tuned for more on the genetics of horns tomorrow.
