NEWS
Wallowa.com
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
Unsung heroes of the rodeo:
Bullfi ghters save downed riders
Not just ‘clowns,’
they put their
lives at risk
JOSEPH — Everyone
loves the thrill of watching
or participating in rodeo,
but not everyone realizes the
value of the unsung heroes
of the most dangerous event
— bull riding.
Chuck Swisher and
Nathan Harp, both from
Oklahoma, are the bull-
fi ghters for this year’s Chief
Joseph Days Rodeo, and
they take their job seriously.
“The contestants see
themselves as the regu-
lar people in the world and
they probably see us as
the fi refi ghters,” Swisher
said before opening night
Wednesday, July 28. “When
they’re running from the
fi re, we’re running toward
it.”
Harp
agreed,
but
hesitantly.
“It’s hard to judge our
own value, but for me it’s
just the love of the sport. I
enjoy it,” he said. “I under-
stand that it can be life or
death at times. I enjoy it just
as somebody who every day
goes to their 9-to-5. I get to
do it for 15 minutes a night
and if there happens to be
an angry bull, it’s something
I’ve been very passionate
about and thankful I get to
do.”
This is only the second
rodeo the pair have worked
together on, but both of the
30-somethings have long
experience fi ghting bulls.
Harp started at age 16.
“I didn’t grow up in a
rodeo family, but at a young
age I loved watching the
bullfi ghters and barrel men,”
he said.
“I started fi ghting bulls
when I was 15 years old,”
Swisher said. “It’s funny,
my mom wouldn’t let me
play football or ride motor-
cycles because it was too
dangerous, but at 15 she let
me fi ght bulls.”
Bullfi ghters vs.
barrel men
At one time, they all
were rodeo “clowns.” Now,
there’s a strict division. The
barrel men are the ones
who are usually the more
entertaining ones, cracking
jokes for the crowd — the
traditional rodeo “clowns.”
But the bullfi ghters stick to
primarily keeping thrown
contestants safe. Barrel
men are usually older for-
mer bullfi ghters who tell
the jokes, get in a padded
50-gallon drum that’s the
last line of safety for a bull
rider.
This year’s CJD barrel
man was Ronald Burton, of
Philadelphia, Mississippi,
and a bit older than they
are, Swisher said.
He said he used to dis-
like the term clown for
what he does.
“I used to hate it because
I don’t tell jokes,” he
said. “But people recog-
nize us as that — we wear
the face paint and distract
the bull and at times it can
look funny, but about 40
years ago, a guy was the
Sexual assault
during home
invasion reported
Chieftain staff
ENTERPRISE — An
alleged home invasion
and sexual assault was
reported at a home on Marr
Pond Lane in Enterprise
on Sunday, Aug. 1, accord-
ing to a press release from
the Wallowa County Sher-
iff ’s Offi ce.
The
incident
was
reported to the sheriff ’s
offi ce at 11:37 a.m.
The release described
the suspect as a white
male, 40-to-50 years old,
of heavy build with black
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
hair and a black-and-gray
goatee. He was described
as wearing a brown zip-up
hoodie and blue jeans.
Deputies from the
WCSO responded, as did
Oregon State Police and
investigators with the OSP
Major Crimes Unit.
An area search was con-
ducted with no success.
Sheriff Joel Fish said
Monday that the investiga-
tion is ongoing and no fur-
ther information is avail-
able. He said Tuesday that
he expects the investiga-
tion to be lengthy.
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Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Bullfi ghter Nathan Harp steps in to keep a bull from taking out a tossed bull rider during Chief
Joseph Days on Thursday, July 29, 2021, and takes a head to the torso for his eff orts.
to the next rodeo. My dad
fought bulls, as well, so I’ve
always had a great apprecia-
tion for it.”
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Bill Bradshaw/Wallowa County Chieftain
Bullfi ghters Chuck Swisher, left, and Nathan Harp await the
start of this year’s Chief Joseph Days Rodeo on Wednesday,
July 28, 2021, near the arena in Joseph. Swisher sports a cast
to allow a fi nger fractured in a previous rodeo to heal.
fi rst to say, ‘I’m not tell-
ing the jokes … I’m just
going to fi ght bulls.’ And
he created this path where
rodeo clowns split and they
went to be barrel men or
bullfi ghters.”
Harp saw that division
and chose his path.
“I saw there was a split;
one’s more funny and
entertaining and one’s more
a thrill and the protection
side of it,” he said. “I fell
in love with the bullfi ghter
side and started going to
the practice pen and met the
right people and the Lord
just opened the right doors
for me.”
They both recognize that
the barrel men are an essen-
tial part of the team that
keeps riders safe.
“So, if a bull hooks
Nathan and I at the same
time and the bull and the
rider are the only ones left
out there, that’s when the
barrel men come in and the
bull rider can run behind
the barrel,” Swisher said.
“Some people like Nathan
and I, we’re not really that
funny and our jokes aren’t
that good, so we’re not
really crowd-pleasers” like
the barrel man.
Make bulls chase them
A bullfi ghter’s job is
essentially to distract the
bull after he’s thrown a rider
so the rider can get to safety
without being gored or tram-
pled. Some of the bulls have
been dehorned and others
have their horns blunted, but
they all have hooves and a
tendency to butt with their
heads.
“Our job is to go into
the storm and distract the
large farm animal from tear-
ing somebody up,” Swisher
said. “It’s pretty much our
job to get the bull to redi-
rect its attention from the
fallen rider toward us, so our
objective is to go out there
and make the bulls chase
us. That means getting our
hands on them. Bulls move
off of seeing, hearing and
feeling. We can get in their
face — make sure they see
us — we can reach out and
grab their head to try to pull
them around — obviously
we’re not going to be able to
out-muscle them — and we
can holler at them.”
Valued by bull riders
The bull riders all value
the work bullfi ghters do.
Jace Catlin, of Toledo,
Washington, said bullfi ght-
ers have saved him “many
times” in his 12 years of bull
riding.
Ruger Piva, of Challis,
Idaho, is now 26 and has
been riding professionally
for fi ve years, and riding
since age 13.
“It’s hard to even get on
without a bullfi ghter, espe-
cially these (bullfi ghters)
here,” Piva said. “There’s so
much danger in it and they
really take 60% of it away.
They’re there as soon as we
hit the dirt and put them-
selves in danger just to help
us out. I think it’s a lot eas-
ier to ride them than to fi ght
them. … I just really appre-
ciate their work.”
Wyatt Covington, 22, of
Omak, Washington, who has
been riding since he was a
child, agreed.
“I think they save our
lives. They’re the ones who
keep us going down the
road,” he said. “They take
the hit for us so we can get
Swisher also said a bull-
fi ghter can’t allow fear to get
in the way.
“I’ve always felt any
rodeo event is a game of
inches. You could be 1
inch from losing your life
or 1 inch from breaking a
bone,” he said. “It’s some-
thing that we don’t think
about it much, because …
when you add fear into the
equation into a very danger-
ous or serious job, then it
might deter you or distract
you enough so you make
the wrong step out of fear
instead of making the step
to do your job correctly.”
Harp agreed.
“This is a dangerous
sport. You’re going to have
your injuries,” he said.
“I’ve had knee surgery,
I’ve broken ribs, had hip
surgery, fi ngers, toes. I’d
say I’m fortunate to still be
doing it as long as I have.
God’s been looking out for
me.”
Even now, Swisher is
sporting a cast from a pre-
vious rodeo injury, but he’s
not letting it stop him.
“About three weeks ago
in Greeley, Colorado, I was
reaching out to grab a bull
and he jammed my pointer
fi nger hard enough that he
broke a bone in my hand,”
he said. “But it’s no big
deal.”
Harp said he has no cur-
rent injuries he’s recover-
ing from.
Swisher’s not so sure.
“He’s a little off in the
head,” he joked.
But they wouldn’t pick
another life style.
“Some people call us
crazy, but for Nathan and
me, we get to be our own
bosses and travel the coun-
try,” Swisher said. “This is
something we love to do.
For us, seeing people who
go to the offi ce for eight
hours a day, that’s crazy to
us. That’s something that
we couldn’t do. … We need
the adrenaline, the rush, the
experience and the adven-
ture of the whole thing.”
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