Bullfighters take the bull by the horns to keep cowboys safe at Stampede

Don’t call them rodeo clowns or say they’re crazy.

Scott Byrne and cousin Jesse Byrne are bullfighters at the Calgary Stampede, and not the Spanish kind that wear sequins and swing a cape at a bull.

When a bull rider gets thrown from a snorting, leaping bull that weighs over a ton, their work begins. They distract the animal and draw the beast’s attention away from the cowboy so he has time to get away from those swinging horns.

“I get the question quite often, ‘are you crazy?'” says Scott. “We’re not crazy. We’re just guys that chose a profession that’s a little on the edge.

“Crazy to me is someone jumping in a race car and going 200 miles per hour around a race track 500 times.”

They’re routinely and mistakenly called “rodeo clowns.” There is a rodeo clown on the arena infield who entertains the crowd during down time. Bullfighters in the past have worn makeup and baggy pants, which has contributed to their misidentification.

“Now we wear jerseys and no makeup. We’re trying to define it now,” Scott explains. “A lot of people will ask what you do and you say you’re a bullfighter and they just don’t get it. You just say “clown’ and they get it and then you explain we have nothing to do with being funny.

“It’s our job to protect cowboys and make sure they can go ride safely the next day.”

Added Jesse: “There’s nothing wrong with being called a clown, but I don’t think there’s anything funny about what we’re doing.”

The Byrnes and David Sandiland work as a three-man team at the Stampede to divert the bull once the rider hits the infield turf.

Thankfully, bulls don’t seem to have a long attention span. Quick movements combined with a holler, clap or whistle can be enough to neutralize the animal and make it lose interest in the cowboy.

If the cowboy lands awkwardly and can’t quickly get away and the bull decides to extract revenge, then the bullfighter tries to get between the pursuer and the pursued.

“Essentially, we’re just getting their attention so whatever works, but there has to be a system to it with the three of us working in the arena together,” Jesse explains. “It’s all basically angles and timing.

“If you can put yourself into a position where you feel the bull rider is coming off and you can move that bull in direction he wants to go, which is away from the rider, that’s basically the goal.”

Broken hands and arms from contact with the bull’s head and broken feet and toes the result of being stepped on by hooves the size of pie plates are common injuries. Running quick tight turns on uneven turf can result in knee and ankle ailments.

“How many times have I been hit with a horn? Man, I don’t know. A lot,” says Scott. “There isn’t a day that goes by when you haven’t come in contact with a bull.

“A lot of people think fighting bulls is just running fast. That absolutely has nothing to do with it. There is quite a science behind it. A good bullfighter is someone who doesn’t get seen a lot, who can get the job done without getting everybody in a wreck.”

Before they head to the arena, the bullfighters don padded hockey shorts, strap on chest protectors and knee braces and lace up their football cleats. Scott tapes his ankles. They don’t wear helmets, as some of the bull riders do.

“Bullfighting doesn’t have its own line of equipment yet so we’re just kind of making due with what we can,” Jesse says.

Jesse’s father, Ryan Byrne, was a bullfighter who was inducted into the Canadian Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame in 2004. Scott says he wasn’t any good at riding bulls so he attended his uncle’s bullfighting schools. The 39-year-old from Wainwright, Alta., has been diverting and dodging bulls for 16 years.

Jesse Byrne first tried bullfighting at age 16 and remembers how fast and complicated the action seemed at first. At 25, the bullfighter from Black Diamond, Alta., is a seasoned veteran.

“You can see thing develop a lot clearer,” he says.

The bullfighters get a nod or pat on the back from a cowboy after they’ve helped him get out of trouble. The ultimate validation is when the top-15 riders in Canada vote for the bullfighters they want at the Canadian Finals Rodeo each year. Scott has worked at the CFR nine times in his career while Jesse has been there three times.

“You definitely make a lot of friends in a hurry if you’re doing your job,” Jesse says. “These guys respect the job we’re doing trying to protect them, so it’s a good feeling to know those guys have trust in you.”

The Calgary Stampede ends Sunday and the bullfighters will head to the next rodeo. Bullfighting is their full-time job and Scott says he makes a comfortable living doing it.

When asked why they’ve chosen such an extreme profession, the Byrne cousins have a hard time coming up with an answer although Scott admits he’s an adrenaline junkie.

“I heard a quote one time from a bullfighter and he said ‘You know, a lot of people run from the accident, or run from the wreck. Well, we’re running into it,’ ” Scott says. “When we’re warming up and two minutes from going in, yeah, your heart starts pounding and you start craving it.”