Slack

There are no glittery rodeo queens to rally the crowd or brave clowns to distract an angry bull from a cowboy in the dirt. Instead, the melodic drawl of a country tune piped through the dusty rodeo arena above the din of horses’ hooves and quiet cowboy conversations.

Slack rodeo is for the “overflow” contestants who compete in tie-down roping, team roping, steer wrestling, breakaway roping, and barrel racing. It’s all of the contestants that wouldn’t quite fit in the evening rodeo performance.

The “action” events like saddle bronc riding and bull riding are the main events at most rodeos but are not part of the slack. The decision of who goes to slack and who goes to the evening rodeo is determined by a lottery. Contestants who compete in slack are still formally competing in the CPRA rodeo.