A Question of Ethics II : Rodeos

A couple weeks ago I heard the rodeo was coming to town. For those of you who know me, bull riding (and I can say this from personal experience) is not really my thing. But my Significant Other grew up with livestock and roping and whatnot so I thought it would be a fun "date". Friday night we headed up to the Cow Palace in San Francisco.

When we got to the entrance of the arena there were tons of people wearing sandwich boards plastered with horrible and graphic pictures of cows and horses being strangled and contorted into positions nature never intended, all at the hands of competing cowboys. They were animal activists obviously, and that got me thinking as we walked in, bought our tickets and found our seats.

Are rodeos really a form of animal abuse?

At first it seems like maybe the activists are right. The "bucking" horses and cows...I mean bulls have a belt strapped around their..hips. And that's what makes them jump. And the calf roping has got to be my least favorite thing I saw with the cowboys lasso-ing and dragging the poor little guys to the ground and tying their feet up. I was like WTF? Why would anyone want to watch cowboys half strangle and tie up an innocent baby cow?
So I went to a bunch of people-against-the-rodeo sites (yes! right when I was there because I have an iPhone and I can do things like that) where they talked about the bucking belts pinching the genitals of the animals causing excruciating pain, and calves having their necks snapped during the roping competitions. I read about horses being stabbed by knife sharp spurs, and lots of other horrible things.

 Since I was still at the arena I tried to pay closer attention to what was going on. The first thing I noticed was the the referee-cowboys immediately unhooked the bucking belts from the horses and bulls after the rider fell off. They didn't leave them on the animals longer than was absolutely necessary for the competition. I had the chance to observe the belts close up (well, about 10 feet away) and noted that they didn't have any sharp parts on them (some sites claimed they were like the spiky choke collars for dogs) and that they were lined with what looked like wool, and that at least on the animals I saw, when in place came nowhere near their private parts. That was inconsistent with what I had just read online. Also I witnessed the cowboys kicking (or whatever you call it when they push the back of their boots into either side of the animal) and the spurs just bounced off the sides of the animals, never once cutting into their skin. That was also inconsistent with what the rodeo-as-animal-abuse people had said.
We had a chance to walk around and see a lot of the animals in their stalls during half-time (or intermission or whatever it's called). They looked pretty content to be honest. Most of the horses had on jackets and were brushed and had lots of food and water. The cows we saw looked healthy, no lacerations or raw spots of skin. They were sometimes kept in narrower stalls, but that was because in the close quarters of the arena apparently they get into fights with each other, and it was safer for them to be separated. The owners of the animals were mostly on hand and were very friendly. They let us pet them, but were also very concerned for their horse/cows comfort and asked people not speak to loudly, feed them random things or otherwise frighten them. I thought it was kind of odd to think that they would hurt their animal to get it to jump in the arena, but then ask that I not use a flash on my camera because it might scare them. From what I saw they all looked like responsible "pet" owners who cared for their animals.
We went back in to the arena and I looked up some pro-rodeo websites to see what they had to say. They claimed that the animals don't really mind the roping/riding. They said that rodeo animals actually live longer than most livestock (especially the cows who usually end up as hamburger in about 2-3 years). They said that the skin of horses and cows is much thicker than ours (duh) and that they don't feel the pain of spurs or belts the way we imagine they would. They said the animals are treated humanely and that the animal abuse people don't know what they are talking about. I thought about that, and I have to say I was kind of leaning that way...and then the (I have no idea what it's really called) little bull wrestling and calf roping started. And it was awful. I don't know why but ever fiber in my body was shouting what they were doing was wrong. The wrestling was accomplished by a little bull running out between two cowboys on horseback, one of which jumps off his horse, grabs the bull by the horns and then whips him around and tries to pin him on the ground. I thought for sure the cowboys would snap the bulls neck with how fast and hard they were twisting. It was gross. And let me tell you the little bulls did not want to lay down. I could be anthropomorphising (um I might have spelled that wrong) but they looked pretty terrified sandwiched in between to giant horses and ran like hell out of the chute.
Calf roping is similar in that the cowboy (on horseback) and calf run out together. Then the cowboy lassos the calf around the neck, shoves him/her to the ground and then ties up their feet. The calf's didn't like it one bit, and they made the saddest little noise, not a moo, but more like the baaa of a sheep as they were pinned down and tied up. Just thinking about it upsets me.
So who is right the activists or the cowboys/girls? I'll tell you I saw a little bit of both sides and I can't decide what I think. Some of the animals didn't seem too put out by the whole thing, and in fact they looked pretty pampered. But then some were obviously not pleased with being pummelled and tied. What do you think?