East Oregonian | April 04, 2013
Contributed By:
KATHY ANEY East Oregonian
An Oregon bill to ban horse tripping includes a clause aimed at calming the concerns of rodeo aficionados.
An earlier proposal to ban the practice of roping horses’ legs in competition died in committee in 2011. It wasn’t that opponents loved the idea of roping horses’ fragile legs – after all, the Jordan Valley Big Loop Rodeo is the only Oregon rodeo to run the event. Rather, they saw a slippery slope leading to calf roping and steer roping — two of rodeo’s bread-and-butter events.
“They saw the camel’s nose under the tent,” said Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena. “The possibility of this bill passing created a lot of concern and angst among rodeo fans.”
Hansell lives near the 103-year-old Pendleton Round-Up, so he knows rodeo. When he saw that another horse tripping bill seemed likely to pass in the 2013 session, he sponsored an additional piece of legislation called the Right to Rodeo Bill.
