Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Miscellaneous/2016 August 18

= August 18 =

Rodeo bull riding
Would holding on with both hands be easier or harder? Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 04:52, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Logic says it would be easier - just like with a horse, a car, motorcycle, etc. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 05:10, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
 * I heard they try to cancel some of their body's momentum with the free arm. Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 05:22, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
 * It would be easier - but bull riding isn't meant to be easy. It would also mean instant disqualification from the contest: the free hand must not touch the animal, the rope or the rider's own body. Wymspen (talk) 13:47, 18 August 2016 (UTC)
 * Okay. I thought maybe there might be some weird aspect of physics that makes it easier to whip your arm the same direction the bull's bucking to push your body and holding arm the other direction. I guess it'd be too easy with 2 hands (even easier would be tying your hands to the bull but you might get hurt without being able to stop the injuring (I wonder when they'd just chill out and let the dude stay on his back? Not till physical exhaustion?) Sagittarian Milky Way (talk) 23:15, 18 August 2016 (UTC)


 * Well the free non-riding arm is certainly used for counterbalance, as reported on many bull-riding sites. Yes, touching with your free hand disqualifies you (see rules and regulations), but I couldn't find any reference that holding on with two hands would be an advantage. Jeanne Marie Laskas's quotes the experts "You just gotta ride the bull. Jump for jump. Hanging on with your legs. Bull riding is 75 percent legs. Your arm just gives you a balance point. A teeter point. You ride bulls with your knees and your feet, more or less." (and "Because bull riding is 75 percent balance. Basically. That's why it's gotta be feel. Because it's, well. It is. Bull riding is 99 percent feel.")in America is Bull". A sports & fitness site I can't link to writes "While it’s tempting to hold on tightly to the mechanical bull’s reins with both hands, it’s actually better to keep one hand off the reins to help maintain your balance." I know very little about this topic, but I'm not sure the question is resolved yet. ---Sluzzelin talk  00:54, 19 August 2016 (UTC)

When a horserider gets it wrong over a jump you will see them "calling a cab" ,throwing one hand and arm high in the air.It does help shift the centre of balance.This might be the origine of why.Hotclaws (talk) 18:34, 19 August 2016 (UTC)


 * And when you hold on with two hands, your head will be closer to the bull's, risking a head-butting, especially if you were riding Bodacious, also mentioned in The Ride of Their Lives by Burkhard Bilger (a fascinating read, by the way, even if it doesn't answer your question either :-). ---Sluzzelin talk  23:26, 22 August 2016 (UTC)