My assumptiom was that Ennis was calf-roping rather than bull-riding when he'd participated in a few rodeos prior to his meeting with Jack. I've never been to a rodeo, so I may be way off, but I'm assuming that there would be number of different games or challenges in an afternoon or evening's entertainment. For instance at the rodeo where Jack meets Lureen, she is taking part in some sort of horse riding test. Any rodeo experts out there who can comment?
Traditional rodeo has several events....you have rough stock events and you have timed events.
Rough stock events are the ones where you ride bulls or horses. Bulls (of course) do not have saddles, you hold onto a bullrope. Horses can be either bareback using a band to hold onto or saddlebronc which do have a saddle.
Timed events involved trained horses. There is calf roping, team roping, steer wrestling, and barrel racing (that one is what Lureen is doing in the movie and only girls do it at traditional rodeos)
Bull riders have gotten a lot more prestige lately because of all the new show they are putting on these days....CBR and PBR...traditional rodeos are not as popular anymore...and you can hold a bull ridign event in a small colesium.
To compete in a timed event you need to have the money to take care of a competitive horse or the money to rent one...and if you rent one part of your winnings goes to the horse owner. To be a bull rider all you have to have is a bullrope
