Mum Of Boy Trampled By Bull Defends Rodeo
Posted by Madeline Holler at 10:00 AM on July 3, 2009
Last weekend, 12-year-old Richard Wayde Hamar’s life came to an end. The 2,000-pound bull he was riding threw him off and then trampled the young rodeo contestant’s chest and stomach.
Richard’s mother, father and 10-year-old brother, who was also competing that day, witnessed the entire thing.
While the family grieves, they are also defending the sport that was their son’s undoing without even considering the idea that little boys should not be riding bulls.
From Colorado Daily:
“It was nobody’s fault,” Angie Hamar said. “It could have happened on a horse as easily as it did riding his bull.”
The boy had been wearing the (optional) helmet and also a vest. And Richard had been competing in rodeos most of his life, having first ridden a calf when he was six.
In an awkward turn of phrase, his mother explained that her son had a real passion for rodeo: “That’s what that kid lived to do.”
What’s strange about the story is how resigned everyone is to this child’s death and how everyone appears to be circling the wagons and protecting the sport. The mother quickly points out what happened was “an accident” and “we just want to make sure nothing negative is said about the sport of rodeo or bull riding.”
While not giving the boy’s vest a rousing endorsement (“There was not a lot any vest could really do”), the manager of the fairgrounds where the rodeo took place said everyone “did their job accordingly,” and “I don’t know what else a person could have done, really.”
What about not letting a 12-year-old ride a bucking bull? Grown men get thrown, stomped on and trampled by bulls. Even killed. That’s fine. They’re thrill-seeking grown-ups. It’s their choice to take on that kind of risk. But we don’t let kids that young drop out of school or drive cars on the Interstate or work in sawmills because even if they’d love to do it, it’s too risky. Why are they encouraged to ride bulls?
And was this really a fluke as some have described? National Little Britches Rodeo Association officials wouldn’t disclose how many children have died in the Little Britches rodeos, but there have been some deaths. From bull-riding?
Hamar’s mother argues that “You can’t keep your kids locked up in a closet,” she said. “There are some kids who take motocross racing, and we take our kids rodeo riding.”
Totally agree. I’m all for kids competing in rodeos — I know it’s a cultural thing. And I love allowing children to take risks — even ones that will potentially harm their bodies.
But bull-riding is big time. That’s a sport for grown-ups — not 8 to 18 year olds.
Photo: Colorado Daily
What everyone is forgetting is that the bulls used for jr. bullriding are young, smaller bulls. They are not 2000 pounds, they are under 1000 pounds. That does not say that kids should do it, but at the same time; when did anyone say that we could protect our kids from all dangers. Kids don’t start out on bulls, just like kids don’t start out walking. I can tell you that just as many kids who have died while bullriding have also died in other sports, such as; football, baseball, basketball, and soccer. I know all of this from personal interaction with families who have dealt with the untimely death of their children.