Wrestling Steers in the Land Where J.J. Watt Roams: A Dogged Rodeo Cowboy Takes Us Behind the Scenes at the Rodeo

We’re down to the final day of the  Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo. It’s almost curtains, but cowboys and cowgirls from far and wide are still giving it their all.

These athletes have tested their mettle time and time again in NRG Stadium over the last few weeks. Soon, they’ll be fixin’ to do it again next year.

PaperCity sat down with a dogged cowboy to learn the nitty gritty on one intense, timed event. Steer wrestler Blake Knowles shares his approach as an athlete competing at one of the biggest rodeos in the world.

Steer wrestling is a sport like any other, Knowles tells PaperCity. All rodeo events are. Don’t let the cowboy hats and stadium of fans chowing down on funnel cake fool you.

Cowboys and cowgirls are athletes through and through. Knowles comes from a family of them, with a saddle bronc riding father and a mother who ran barrels.

“I grew up around the sport,” Knowles says. “It’s really similar to track and field. When you’re younger, you run hurdles and you run sprints, and you high jump. You do everything.” As you grow older and progress to the level where the competition gets steeper and steeper, “you have to start focusing your talent onto what you find success at.”

Knowles’ experience is grounded in both rough stock and timed events.

Steer wrestling itself did not actually evolve from ranch life. It’s said to have originated in the early 1900s, the ballsy brainchild of Texas-born Wild West Show performer Bill Pickett. It began as a test of strength and agility, and it is to this day.

It may fall under the timed category, but it’s some high octane, risky business. A horse-mounted cowboy chases a steer at top speed, drops from the horse onto the steer, then wrestles it to the ground.

The event is an exercise in keeping your balance while taking a 450 to 650 pound animal off-balance. It gives new meaning to taking life by the horns. That adrenaline drew Knowles in. After his experience getting high off that rough stock rush, bucked by broncos or massive bulls, it was an adjustment moving over to timed events. But steer wrestling is something special. It’s kind of a bridge between the two forms.

“Steer wrestling does have those same elements to it when you make a really good run,” Knowles says. “You get that same adrenaline.”

Chasing Steers

The high-risk sport is not for everyone. Those that can cut it are at the top of their game. Reaching RodeoHouston levels takes grit, commitment, raw talent and practice, practice, practice.

“It’s so tough. It’s so competitive,” Knowles says. “At such a high level, you have to be exceptional.” It’s no different than a track athlete or football player who plays both sides, Knowles adds. You just don’t see it all that often.

Physical prep includes lots of core work and the kind of approach you’d take toward a contact sport like football or lacrosse. Knowles goes to the arena as much as he can.

From a distance, steer wrestling may seem all like one fluid, powerful movement. In reality, it’s a series of minute progressions: dismount of horse, slide, throw.

“There’s so many little pieces of a run that you see happen in three to five seconds. You don’t realize that you can break that down to work on each individual step,” Knowles says.

For any athlete, finding your weak spots can be tough. It’s difficult “to look at yourself and be critical. But that may be the most rewarding,” Knowles adds. Some days you don’t feel at your best, but you’ve got to power through.

“The trick to that is actually seeing yourself succeed in your mind,” Knowles notes. “I actually try to see myself succeeding and making that run. Maybe I do it 50 times before I actually run that animal.”

NRG Stadium is a haven for athletes with that kind of mental resolve and confidence — and not just for those who compete on horseback.

“We get to compete at our sport where the Houston Texans play their sport,” Knowles grins.

You find that kind of stoicism “consistently in all aspects of sports. The true champions always seem to rise up in that once chance.” This last Saturday, you get to see a lot of these cowboys get their chance to make one run to win $50,000, he says. “I’m sure when they were 10 years old, roping the dummy, there was a lot of times in their head they were roping to make it one run and $50,000.”

He remembers amazing runs he’s seen at RodeoHouston, where “any time you get to compete here in this atmosphere, it’s such a professional event. It makes all that work leading up to it worth it.”

One year, there was a tie in team roping. According to RodeoHouston rules, there simply are no ties: the riders would have to face off.

Clay O’Brien Cooper was on one of the teams.

“He was stoic. It was amazing,” Knowles said. “You know how riders have gloves? He had it tucked into his belt. He popped his glove out of his belt and put it back on. The energy was just amazing.”

Blake Knowles can’t even remember who won. “I just remember watching that and thinking it couldn’t be better.”