These photos of terrified toddlers riding angry sheep are hilarious
In mutton bustin’, just grab wool and go!
In the annals of American sport (and parenting) the recent phenomenon of Mutton Busting may be the oddest iteration of man vs. beast since horse diving. Leave it to Colorado cattle ranchers to invent a high stakes children’s ride where small children are bucked and trampled by angry ewes while their doting parents watch. Call it rodeo for rugrats.
If this all reads like a bad Jeff Foxworthy joke it’s because Mutton Busting is undeniably entertaining. To participate, children must be 4–7 years old and weigh less than 60 pounds. Like bull riding, the goal is to stay mounted on the animal the longest. And with the average female sheep weighing 150 pounds it’s no wonder these tykes have to hold tight if they want to win. Most kids last only a matter of seconds before falling to the ground—all end up there eventually. The majority of winners are the little girls—who are apparently more coordinated at that age—the best of whom manage to stay atop lamb chop for eight seconds or more.
Though its origins are murky, the first known instances of organized Mutton Busting were held in the 1980s, at Denver’s National Western Stock Show under the sponsorship of former rodeo queen Nancy Stockdale Cervi. Since then, Denver event has been joined by any number of regional competitions where tough-love parenting meets a PETA activist’s worst nightmare.
For now, Mutton Busting occupies a grey area between competitive sport and county-fair child care. Could these gateway gladiators be the antidote to the scourge of helicopter parenting? As one mutton lovin’ parent explained to The New York Times in 2013, “We are teaching our kids that yes, you are going to fall. You can lose, too, and that can mean something.”
