Friends of Rodeo - Latest News

Nearly every night, Linda Burdick dreams of rodeos. Of cowboys in wranglers and cowhide chaps wrestling 600-pound steers. Of anxious girls, resplendent in their sequined gowns, hoping they're the one crowned queen. Of her atop a colt, full gallop, carving sharp turns in the barrel race.

So it's not that unusual that during intensive surgery a little over a year ago, Burdick, anesthetized and unconscious, could think of only one thing.

"The doctors and nurses told me that I yelled out, 'Hurry up. I have to go to the rodeo to defend it from all the dumb animal rights protesters,'" said Burdick, who had hematoma of the liver.

Despite having half her liver removed, Burdick left the hospital in four days. to her rodeo.

"I told the doctor, 'Well, you've never treated a cowgirl before,'" Burdick said.

That energy, and perhaps recklessness, has kept Burdick on the road for the last decade. She has crisscrossed the country -- traveling as far as New York -- for Friends of Rodeo, a non-profit dedicated to promoting rodeo and defending it from animal rights activists.

As the executive director, she has attended "thousands and thousands" of rodeos, setting up her booth to showcase lassos and bull flanks, handing out literature and occasionally taking her opponents ("the ignorant," she says) backstage to show them the facilities. Throughout this weekend at the Oakdale Rodeo, she will be at her booth, eager to show rodeo equipment and chat about the sport.

Her mission is to refute critics who claim that animals are harmed and subjected to abuse at rodeos. She says that animals are treated with the utmost respect, and that most live longer than those in the wild.

"A lot of time, it's people's first rodeo," she said. "We just give them a total background, a crash course, on rodeo. We call it 'Rodeo 101'."

Her father was a team roper and his mother a cattle rancher. Her earliest memory was of riding a horse. "Before I could walk, I was on horseback," she said.

She spent her childhood a tomboy, riding with her father out on the trails of the Central Valley, learning the lasso and raising ruckus with her six siblings. She would emulate the Lone Ranger, pouncing on horses from above, and race her father's favorite colt, without his permission.

And as a single mother, she would take her two children to rodeos. She wanted her children to experience the pageantry, the sportsmanship, the tradition. When cowboys roamed free. When the West was still untamed.

But for the last few years, her cherished way of life has come under a barrage of criticism.

Organizations like People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, and Animal Emancipation have protested rodeos, claiming brutality and indignity. They have attempted to ban rodeos throughout the country.

And like a bull bucking out of the gates, Burdick vehemently defends the sport she loves.

"Facts that have been presented to them have been ignored and denied," said Burdick, pointing to the low accident rate among rodeo animals. "Their claims they make are false.

"Yes, there are accidents and accidental injures and deaths, but accidents happen in life. That's what they were, unforeseen accidents. There are rules in place to protect the animals."

Simon Oswitch, president and co-founder of Animal Emancipation, said Burdick and those like her are simply an arm of the rodeo industry. They simply ignore the videos, the testimonials, the evidence, he said.

"It's people who have grown up with the rodeo and see no problems with the issues we raise," Oswitch said. "They're spin-doctoring."

"Whoever calls me a spin doctor, I would like to call them a liar to their face," she said. "You can quote me on that."

At 50, Burdick, a grandmother of three, is as passionate and energetic as ever. She devotes every day to Friends of Rodeo, running it from her Merced home, which is adorned with Rodeo mementos and memorabilia.

With her new Dodge truck, she's already planned the gauntlet of rodeos she will attend this year. She will travel throughout California and bordering states. Her goal is to increase membership, and see the sport experience a resurgence.

"I'm going to do this as long as I can, as long as the need is there. I enjoy it," she said. "I'm not just against the activists. What I really want to do is create new fans."

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