BODACIOUS, A cowboy poem about the famed rodeo bull.

Bodacious, one of the greatest bucking bulls of all time, was inducted in the ProRodeo Hall Of Fame in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on August 14, 1999. Bodacious was the PRCA Bucking Bull of the year in 1994 and 1995; in addition to being named The Bucking Bull at the National Finals Rodeo in 1992, 1994 and 1995.

The 1,900-pound Charbray bull injured some of the most talented championship bull riders in the history of the sport. Tuff Hedemen,1995 PBR World Champion, was matched with Bodacious in the final round of the 1995 Professional Bull Riders world championships. Hedemen's face collided with the back of Bodacious' head, several jumps into the ride. The impact broke every bone in the cowboy's face between his upper lip and his eyebrows. Rebuilding his face took surgeons more than six hours and six titanium plates. The damage and swelling made him almost unrecognizable.

Men boarded Bodacious 135 times during the four years he competed, and fewer than 10 riders managed to hang on for the entire eight seconds necessary to enter the books as an official ride. Two of them, Clint Branger and Bubba Dunn, did it twice. World champions Hedeman and Terry Don West rode him twice. Bodacious was owned by stock contractor, Sammy Andrews of Texas. Andrews retired Bodacious from competition in 1995; and Bodacious died in 2000 of natural causes at the age of 12.

BODACIOUS ........by Bette Wolf Duncan

by
Bette Wolf Duncan

Widow maker.... bone breaker....
bucking bull, BODACIOUS!
It took a cowboy that was bold,
daring and audacious
to cowboy-up and let 'im buck-
and ride the vile BODACIOUS;
or even just to mount his deck-
sagacious, guile BODACIOUS.

BODACIOUS! Just his name alone
decalcified the spine;
quelled the beating of the heart
and turned the blood to brine.
Malicious old BODACIOUS-
he was like a rabid beast.
With every man that rode him,
his rabid strength increased.

Vicious old BODACIOUS.
He'd shoot up through the air;
and with dastardly maneuvers
fling the cowboys God knows where.
The impact of his punishment
made gory shreds of men;
and very few the cowboys were
who'd ride the bull again.

8 seconds- an eternity
for those that dared to ride him;
and few the men who made it
though many cowboys tried him.
BODACIOUS....mean, demented;
the cowboys knew him well.
They said that Satan sired him;
and reared him down in hell.

His feints and belly rolls increased
with every feverish breath.
His leaps and aerial assaults
near smashed some men to death.
His appetite for human blood
bordered on rapacious.
Body smasher....face slasher....
hellish old BODACIOUS!
Widow maker.... bone breaker....
bucking bull, BODACIOUS!

Bette Wolf Duncan
©July 10, 2005 All rights reserved.

About the author....BETTE WOLF DUNCAN

Bette Wolf Duncan is the webmaster and designer of this web site. She has three other web sites. For a complete package of cowboy western poetry- audio, attractive backgrounds and art, combined with cowboy western poetry of both classic and contemporary poets, check out the following web sites. Add them to your favorites so that you can come back again with ease :

       The author, Bette Wolf Duncan, grew up in southeastern Montana, not far from the Wyoming border. This is Rodeo Country; and she celebrates this rich western heritage with poems and photos of regional rodeo champions. She is the granddaughter of early Montana and North Dakota pioneers; and she was married to a former cowboy whose grandparents were among the earliest ranchers in northeast Montana. She can still hear with her heart the pioneers tales of relatives and other old-timers. This book is the echo of their tales and of good times remembered. It contains a collection of poetry and written accounts that embody much of the history and events that shaped Montana and Wyoming.

                         The book is $12.95. You can order it snail mail:
            B-D Productions; 1755 S.E. 108th St.;Runnells, Iowa 50237 (515) 966-2461
                                     Or by e-mail

wacobelle@msn.com