Don’t know about the rodeo? What a bunch of bull!

Every other Friday for This Is Nashville, I hop out of my host chair and into the passenger seat to ride shotgun with fellow Middle Tennesseans. For this edition, I copped a ride with rodeo cowboy Dakota Brown. He is a professional bullfighter. No, not this kind. We drove around Springfield, Tenn., and talked about what it takes to make it in the rodeo! Buckle up!

In rodeo, the best athletes have four legs.

At least that’s how Dakota Brown sees it. I have to agree. The bulls and steers at rodeos weigh between 1,500 to 2,000 pounds and are capable of feats that display agility and speed that would make most trick dogs jealous. The animals are kept in tip-top shape. You can see the layers of muscle. Have you ever seen an out-of-shape rodeo bull?

Dakota firmly believes that there’s a lot of brain to go with that brawn.

“There’s some that are so smart that they know where they’re throwing the rider. And they know when that rider hits, they’ve got one extra turn and they can be right there to hook the rider,” he said. 

“It’s pretty crazy to see the ones that they know exactly what they’re doing when they throw the rider off. And they can be completely 180 the other way, and they’ll stop all that momentum and just shoot right back to where that rider was because they know exactly where they threw the man. To me, it’s incredible to see.”

MORE: Rodeo culture in Middle Tennessee 

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Triple Sevens (black) is the most popular bull in Springfield

Brown grew up wanting to be a part of the rodeo. When he was playing college baseball he went to rodeo school for bull riding and he got hooked.

“There is no feeling like getting on the back of a bull,” he says. 

After a decade, he moved to becoming a bullfighter. You may be thinking about the matadors of Spanish-style bullfighting. What Dakota does is something entirely different. Bullfighters at rodes are modern-day rodeo clowns. Like rodeo clowns, bullfighters protect the fallen bull rider from the animal. 

“Now I feel so much more in control,” he adds. “I’m more confident in my athletic ability to make moves around a bull instead of being tied to it.”

Dakota has still suffered some intense injuries over the years. Deep bruises, cracked ribs and a severe concussion when a bull stepped on his face, knocking him unconscious.

“They always say it’s not if you get hurt, it’s when and how bad,” says Dakota, sharing cowboy wisdom about getting hurt. 

Kristin Brown and Dakota Brown

Dakota shares his passion for the rodeo with his wife, Kristin. She quickly took up roping and showed great promise early on. At her first competition, she looked like a season veteran. 

“She worked her a– off for it, which is really fun to watch,” Dakota recollects with a smile.