2026-08-03
Ranch Bronc Riding: Ride As Ride Can
Ranch bronc is the one individual event on a ranch rodeo card, and people coming from PRCA saddle bronc assume it is the same thing with different tack. It is not, and the differences are the point.
The two big differences
Ride as ride can
Eight seconds, same as saddle bronc. But there is no mark-out rule. You do not have to have your spurs set above the points of the shoulders when the front feet land, and you cannot be disqualified for failing to.
That single change alters the whole event. In saddle bronc the first half-second is a technical requirement that can end your ride before it starts. Here it is just the start of the ride.
A working saddle
The horse must be saddled as he would be for everyday ranch use. No PRCA rigging. That is the philosophical centre of the event: this is a horse being ridden the way an outfit would ride him, not a specialist animal in specialist equipment.
The equipment rules, in full
They are specific, and they are enforced:
- No hobbling of one or both stirrups. Stirrups may not be bound or held forward.
- No latigos run through the stirrup leathers to hold the stirrups forward.
- Standard stirrup leathers. No nylon.
- Full or 7/8 double rigging. No centerfire, no 5/8, no 3/4. No cable rigging.
- The flank cinch does not need to be hobbled to the front cinch.
- Saddle blankets and pads should not be used.
Every one of those exists to stop somebody engineering an advantage out of a saddle that is supposed to be ordinary.
Night latch and catch rope
A night latch or a catch rope may be used. If you carry a catch rope, the rules on how it is attached are precise:
- Attached to the horn with a single leather strap
- Not exceeding 3/4 inch wide
- Wrapped around the rope no more than five times
- Attached in the traditional buckaroo manner, with a single buckle on either side of the fork or swell
- The rope must otherwise be free
The stripping chute inspection
This is the part that surprises people. Saddles are inspected before unsaddling, in the stripping chute, after the ride.
A violation means immediate disqualification in the bronc riding for that round — after you have already ridden.
Which is why our producer console keeps a saddle inspection log with the pass or fail and the reason. A disqualification that costs a team points in the aggregate is not something anyone should have to reconstruct from memory afterwards.
Spur rowels must also be free spinning, dull and humane, and the chute judge may inspect before the ride.
The halter comes from the team
A regular bucking horse halter with one rein, provided by the ranch team rather than by the contractor. Small detail, and another one that reflects the difference in culture between this and pro roughstock.
How it is scored
Points for the difficulty of the horse plus the aggressiveness, control and exposure the rider shows.
Note “exposure” — a rider who is genuinely out there getting it done marks better than one who is surviving neatly. That word is doing real work in the rulebook.
And remember the score is not the outcome. It produces a placing, and the placing produces points toward the team championship. A great bronc ride is worth exactly one event's worth of points, same as a good sort. See how points work.
Re-rides
Awarded at the judge's discretion, and must be taken by the rider offered it — with one exception that is specific to a team event: if injury prevents it, another qualified team member may substitute.
That exception exists because the points belong to the outfit, not the individual. It is a small rule that tells you exactly what kind of competition this is.