Blood and Guts bull riders live up to their name

After a week at the Bull and Gelding Sale in Red Bluff, spectators in a packed house at the Pauline Davis Pavilion were able to watch a spectacular show with a huge amount of talent.

After nine of thirty cowboys were able to take their own spectacular eight second ride on a bull from a pen of Don Kish's Buckin' Best Bull, the top six cowboys made it to the Short Go Round. The cowboys were RC Landingham, Keith Roquemore, Dwayne Hargo, Cody Imbrihimi, Shawn Waite and Josh Verburg.

Starting with the cowboy who received the highest score, each bull rider was able to pick their favorite bull to ride. When it was all said and done, RC Landingham, formerly of Red Bluff, came out on top. He had an 82 point ride on a bull named Velvet Times in the long go round and an 85 point ride on Splatter in the short go, with a total of 167 points on two bulls.

Local cowboy Keith Roquemore also made two successful rides. In the long go round, Roquemore rode Juicy Vindication for 83 points to start off the high scoring rides of the night for the other cowboys with the excitement of his hometown crowd. In the Short go Round, Roquemore selected a bull named Buckin' Rite. Roquemore made the coveted eight second ride for 79 points, taking home second place with 162 points on two bulls. Both cowboys took home an undisclosed amount of cash.

In between the long go round and short go rounds, Cowboys took part in a Ranch Hand Bronc Riding Competition, on rough stock from Rocking M Rodeo of Red Bluff. Two of the six cowboys stayed on for eight seconds, Anderson's Clint Lear from Rafter KC Ranch placed first and Chris Baird of 25 Ranch placed second.

Five of bull fightings best from around California participated in Extreme Free Style Bull Fighting. In the event of Extreme Freestyle Bull Fighting, five squares are chalked out in the arena. There is one bull fighter in each square, and three bulls released one at a time. The bull fighter that is able to get the bull into their square the most number of times and keep it there the longest wins the competition. After a bit of running, jumping, a game of dodge bull and a few rescues, the bull fighter that came out on top of the pile was Aaron Hargo of Somerset.

Hargo was able to add this win to his long list of career accomplishments, including being named the California Cowboys Professional Rodeo Associations Bull fighter of the year for 2008. He also took home with him a check for $1,000 for his extreme bull fighting style.

Contestants in the Extreme Bull Fighting Competition were Dustin Bowland, Ralph Higgins, Dave Murdoch, Shawn McNair and Aaron Hargo.

The Blood and Guts Bull Challenge XVII was presented by Reynolds Ranch and Farm Supply of Red Bluff.