Is rodeo bronc riding cruel?
A flank strap is a piece of equipment positioned in the flank of a bucking horse. The outside of the “flank” is typically leather, and the inside, the side that touches the horse, is lined with sheepskin or neoprene. A flank strap is used to alter the bucking action of the horse by encouraging him to kick out higher and straighter with his hind legs. The flank strap stacks the odds in favor of the horse, and it cannot not make him buck. The most often repeated fallacy regarding flank straps is that they are designed to cause a horse pain, usually described as putting painful pressure either on a horse’s kidneys or genitals. However, a flank strap cannot put pressure on the kidneys as they are shielded by the horse’s rib cage, and one quick look underneath a male or female horse lets one know it is physically impossible to cover the genitals with a flank strap. That painful pressure on the flanks alone is enough to make a horse buck violently is another falsehood. In fact, causing a hor
