Kent Miller

TERRELL TRIBUNE

Crazy. There's really no other word to describe what Kenny Petet does on weekends. During the week the Terrell residents "whatever needs to be done" at Neal and Kay Gay's Rafter G Ranch. But when Friday and Saturday nights roll around Petet likes to throw caution to the wind, putting himself between 1,500- to 2000-pound bulls and fallen cowboys at Mesquite Championship Rodeo.

      Petet, 35, is a professional rodeo bullfighter- what old timers might still call a rodeo clown.

      When rodeo first began, the concept of clowns developed as a way to entertain spectators in between shows or events and to keep the children in the audience from becoming restless. The clowns' role evolved greatly since then.

      Bullfighters often endanger their own lives to save a cowboy, working to distract the bull so the rider can escape to the nearest gate or rail. Feisty, two-ton bulls are very different from horses -while a horse tries to avoid stepping on downed cowboys, bulls actually go out of their way to attack anything in their path.

      "First and foremost my No. 1 job is to entertain the crowd," said Petet, a 12-year veteran in a sport that many times sees other bullfighters retire by the time they hit 30.

      They may not wear the full make-up clowns of the past did but modem bull-fighters still know how to entertain a crowd.

      Petet has been known to drop down on his hands and knees in front of what appears to be a very angry bull, pawing at the dirt mockingly and even going as far to pat the bull on the snout as his "opponent" snorts and paws back.

      "To the crowd that looks really dangerous," Petet said. "But I know the bulls and their tendencies."

      Petet gets to know most of the bulls through his work at Neal Gay's ranch where most of the stock for the Mesquite Championship Rodeo is bred and raised.

      But knowing the bulls doesn't always give Petet an upper hand."I'd have to say that by and large. Neal Gay has as mean a pen as any in prorodeo," Petet said. "Sometimes I feel bad about taking the paycheck when I work at other rodeos because I really don't feel like I earned the money."

      Petet and Cory Wall, his regular partner, do earn their paychecks at Mesquite he said. Wall, who lives in Oklahoma more than earned his pay on a recent Friday night when a bull slammed him into the chute gate causing a gash that required eight staples to close. Yet there Wall was on Saturday night back at his post and ready to do it again.

"You have to have a passion for it, and you have to play hurt," said Wall. His 11-year career has left him with a broken leg and collarbone and a cracked skull Only once has Wall, 32, been unable to finish the night's duties - when he was kicked in the head, knocked unconscious and

had his eardrum punctured by a boot spur.

      Petet's been lucky to stay relatively injury-free but he's had a regular dose of bumps and bruises. Still, he's missed only one performance in his career due to injuries.

      So why do bullfighters risk their bodies when there are no big championship pay days or gold belt buckles to be won?

      "The adrenaline rush", according to Petet.

"Bull riders get to experience that thrill once a night," Petet said. "We get that thrill 30 times a night."