Ride ’em cowboy! Blythewood’s Doko Rodeo bucks into town for weekend

In most cases, a piece of rope is just that, a piece of rope.

But Friday and Saturday at Blythewood’s Doko Rodeo, rope will become something else entirely.

For the bull riders, it will be a handle they’ll use to hold on for dear life as the bull does its best to extricate the irritating rider from its back.

Ropers will use it to capture a calf who, in the real life of a cowboy, has bolted from the herd and might be headed for danger.

Then there’s Texas Jack Fulbright.

Within seconds of the former stunt rider picking up his signature reddish-orange rope, it seems to come alive, wiggling, floating over his shoulders like a ball and spinning in a vertical circle like a fluorescent dervish.

“My dad was a roper,” said Fulbright. “When he died, he left me his horses and his ropes. I’ve made a living with them ever since.”

Fulbright often begins his show with the “Texas Skip,” where he hops in and out of a giant circle created by his whirling 58.8-foot-long rope then directs it to spiral up and down his lean frame. After the briefest of rests, he moves into the “Texas Wedding Ring,” which is a gigantic spinning circle. “In a big auditorium, I’ll use an 188-foot-long rope,” he said. “The audience loves it.”

In addition to bull riding, roping and Texas Jack’s tricks, events include barrel racing, team roping and steer wrestling. There will be food and live music as well. Gates open at 5:30; the rodeo begins at 8 p.m. For more information, visit blythewoodrodeo.com.

Katie McElveen, Special to The State

This story was originally published July 31, 2015 at 3:13 PM.