Yeah, they should, but there must be a reason why they don’t?
Just a WAG: Real men don’t worry about fractured skulls.
Um, 'cause it’s big in Texas?
(sorry, I didn’t really mean that)
There must also be a reason why someone would put visegrips on a bulls testicles, then hop on and try & ride it…
It’s not The Cowboy Way.
Or, more seriously, the dirt on rodeo floors is pretty soft, and won’t cause concussions as seriously as a basketball floor, for instance. Most rodeo injuries seem to be broken arms or dislocated shoulders and such, not head impacts. If a bull kicks you there, a helmet won’t help all that much anyway.
Or so it seemed from my visit to the Calgary Stampede this year.
I think the reason they don’t is the history of the sport. Cowboys didn’t wear helmets, they wore hats. It is one of the few sports that originated from daily life. There is a company that manufactures helmets, so there definately is a need for them. I think they are pushing for kids involved in rodeo be required to use helmets as well as other protective equiptment.
Every junior rodeo I have seen (maybe 5 of them) had the participants wearing helmets. I don’t know if it is a requirement, though.
They DO wear head protection. It’s a 4X beaver helmet. What more do you want? 
Maybe they like the risk.
I mean, their not running around a padded ring, on a padded ground, and on a padded bull either.
I saw a bullrider in a rodeo on tv wearing a white hockey helmet and full face mask, once. I’ll bet all the other bullriders laughed at him.
They do wear some pretty substantial-looking body armor, though.
Yes, there are one or two cowboys in the PBR and PRCA Pro tours* who wear full face and head protection, several more who’ll wear just a “cage” thing like a goalie mask. I can’t think of the names of the specific cowboys I’m thinking of here, but I know the ones who bother with such things are usually ones who’ve knocked skulls with the bulls one time too many. One of the cowboys in particular smashed his face on the back of a bull’s skull once and broke a lot of the bones in his head, and ever since he’s worn a mask every time I’ve seen him. That’s a rare occurence, which is why very few cowboys bother preparing for it, but it seems to be more of a problem than the risk of getting tossed off and concussed, which is why even fewer - almost none - of the adult pros bother preparing for that.
[sup]* That’d be Professional Bull Riders and Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association, respectively.[/sup]
Oh, and they wear flak jackets to protect their ribcages. (NASCAR drivers started picking that up from rodeo cowboys a couple-few years ago after a spate of cracked ribs resulting from poorly designed seats and high-velocity impacts, incidentally.)
These people willingly climb on the back of a bull and try to ride it. There is not much to protect.
Did it once. 4.6 seconds. One real wild ride. You know, dirt looks very interesting when your face is flying at it.
Yeah, Booker’s right. A friend of mine once summed it up: “150 pounds of man. 1500 pounds of bull. If the bull wins, a helmet is going to do sh**-all.”
I just love that they cram their cowboy hat way down on their head so it won’t fly off. That just looks uncomfortable, but I guess a chin strap would be out of the question…
Me too, Kamandi. 
But then, if they had a chin strap, they’d have to undo it before they could whip the hat off their head and toss it up in triumph after a good ride, and we couldn’t have that.
On World Records a week ago a woman, the oldest rodeo woman, said she broke every bone in her body but she doesn’t wear any protection still, other than a cowboy hat.
As for dirt being soft, BMX riders wear a lot of protection.
Could it be for the same reasons that professional boxers don’t wear helmets?
…now standing on soap box…
Now that I’ve mentioned boxing, I cannot fathom why a sport that has a goal of physically damaging one’s opponent is still sanctioned by the Olympic movement. I can’t think of any other sport in the Olypmpics where one scores most by repeatedly punching one’s opponent in the head.
Despite the headset, there is going to be an inevitable accumulation of concussive force that will probably manifest itself in later life in the form of a stroke or similar.
…soap box rant finished…
Karate and Tae Kwon Do are both Olympic sports, and both involve whomping your opponent.
The reason is: because they’re dumb, and because its not traditional. The dirt is not that soft, let me tell you.
Many states are moving towards having ALL juniors in ALL horse sports be required to wear a ASTM-certified helmet. (A self-desctructing design similar to bike helmets but taking sharp objects – hooves, horns, etc. – into consideration.) I’m actually not sure if juniors do bull-riding. Calf roping yes, team penning, yes, but I’m not sure about bull-riding.
<soapbox>
The reality is, the majority of mounted accidents happen AT THE WALK or HALT on familiar horses which is why you should wear a helmets whenever you ride, even for a quick trail ride.
</soapbox>