RODEO RULES
OF THE
PROFESSIONAL ARMED FORCES RODEO ASSOCIATION
I. ARENA SECRETARIES – Will be utilized during PAFRA only events.
A.The PAFRA shall be responsible for the Arena Secretary's actions and is liable for their mistakes or discrepancies in the payoff or in the handling of entry fees.
B.The PAFRA will furnish an Arena Secretary for each sanctioned rodeo. The Arena Secretary is authorized, but not limited to, to take entry fees, PAFRA memberships, handle payoffs, etc. Arena Secretaries are responsible for providing receipts to each contestant for all fees, memberships, etc., collected from each contestant per rodeo. Copies of the receipts will be maintained by the PAFRA secretary along with the official judges’ sheets and any other correspondence pertaining to that particular rodeo, within two weeks of the last performance.
II. RODEO ENTRY, SUBMISSION AND RESULTS
A.Arena Secretary will take entries at designated time for respective events on a first come first serve basis. Allow each contestant to enter him/her and two (2) others and must give card numbers of all members he/she is entering.
B.When a PAFRA member phones in his or her entry and gives a valid PAFRA number, their name shall be accepted by the Secretary without requiring entry fee to be paid until said member reaches their destination. Upon their arrival at the rodeo, member shall find the Secretary and make payment of fees due.
C.Circuit Directors will submit all rodeos to the PAFRA secretary using the event format on the PAFRA webpage. All rodeos must be submitted to the PAFRA secretary a minimum of 14 calendar days prior to the rodeo. Any rodeo not submitted in that time will not be listed.
D.Competitors are not limited in the number of events to be counted toward the WFR per season, however, the maximum number of points available during the regular rodeo season is limited to 1500 points. No competitor can enter the World Finals Rodeo with more than 1500 points. Competitors will submit all After Rodeo Reports (ARR) using the PAFRA ARR form in excel format. ARRs will be submitted to the Secretary and the Circuit Director via email or regular mail no Later than (NLT) 3 business days after the rodeo unless prior arrangements are made between the Circuit Director and PAFRA Secretary. If the ARR is not submitted via email within 3 business days and/or the paper copy not postmarked within 3 business days the rodeo will be voided and no points will be awarded.
E.The only exception to paragraph D or E is if the PAFRA Secretary is at the event and is given the ARR and WFFs by the Circuit Director.
III. TURN-OUT RULES
In the event of a turn-out for any performance, the member must notify the Secretary before the start of their event. Draw-outs without medical excuse require that entry fees be paid.
A.Turn-outs and Holding of Stock: Once stock is turned out because of a contestant no- show, that contestant is considered to have turned-out and under no circumstances will the stock be brought back.
B.In the event of a medical emergency, members must notify the rodeo Secretary before beginning of performance. A doctor/vet release must be sent to the PAFRA Secretary within seven (7) days and the member cannot enter for ten (10) days after the turn-out. If you do not have your release in within the seven (7) days, you will go on the Rule Infraction List for the original amount of your fees, plus a $25.00 fine. The member with a medical/vet release will not be liable for fees and no fine will be imposed. Entry fees for this member will not be added to the jackpot.
C.Any member refusing to pay fees and/or fines will be put on the Rule Infraction List and will not be allowed to enter at any PAFRA rodeos until fees and fines are paid.
D.Should a member end the rodeo year on the Rule Infraction List, his violation will be carried to the following year and he will not be allowed to purchase a card until violation is paid. They will also be ineligible to participate in the world finals for that year.
E.The medical emergency release applies to personal disability and not to that of any livestock, except for the timed event horses. The vet-out rule for timed event horses will be treated same as medical release.
F.Team Roping: Because your event involves two (2) persons there have been some specific rules set up for situations where one partner shows up and other does not.
1.If one partner does not show up, the other person has the option to find a partner out of someone who is already entered in the rodeo. If he is able to fill the position, a fine is assessed the member or non-member for the no-show. If he cannot find a partner to fill the vacancy then he must pay his part of the team and the partner who did not show up is put on the Rule Infraction List as a no-show.
2.If your partner Medicals Out you have the option of picking up a partner already entered in the rodeo or taking a medical yourself. If you do decide to take a medical, you will be ineligible for ten (10) days just like your partner.
G.To facilitate no-shows, and medical emergency situations, please call the circuit/arena Secretary for that particular rodeo, at least twenty-four (24) hours prior to the time of the performance you are up in. This advance notice will save you the cost of a turn-out fine although your entry fees must still be paid. In the event of a medical emergency, it may save you the entry fee.
H.REGULAR TURN-OUT - If a turn-out is called in to the Secretary before the performance you're entered in, you will be liable for your fees, but no fine. The fine is $25.00, so call. You must pay your fees in full to the PAFRA office or at the next rodeo you enter in.
I.Members who Turn-Out Twice in a row without notification are ineligible to enter until fees plus fines are paid in the PAFRA office.
J.If a member draws -out due to military obligations he or she will not be assessed a fine or liable for entry fees.
IV. GRAND ENTRY
The PAFRA encourages Grand Entry participation by the PAFRA Membership.
V. DRAWING STOCK
All stock contest events must be drawn by number by a judge. Team Roping may either draw stock or draw positions and chute run cattle. However, if positions are drawn and contestant (team) does not show for that position, then that steer must be turned out.
A.Except when team roping is entered twice, the team roping cattle must be drawn for as in other events.
B.There should be as many as four (4) exact copies made of the draw, (1) to be posted, one (1) copy for each judge and one (1) or more copies for the Secretary's records.
C.Receptacle containing numbers to be drawn must be held above the drawing judge’s head and numbers shaken between each number drawn. Drawings must be conducted so that any entrant may witness the draw.
D.If judges cannot be present at the drawing they must notify the stock contractor and have a qualified representative or spokesman present.
E.Drawing stock must be done one (1) hour prior to each performance.
F.Draw must be posted one (1) hour prior to performance.
G.If an animal that is drawn in a riding event or is drawn in a pen in a timed event becomes sick or crippled before it is out that time, a judge must pass on the animal's inability to be used before it can be shipped or replaced in the draw.
H.A contractor may draw a pen of cattle prior to actual draw for purpose of sorting cattle.
VI. METHOD OF DRAWING CATTLE
All cattle in the draw will run one (1) time before any cattle will be run twice, except when due to split performance this becomes impossible by requiring several animals to be run twice in the same performance or slack run.
EXAMPLE:
Saturday Performance = 12 ropersSunday Slack = 7 ropersSunday Performances = 14 ropers(17 steers)
STEP 1: Draw 12 steers from all 17 steers for 12 ropers Saturday performance.
STEP 2: Draw from only the remaining 5 steers for the first 5 ropers in Sunday Slack.
STEP 3: Hold back the 5 steers drawn in STEP 2 and draw from 12 steers for remaining 2 ropers in slack. (At
this point all steers will have been run once and 2 steers will have been run twice.)
STEP 4: For Sunday performance, draw from only the 15 steers which have been run once for the first 14
ropers. Thus, no animal will be drawn twice for one performance. All steers will have been run twice
except for one (1) which will have run one (1) time.2. Contestants cannot compete on same head of stock
twice in the same rodeo.3. Once the draw is made for the first performance extra cattle cannot be
VII. METHOD OF DRAWING ROUGH STOCK
A.Pens may be set by stock contractor or drawn.
B.At least two (2) more animals than is needed for that performance should be included in the draw. Feature animals are withheld from the draw until re-rides are drawn. The re-rides are drawn first, then the feature animals are included in the draw and stock is drawn.
VIII. TIMERS
A.PAFRA requires two experienced and qualified timers who must read and sign the Timers Guidelines provided by the arena Secretary.
B.Times from the two watches will be AVERAGED for official time in all timed Events and recorded to the 100th of a second.
C. The same two (2) timers must be used throughout the whole rodeo, including slack, unless found incompetent by the judge or rodeo Secretary. (See page 57#10-B)
IX. PAYOFFS
A.Payoffs/No Added Purse or less than $499 added money:
This payoff will be in effect if there is no added money. In the event there are not enough qualified rides for the number of places paid, all remaining monies will be totaled and divided evenly among the contestants making qualified rides. This applies to all go-round and average payouts regardless of amount added.
ENTRIESPLACES PAIDPERCENTAGE SPLITS
B.Payoffs/With Added Purse:
This payoff will be in effect if there is $500.00 or more added money per event for the rodeo and no stock charge deducted from the entry fees. All events will apply to this payoff.
ENTRIESPLACES PAIDPERCENTAGE SPLITS
X. HUMANE TREATMENT OF LIVESTOCK
A.No locked rowels, or rowels that will lock on spurs or sharpened spurred may be used on bareback horses or saddle horses.
B.No sharpened rowels may be used on bulls
C.The cinches on bareback riggings and saddle bronc saddles shall be made of mohair and shall be at least five (5) inches wide.
D.No wooden paddles or straps are permissible.
E.In calf roping a neck rope must be used and calf may not be busted. If horse stops and calf hits the end of the rope in such a manner that the calf busts himself, the roper will not be responsible. Contestant must adjust rope and reins in such a manner that will prevent horse from dragging calf. Rope to be removed from calf's body as soon as possible after "tie" is completed.
F.The placing of fingers in eyes, lips or nose of steers while wrestling is forbidden.
G.Animals for all events will be inspected before the draw and no sore, lame, sick, or injured animal, or animals with defective eyesight shall be permitted in the draw at any time. Should an animal become sick or be injured between the time it is drawn and the time it is scheduled to be used in competition, that animal shall not be used in competition, and another animal drawn for the contestants as provided in the association Rule Book. An official veterinarian should be available at all events.
H.No animal shall be beaten, mutilated, or cruelly prodded. Standard electric prods shall be used as little as possible. Animal shall be touched only on hip or shoulder area with prod.
I.A conveyance must be available to remove animals from arena in case of injury.
J.No sharp or cutting objects in clutch, saddle girth, or flank straps shall be permitted. Only sheepskin lined flanking straps shall be placed on the animal so the sheepskin covered portion is over both flanks and the belly of the animal.
K.Deliberate abuse of the rodeo stock will not be tolerated. At the discretion of the Judges contestant will be fined $50.00 first offense. Second offense contestant must appear before the Board of Directors before competing at any more PAFRA rodeos.
XI. POINT SYSTEM
The following points will be used during all PAFRA and co-sanctioned rodeos.
1st place 100 pts.
2nd place 90 pts
3rd place 80 pts
4th place 70 pts
5th place 60 pts
6th place 50 pts
7th place 40 pts
8th place 30 pts
9th place 20 pts
10th place 10 pts
Mount out 10 pts
Mount out points will be awarded to contestants who compete at PAFRA sanctioned and approved rodeos. This will be ten (10) points counted toward year-end totals. How this works is: If you show up to a rodeo and don't turn in a qualified time or cover your stock you will receive 10 points. One hundred (100) points will be awarded if you are the only contestant in your event and you do turn in a qualified time or cover your stock.
Points for Rodeos billed and advertised as "Circuit Membership Drive" to be held early in the circuits’ season and "Circuit Finals", both advertised as prescribed in the rule book are encouraged. These Rodeos are worth DOUBLE POINT VALUE for points towards the world finals. Circuits are limited to two double point events only per season. An event is one rodeo. If the rodeo pays out money on Friday night and again on Saturday night, this equates to two events. It is encouraged that members travel to other circuits to compete with your peers while looking to make the finals.
XI. PAFRA WORLD FINALS RODEO
A.The finals will be two go rounds. The points will be awarded as follows. Each go-round
B.Average points during the finals will be as follows:
C.Payouts will be as follows: 20% of all monies available for the finals to be paid for each go round, remainder of all monies available for the finals to be paid for the average, using the standard PAFRA payout scale.
D.Any member qualifying for the PAFRA Finals must participate in PAFRA a minimum of seven sanctioned or co-sanctioned rodeos in each of his/her events and be ranked as a top 15 contestant in each of his/her events. Each finalist must have completed, at a minimum, two qualified rides/runs for each event the contestant is attempting to compete in at the finals, unless this requirement has been waived as stated in BY-LAWS PROFESSIONAL ARMED FORCES RODEO ASSOCIATION, Section 1, Paragraph 14. All finalists will be posted on the website 2 weeks prior to the WFR this will also be the cutoff date for submission of ARRs. Each Finalist will declare his/her intention to attend NLT the 2nd day after the posting. The cutoff date will be posted also. On the 4th day the PAFRA Secretary will open up remaining positions in descending order for qualified member by points. Six days after the initial posting the WFR is closed, no entries will be taken and there will be no entering at the finals. Example: WFR finalists are posted on the website on 29 SEP 03, Top 15 competitors will have until 02 OCT 03 to declare. On 03 OCT 03, the books will be open for qualified competitors by position number outside the top 15. After 05 OCT 02 no entries will be taken.
E.If a member declares intention to attend and fails to attend for any reason other than deployment (official orders must be submitted to the Central Office) or medical (Doctor's statement must be submitted to the Central Office) he/she is responsible for the entry fee for each event he/she declared, a $50 no show fine per event, and an additional $50 fine if the member is in the all around competition. The member will be blacklisted and suspended for 6 months of the next rodeo season. The 6 month suspension will start when all fines are paid. Fines are steep because not showing up leaves a slot open at the finals and cheats another member from being able to attend the finals.
XIII. Rookie Status
A.Rookie's will be defined in the following manner: The first time competing in a particular event during the current rodeo season where money is awarded as the prize. This means anyone who has competed in the past at any level for money will not qualify as a rookie. If, for example you have been a bull rider your whole life and all the sudden you enter a PAFRA rodeo as a chute dogger, you would qualify as a rookie for chute dogging.
B.Rookie's must submit the rookie application to the PAFRA Board of Directors along with the recommendation from three (3) members in good standing with the PAFRA.
XIV. Team Cup
A.Each Circuit may have as many teams as it sees fit.
B.Each team will consist of 3 to 5 members.
C.Each team will only have one barrel racer.
D.Each member may compete in no more than 2 events; with no team entered in more than 5 events.
Bob in Bareback Bob in Bareback and bulls
Bob in Bull ridingFrank in chute dogging
Ed in Team Roping Ed in team roping and calf roping
Sally in Break away roping Sally in barrels and break away
Sally in Barrel racingGeorge in bareback
THIS IS OK THIS IS A NO GO
E.Each team will email the PAFRA Secretary no later than the day prior to the rodeo with each team member and event.
F.The team will receive the points the members earned in their event(s).
G.At the end of the season a trophy will be awarded to the command of the champion team, reserve champion team and 3rd place team.
XV. Location of Events
Any Circuit may provide an off site location for events not held at the rodeos, if an event is offered at the rodeo it must be conducted there.
JUDGES
I. APPROVAL AND QUALIFICATIONS
All judges and flagmen must be approved by the Board of Directors, attend a Judging Seminar or pass a written test, or be pre-approved by another association.
A.A rodeo judge will not judge in any event he/she or a family member is entered in. He/she must be replaced by another qualified person.
B.Flag and barrier judges cannot rope, dog or haze in an event he flags. The men appointed to flag are the judges for timed events, and are the only ones authorized to deliver a decision in a timed event. A judge may participate in a timed event if he furnishes a qualified substitute for his job that will sub for the duration of the rodeo in that event. The substitute must be approved by the stock contractor and the PAFRA Board of Directors.
C.Neither timers, barrier judge, field judge, nor riding judge may be changed during the course of a rodeo except in the case of sickness or by request on a PAFRA official in agreement with stock contractor and rodeo committee.
D.Judges must remain available to the rodeo office until the rodeo Secretary has made a final check of the books.
E.Paying Judges for Slack: The PAFRA will pay ½ of the fee and the stock contractor will pay the other ½. If there are 0 - 10 contestants in slack the judges will get nothing extra. If there are 11- 30 contestants the judges will get $25.00 each. If there are 31 - 75 contestants the judges will get $50.00 each. If there are over 75 contestants the judges will be paid like another performance. If the slack is larger than any performance the judges will be paid like a performance.
II. JUDGES BOOKS
A.Markings in the rodeo events shall be totaled by both judges and the rodeo Secretary and posted in ink after each performance.
B.Barrier judges shall keep a record of all barrier fines in ink. They will be furnished a complete list of contestants by arena Secretary and their records and the arena Secretary's must correspond.
C.Markings must be totaled by the judges and checked by the Secretary in the presence of the judges.
D.Any judge who does not enforce the rules of the Official Rule Book will be fined. The arena director, or association official, or spokesman will immediately after the rodeo turn the judge into the PAFRA for such an act giving full particulars. Decisions will be made by the PAFRA Board of Directors. The fine shall be a minimum of one performance judge's pay for that rodeo.
