Professional Bull Riders Take Over Madison Square Garden

Professional Bull Riders Take Over Madison Square Garden

This past Saturday, the city played host to the wild world of rodeo sports for the Professional Bull Riders Invitational at Madison Square Garden.

New York was the first stop of 29 for the annual series, with finals scheduled for October in Las Vegas.

Before the weekend's big event, a group of riders marked their visit by ringing the closing bell of the New York Stock Exchange on Thursday, with live bulls showcased below the exchange's facade.

The invitational marked the sixth year in a row for Madison Square Garden, but this time, the city prohibited their favorite halftime event of "mutton-busting."

Unfamiliar with mutton-busting? The bizarre event involves strapping children 6-years old and younger to live sheep to test the brave young'ins to see how long they can hang on for. Helmets provided.

A publicist for the Professional Bull Riders commented on the health department's announcement, "Every time we come to New York City we have this fight with the city about whether we can even host the event."

Mutton-busting or not, a rowdy crowd cheered on as rider Cody Nance, the 2009 Rookie of the Year, won the final event with 89.25 points.

Who knows? If this event keeps returning maybe we have a viable replacement for our fleet of deteriorating carriage horses.

Watch below to recap some of the action:

Professional Bull Riders at the New York Stock Exchange:

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