Their big canvas bags of gear accumulate at the foot of the bleachers. Most are decorated with some cowboy-related emblem. Confederate themes are common. Travis Batten and a few other cowboys sort the bulls into pens from which they can be easily directed into the chutes shortly before the rides. Mike Nickerson, chief of the Northwest Hernando County Fire Department and one of the judges, rolls out extension cords for the lights.
Smoke rises from the big grill at the concession stand.
The sound system is checked. A line of pickup trucks forms behind the Battens' driveway on the normally quiet Soult Road. Then, shortly before 8, judges draw the names of the bulls from a Tupperware bowl and announce the cowboys' assignments. Streak is so called for the swath of white on his face. Like many of the Battens' rodeo bulls, he isn't especially good beef stock.