Rodeo Days Kick Up the Dust : Contest: Annual Rancho Santa Margarita Fiesta event draws 8,000 spectators. The fun continues today.

RANCHO SANTA MARGARITA —  In the heat, Steve Dulmage firmly gripped the flat, braided rope with one hand as he struggled to stay atop the bucking bull, but he tumbled into the air and hit the dust in less than five seconds.

Despite an aching body, the 23-year-old Rancho Santa Margarita construction worker had no regrets about performing in his first professional rodeo. He was eager to have a second chance at bull riding--one of America’s most dangerous sports.

“Being in a rodeo is just something I always wanted to do,” said Dulmage, who worked for a year on a Montana ranch. “I know what I did wrong. I’m ready to try again.”

Dulmage was among 60 competitors Saturday at the second day of the second annual Rancho Santa Margarita Fiesta Rodeo, which is organized by the town’s Community Activities and Service Assn., a volunteer group that plans activities and special events. It continues from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today. Admission is $10.50 at the box office or $8.50 for advance tickets. Children under 3 are free.

The rodeo offers cowboys and others with the cowboy spirit a chance to exhibit skills used on ranches and to compete for cash prizes totaling $10,000. Judged events include bareback bronc riding, calf roping, steer wrestling and team roping.

In addition to the rodeo competition, about 50 arts-and-crafts booths sold Western hats, Indian jewelry, toys and other novelty items. The Witcher Brothers, a bluegrass band featuring a 13-year-old fiddler, performed. Refreshments included barbecue beef, hot dogs, drinks and cotton candy.

But the main reason almost 8,000 spectators attended was their fascination with the rugged fellows who took a beating and kept on going.

Larry Jaslove, 34, of Rancho Santa Margarita, attending his first rodeo with his wife and two children, was especially impressed by the bull riders.

“Just the size of the animals was impressive,” said Jaslove about bulls averaging at least a ton.

Emilio Huertero, 14, of San Juan Capistrano said his father, Felix, grew up on a ranch in Mexico and took the family to at least 10 rodeos a year, from Pico Rivera to Long Beach.

“I like to watch them, especially when the cowboys go on the bulls, but I don’t want to ride,” Emilio said.

Osamu Komine, 25, a Japanese engineer on a business trip, came in search of the universally recognized American symbol, the cowboy.

“I heard about this from my co-worker. I have always heard of rodeos, but I’ve never seen one,” said Komine, who missed the first round of competition and was eager for the second round to begin.

Rodeos today have become big business, said Harley May, who was one of the event’s two judges. More than 700 professional rodeo companies exist, and about $50 million in prize money is available annually.

“There are a lot more cowboys now, three times as many as when I was performing in the 1950s,” said May, a three-time winner of national rodeo titles who quit competing in 1967. “They come from everyplace. Some work on ranches, some are carpenters.”

Cotton Hill, 37, a Bakersfield welder who placed second for saddle bronc riding, grew up on a small ranch and first performed in a junior rodeo at age 14.

“Sometimes I ask myself why I do it, and all I can think of is that it’s something I enjoy doing. At home, we have cattle and go riding. It makes me feel like something special.”