2026-08-03
Bareback Bronc Riding Rules Explained: Eight Seconds, One Hand
Bareback bronc has very few rules and almost all of them are absolute. You get a score or you get nothing. Here is the complete list.
Eight seconds
From the moment the horse's front feet hit the ground outside the chute until the whistle. Not from the gate opening — a horse that stalls has not started your clock.
Come off before the whistle and it is a no score.
One hand, and nothing else
You hold a rigging— a leather handhold cinched over the horse's withers — with one hand.
No stirrups. No rein. The only contact points are the rigging hand, the spurs, and your own body against the horse.
This is the whole reason bareback bronc is not saddle bronc with the saddle removed. There is nothing to brace against, nothing to balance with, and one point of attachment.
The free arm
The free arm may not touch the horse or your own body. Contact is a disqualification.
The second half of that catches people. Grabbing your own leg, slapping your thigh, steadying against yourself — all disqualifications, and all things a tired rider does without deciding to.
The mark-out
Leaving the chute, both spurs must be touching the horse above the point of the shoulders and must stay there until the front feet hit the ground after the first jump. Both must qualify — one in position and one drifting is not a mark-out.
Under PRCA rules, missing it is an automatic disqualification. Under IPRA rules since 2024, it is folded into the judges' 25 points instead. That difference gets its own post.
The equipment inspection
This is where bareback bronc differs most from every other event. The chute judge can inspect your rigging and your rowels, and failing is a disqualification — in some associations with a fine and an ineligibility period on top.
The rigging specification, in short:
- Handhold not exceeding 8 inches, continuous and solid
- At least 3 inches of securely fastened suede on the handhold
- Maximum 10 inches wide at the handhold, 6 inches at the D-ring
- No fibreglass or metal in the handhold
- Non-metallic mohair or hemp cinch strap
- D-rings only for hardware
Rowels must be free spinning, dull, and humane.
Full detail, plus how riders actually fail these, is in the rigging specification post.
Rerides
Offered for equipment failure or a horse that does not buck to performance specification, at the judges' discretion. If offered, you may keep the score you have or take the reride — a real decision, and one worth recording so you can look back at how those calls went.
Age
Most associations set a minimum age for bareback bronc, and it is enforced at entry rather than discovered at the office. It is surfaced on the entry screen in our app for that reason.
The short version
Cover it for eight, mark it out with both spurs, keep the free arm off everything including yourself, and have a rigging that measures legal. Everything else is points.