A recent episode of Maryland Public Television’s “Outdoors Maryland” series focused on one element of family farming that might be lesser known in Maryland: rodeo.
While 4-H clubs and agricultural education are par for the course for many children of farming families in areas such as Carroll County, not every farming family may participate in this sport long associated with the trade.
“Bucking Tradition,” which aired last month, highlights the unique connection between sports and ways of making a living on the land and water. Logging camps produced competitive woodsmanship, extreme boat-docking came from Chesapeake watermen and farming gave us rodeo—a sport that includes such tests of skill as tie-down roping, barrel racing and bull riding.
Centered in Baltimore, Carroll and Prince George’s counties, the Maryland Public Television (MPT) episode follows a family of Maryland cowboys and cowgirls preparing for local rodeo events including the Battle of the Bulls at the Maryland State Fair and a Maryland High School Rodeo Association competition.
Four out of five children in the Jackson family compete in rodeo events ranging from bull riding to barrel racing to goat roping—following in the footsteps of their parents, Robyn and Corey Jackson, who met at a traveling event that celebrates the contributions of Black rodeo performers.
Encore presentations from this season of “Outdoors Maryland” will air beginning Jan. 7, leading up to a fifth and final episode of Season 36 on Feb. 4.
