Ralphie the Buffalo

[Pretzel]

This Wednesday I am trying out to be a "Ralphie Handler", or one of the group of people whose job it is to run Ralphie on the field before CU football games. For those of you who haven't seen or don't know about the tradition, Ralphie the Buffalo (a live buffalo cow) leads the football team onto the field before each home game VIDEO. 

I passed the first round of checks with the application I turned in (asking about previous experience handling/training large animals), but we'll see how I do during the sprints on Wednesday. I know I can keep myself upright when following large animals (I've made the mistake of roping calves without a solid post to dally to in the past), but keeping up with them is another matter entirely. Regardless it ought to be fun to give it a shot.

[14ledo81]

Interesting.  Keep us posted.

[boogielicious]

7 hours ago, Pretzel said:

This Wednesday I am trying out to be a "Ralphie Handler", or one of the group of people whose job it is to run Ralphie on the field before CU football games. For those of you who haven't seen or don't know about the tradition, Ralphie the Buffalo (a live buffalo cow) leads the football team onto the field before each home game VIDEO. 

I passed the first round of checks with the application I turned in (asking about previous experience handling/training large animals), but we'll see how I do during the sprints on Wednesday. I know I can keep myself upright when following large animals (I've made the mistake of roping calves without a solid post to dally to in the past), but keeping up with them is another matter entirely. Regardless it ought to be fun to give it a shot.

We want video of you with Ralphie!

[Dave2512]

Mmm Ralphie Burger. It's a thing, they serve it at CO National home of the Buffs.

Anyway cool you should be able to hack it for while they had a female handler .

[Pretzel]

1 hour ago, Dave2512 said:

Mmm Ralphie Burger. It's a thing, they serve it at CO National home of the Buffs.

Buffalo burgers are good, usually nice and greasy since it tends to be a fattier meat.

1 hour ago, Dave2512 said:

Anyway cool you should be able to hack it for while they had a female handler .

Ouch! 

7 hours ago, boogielicious said:

We want video of you with Ralphie!

For the tryouts you don't actually run with the buffalo, just against the clock. I think it's to prevent lawsuits if someone who can't keep up gets trampled. I'll definitely try to take some pictures though.

[David in FL]

Now that would be very cool!  

[14ledo81]

Just realized... Ralphie is a girl??

[Dave2512]

Yes female buffalo is smaller and less aggressive. They don't run if she gets spooked. There have been some trampling incidents over the years and they are pretty quick.

[Pretzel]

8 minutes ago, 14ledo81 said:

Just realized... Ralphie is a girl??

Yes, Ralphie has always been a girl (except perhaps the first time they borrowed a buffalo in 1934). 

Even with the smaller size and less aggressive nature, the handlers can still drop like flies if something goes wrong. This is a video from when the current Ralphie was still very young and not fully grown or trained: 

 

[Golfingdad]

@Pretzel, I realize that if you make this team that you're booked up in the fall, perhaps for a few more years, which would mean you're probably ineligible for 2017 Newport Cup, so with that in mind, I may or may not be rooting for you to fail miserably in this tryout. 

(Kidding.  Good luck!!!!)

[Pretzel]

1 minute ago, Golfingdad said:

@Pretzel, I realize that if you make this team that you're booked up in the fall, perhaps for a few more years, which would mean you're probably ineligible for 2017 Newport Cup, so with that in mind, I may or may not be rooting for you to fail miserably in this tryout. 

(Kidding.  Good luck!!!!)

I mean, there are always mysterious illnesses that people can come down with, right? I could be bedridden the entire week of the Newport cup with trichinosis or something equally terrible!

All joking aside, I do plan to participate in the Newport Cup when it next rolls around. It sounds like great fun for everyone involved, and I'll have the requisite discretionary income now that I can land proper employment (golf courses are adverse to hiring those under 18 due to liquor laws). 

[Golfingdad]

16 hours ago, Pretzel said:

I've made the mistake of roping calves without a solid post to dally to in the past

Call me a city slicker because I have no idea what this means.

What kind of waiver do they make you sign?

[Pretzel]

51 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Call me a city slicker because I have no idea what this means.

To dally is when you wrap the rope around an object, usually a post or a saddle horn, to keep it from giving you a rope burn as the animal tears the rope from your hands or drags you across the entire pasture of you're dull enough to hold on. I dallied to a t-post, which the steer promptly tore out of the ground before proceeding to drag both the post and I across the field until I managed to free the rope. 

55 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

What kind of waiver do they make you sign?

I don't know, I guess I'll find out. 

[Golfingdad]

5 minutes ago, Pretzel said:

To dally is when you wrap the rope around an object, usually a post or a saddle horn, to keep it from giving you a rope burn as the animal tears the rope from your hands or drags you across the entire pasture if you're dull enough to hold on. I dallied to a t-post, which the steer promptly tore out of the ground before proceeding to drag both the post and I across the field until I managed to free the rope.

Oh, yeah, I've done this ... my one attempt at water skiing, I was dragged underwater for a period of time (felt lime minutes, was probably a fraction of a section) before it dawned on me I needed to let go of the rope. 

[Pretzel]

46 minutes ago, Golfingdad said:

Oh, yeah, I've done this ... my one attempt at water skiing, I was dragged underwater for a period of time (felt lime minutes, was probably a fraction of a section) before it dawned on me I needed to let go of the rope. 

I was actually tempted to go back out and try it again with a pair of skis on after it snowed. Much cheaper than a lift ticket! 

[Dave2512]

Hopefully you get the gig. Strange as it may sound to outsiders running with Ralphie is a big deal in CO.

[Pretzel]

I realized I had never updated this thread. When I showed up at the tryouts my face immediately went red when I realized I was the only person to have shown up wearing blue jeans. I figured, since the handlers always wore them to run the buffalo, that it would be expected. I felt I did okay, but I've never been the fastest sprinter around and I must not have been able to reach their minimum cutoff time (which is undisclosed) since I was never called in for an interview even with my farm background.

There's always next year, but we'll see how things go with classes and golf. It'll definitely have been for the best if I am able to play golf competitively.