{"id":15637,"date":"2026-07-16T09:18:16","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=15637"},"modified":"2026-07-16T09:18:16","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T09:18:16","slug":"i-rode-a-mechanical-bull-on-a-floating-rodeo-and-lived-to-tell-about-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/?p=15637","title":{"rendered":"I Rode a Mechanical Bull on a Floating Rodeo and Lived to Tell About It"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"justify-start\">\n<nav class=\"align-left col-span-full mb-base\" data-pom-e2e-test-id=\"breadcrumbs\"\/>\n<p>A mechanical bull, floating dance floor, baby goats, and country music turned an ordinary day on Lake Travis into one of the most delightfully over-the-top summer events in Texas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"article-body\">\n<p>Published July 16, 2026 03:06AM<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>My legs are clamped around the shoulders of a rotating black bull with glowing red eyes and plastic horns that could gouge a chunk out of someone\u2019s rear end. I glance around\u2014no dusty rodeo arena or wood-clad bar, just a bunch of waves lapping against a rocky shoreline. I slide a little lower with each spin; my wet swimsuit is making things slippery. Still, I hold on for eight seconds before the twirling slows, a successful ride.<\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"width:100%;border:none;display:block\" title=\"Script Content\" async=\"\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>You might think my prescription painkillers have kicked in and I\u2019m hallucinating, or that I\u2019ve time-traveled to Gilley\u2019s nightclub in Pasadena, circa 1980. You\u2019d be wrong. I\u2019m really riding a mechanical bull on a barge on Lake Travis, just outside of Austin. It\u2019s part of a (no joke) floating rodeo, where I\u2019ve willingly come even though I usually prefer backpacking, hiking, and paddling\u00a0to hanging out on a boat parked in a cove with a bunch of other humans. (Though, according to the <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nmma.org\/press\/article\/25353\">National Marine Manufacturers Association<\/a>, more than 85 million Americans go boating each year.)<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2747650\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"barges and boats tied together on a lake for boatsetter rodeo\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"595\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2747650\" style=\"color:transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/untitled-250-1.jpg?width=1080&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x, https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/untitled-250-1.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/untitled-250-1.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\">(Photo: Pam LeBlanc)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.boatsetter.com\/\">Boatsetter<\/a>, a Florida-based company that offers peer-to-peer boat rentals (think Airbnb for boats), hosted the event to entice non-boat owners onto the water. I was curious. Also, here in Austin where I live,\u00a0summers are hot. Lakes are cool.<\/p>\n<p>Besides the mechanical bull, the water-borne festival featured live country music, wakeboarding and wakesurfing demonstrations, a floating dance floor, an on-the-water hotdog stand, and a pontoon boat carrying four baby goats. By attending, the theory went, people would get excited about renting a boat for a day on the water.<\/p>\n<p>Boatsetter teamed with local running club <a rel=\"nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" class=\"article-content-link text-brand-primary underline hover:text-brand-primary\/85 break-words overflow-wrap-anywhere underline-offset-[3px]\" rel=\"noopener\" data-afl-p=\"0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/rawdawgclub\/?hl=en\">Rawdawg<\/a>, whose super-fit members are known for running shirtless through the streets of Austin (the guys, anyway), posting attention-grabbing videos on social media and occasionally drawing disorderly conduct complaints from neighbors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2747649\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_2747649\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"Man wearing a cowboy hat wake surfs on Lake uatin\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"2560\" height=\"1707\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2747649\" style=\"color:transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Boatsetter-Rodeo-13-scaled.jpg?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/Boatsetter-Rodeo-13-scaled.jpg?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\">(Photo: Courtesy of Boatsetter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p>To get to the rodeo, I rode in a Super Air Nautique with a sparkly blue and silver paint job. I knew we\u2019d arrived when a wakeboarder went by wearing jeans and a cowboy hat and an inflatable pink and white unicorn the size of a small merry-go-round appeared on the horizon. Next to it, a barge converted into a floating nightclub bobbed on the water. A musician played country music from another boat, while half a dozen people in swimsuits attempted, with varying degrees of success, to boot-scoot across a floating, undulating mat. Our captain tied off alongside a barge dubbed \u201cThe Pasture,\u201d where four baby goats, each the size of a beagle, bleated and cuddled with visitors.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2747648\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"woman holds a small goat on a boat at the boatsetter rodeo\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1000\" height=\"610\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2747648\" style=\"color:transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/untitled-159.jpg?width=1080&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x, https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/untitled-159.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/untitled-159.jpg?width=2048&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\">A boat rodeo participant holds one of the baby goats on The Pasture barge.\u00a0(Photo: Pam LeBlanc)\u00a0<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>But I had a mission, and it involved that bull.<\/p>\n<p>I jumped into the water and swam to the floating arena. There, I hoisted myself out of the lake and made my way to an inflatable corral, where I climbed aboard the bull. One arm outstretched, I clung to it like a tick as it began to bob and twirl, humility draining from my body with every rotation. But I stayed on.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_2747652\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\">\n<figure id=\"attachment_2747652\" class=\"pom-image-wrap photo-alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"1707\" height=\"2560\" decoding=\"async\" data-nimg=\"1\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2747652\" style=\"color:transparent\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260712-CH_00299-scaled.jpg?width=1920&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 1x, https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260712-CH_00299-scaled.jpg?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover 2x\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/20260712-CH_00299-scaled.jpg?width=3840&amp;auto=webp&amp;quality=75&amp;fit=cover\"\/><figcaption class=\"pom-caption\">(Photo: Courtesy of Boatsetter)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Mission complete, I headed back to our boat, stopping to pet a few goats along the way. There, I spoke with Caitlin Choate, chief marketing officer for Boatsetter.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis <em>is<\/em> our first rodeo,\u201d Choate said.<\/p>\n<p>That may be so, but it wasn\u2019t Boatsetter\u2019sfirst pop-up on the water. In Miami last year, the company set up a floating pickleball court behind a boat just off the coast. They\u2019ve hosted two small floating music festivals on Lake Austin, too.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re trying to get new people on the water by doing events that reflect the city where the events take place,\u201d Choate says. The point is, you can do a lot of weird things on the water if you use your imagination. \u201cYes, you can surf, swim, go fishing\u2014but you can also ride a mechanical bull, pet a goat, or play pickleball. We\u2019re pushing the envelope.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With that, we head back to shore. I survived my ride on a floating mechanical bull without any broken limbs, and even had a chance to try some wakesurfing.<\/p>\n<p>That might have been my first <em>floating<\/em> rodeo, but hopefully it won\u2019t be my last.<\/p>\n<hr\/>\n<p><em>Pam LeBlanc is an Austin-based environmental and adventure travel writer and photographer. For <\/em>Outside<em>, she reviewed the film <\/em>The American Southwest, <em>calling it a wild ride down the mighty Colorado River.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><!-- --><span hidden=\"\" aria-hidden=\"true\"\/><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.outsideonline.com\/outdoor-adventure\/water-activities\/boatsetter-rodeo\/\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A mechanical bull, floating dance floor, baby goats, and country music turned an ordinary day on Lake Travis into one of the most delightfully over-the-top summer events in Texas. Published July 16, 2026 03:06AM My legs are clamped around the shoulders of a rotating black bull with glowing red eyes and plastic horns that could<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15638,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-wild-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/15638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wildgreenquest.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}