Rough, Wild, and Reckless are the three words that Knox Dunn uses to describe his bullfighting experience. After riding a bull and being thoroughly underwhelmed by it, he thought that if he didn’t want to ride them, then he’d fight them.
At the National Western Stock Show (NWSS), bull riding is one of the primary events that happens at every pro-rodeo. Bull riding is the event where a contestant attempts to ride a bucking bull for eight seconds while holding onto a braided rope with one hand. While the rider is on the bull, the job of a bullfighter is to run interference between the bull and the cowboy, whether he makes his qualified ride or the bull bucks him off.
Bullfighting used to be a two-person job, with each person responsible for their own side and making sure they stayed opposite their partner. Now, at the NWSS, the three bullfighters form a triangle instead and divert the bull’s attention to three different places instead of two, allowing for the rider to get into a safe position. The featured bullfighters are Knox Dunn, Noah Krepps, and Wacey Munsell, who has been with the NWSS for the past 20 years. Munsell emphasizes, “Our job is dire; the bulls are hot and mean here. So yeah, we gotta make sure the bull follows us instead of the cowboy.”
The NWSS provides a unique experience for bullfighters and riders through its rodeo production and the opportunity to compete in over 25 rodeos in January. Krepps describes, “You don’t go to very many places where everybody that’s involved with it takes so much pride in making it good. So when you get to be a part of something like this, surrounded by people like that, it brings out the best in everybody, including us.” It’s a demanding role for fighters, sometimes requiring them to perform up to three times a day.
In the arena, communication is important to ensure the rider’s safety and to develop the fundamental skills required for this job. Munsell says, “…we can just give each other a look, and we’ll know exactly what each other’s thinking out there, but the great thing about the three of us is that we all have extremely good fundamentals. So, when three guys got really good fundamentals, there shouldn’t be a lot of trip-ups out there.”
It’s important that they stay in sync with each other on every ride. “It all goes back to the fundamentals and muscle memory and preparation prior to being here…the whole time we’re reading the bull, and we’re reading the rider’s hips…” as Munsell describes. Just like baseball or football players, they go out for a position and practice, although often not; training is trial by fire sometimes.
Munsell advocates being around livestock, understanding how they move and their subtle signs, and practicing drills. When positioned around a bull, he describes moving in a circle as the best way for a bull not to catch them. “Since bulls are like a wheelbarrow, their back end has to follow their front end. If you turn in tight circles, the best place for you to be is on that shoulder, rib area, and keep driving towards your flank,” Munsell says.
The gear is equally important for their own personal safety. Bullfighters all wear knee braces to protect their joints from overextension and to prevent direct injury. “If our legs don’t work, we don’t get to work,” Munsell states. They also wear a bullfighting vest, modeled after motocross vests and similar to what the bull riders wear, minus the leather. These vests are foam and plastic on the outside, so that if a bull hits either of them, the horn or hoof will slip off the plastic.
The gear is essential to their work, but the fighters can add personal touches to their look. As Krepps describes, “face paint is all very personal to each and every guy. Whether they’ve taken bits and pieces of somebody from before them or the past and turned it, taking a little bit here and a little bit there and turning it into their own thing. It all tells a story about who you are and where you came from.”
As a third-generation cowboy, Munsell was exposed to bullfighting from an early age. His journey with the NWSS begins in high school, when a local fighting bull contractor calls his dad to ask if Munsell is available to come to Denver for a bullfighting competition. While he didn’t win that night, he continued to be watched by members of the National Western Rodeo Committee and was asked to come back the following year to be the bullfighter for the full 16 days of Stock Show. Munsell adds that it was neat to be called at such a young age to the NWSS and to have the chance to follow in the footsteps of fighters such as Eddie Hatfield.
For Krepps, his moment of being a bullfighter started while watching his older brother in the arena. In a moment of adrenaline, Krepps jumped in to help him get out of a bind, and in that moment, something clicked for him that this was what he was supposed to do with his life. As a first-generation bullfighter, he has been thankful for the mentorship he has had and the growth as both a bullfighter and a person that has come from being a part of the NWSS team. “You learn how to be around each other, lean on each other. We’re all in this together. So, we definitely take the time to enjoy something outside of what happens in that arena and in this room and do it together. Helping each other kind of gets through it. Blow off some steam.” Krepps says.
Throughout the 16 days of the NWSS, they have to be ready to anticipate anything that could happen in the arena. Their work requires intense focus, preparation, and quick decision-making to ensure riders’ safety at all times. Krepps emphasizes that their role goes beyond reacting to the bull. He says,“It’s not our job to prepare for the bulls; it’s our job to prepare ourselves for whatever the bull could possibly throw at us. So, when they call us bullfighters, our job is to protect the cowboy, but we don’t do that by hovering over the cowboy; we do that by fighting the bull.”
Written By:
Alexis Ramirez
2026 NWSS Marketing and Communications Intern
