Safety apparatus and method for riding an animal

摘要

A safety apparatus and method for riding an animal using a rigging that assists a rider in maintaining balance on the animal but allows the rider to be quickly separated from the animal if a limb of the rider becomes caught in the rigging when the rider is thrown from the animal. The apparatus and the method of its use involve a rigging that can be cinched about the body of such an animal, that includes a holder or handle interfittingly engaged by a limb of the rider while mounted on the animal to aid the rider in remaining balance on the animal, and that further includes a latch that is normally closed but that can be released either by the rider if possible or by an attendant or otherwise if the limb if the rider is entangled with and caught in the rigging when the rider is thrown from the animal whereby the rider and the rigging can be pulled from or otherwise separated from the animal. The method and apparatus are especially adapted for use in a rope that is used in riding rough animals such as in bull-riding for rodeos.