 There were so many people in the stands. When you would turn the first barrel and they'd scream, it would scare your horse across the arena. But it wasn't always an easy ride. The groups faced more bigotry as the AIDS epidemic spread. In Pratt's first year on the circuit, rodeo finals in a county east of Reno were canceled by a district attorney. Organizers had trouble booking arenas and contractors. We used to have to have a vet on site or you had to have a shooter on site or whatever, and you'd say, this is for a gay rodeo. Oh, no, I'm not coming.