Pendleton Round-Up The Claim Pendleton Round-Up is a real-deal, authentic Old West phenomenon unlike any other rodeo. The Reality History is authentically repeated every September in Pendleton, with a bigger purse and more thrills than most rodeos. The Pendleton Round-Up has been bucking every year since 1910 and, miraculously, the essence of the rodeo hasn’t changed much. “If it’s not broke, don’t fix it,” says Wayne Brooks, a rodeo announcer who has worked the Pendleton Round-Up for years. “They’ve seen 50,000 to 60,000 people for a hundred years, so they must be doing something right.” The bucking chutes still have wooden gates from 1939. Cowboys still flush with adrenaline thanks to the unique “run-in” system—the steer runs down a fifty-foot chute adjacent to the cowboy, who must time the ride down his own chute with absolute precision before they both emerge onto a grass infield. (At other rodeos, animals and…