Back in his heyday, 400 VJV Slash gave bull riders a little tremble in their hands as they settled down into the bucking chutes on the animal.

He once bucked off the best bull riders in the world, was named the 2011 Canadian bucking bull of the year, and got the call to buck at the PBR Canada Finals six times—even the PBR World Finals on four occasions. In his prime, the black and white muley bull could be your best friend if you had what it took to stay on him but your worst enemy if you couldn’t cut the mustard. 

These days, that same old bull spends his hours lounging around a ranch in Strathmore, Alberta, with two sweet little girls who love to brush, feed, and even ride the old champ in his pen. The bull once ran bull riders up the fence; today he runs to greet his babysitters, eat his bucket of grain, and get a good scratch. 

He may be getting old now, but cowboys and fans alike still remember the name.

In the world of rodeo, we form special bonds with the four-legged animals—both equine and bovine—that come into our lives. Some are there to help us win, and others teach us important life lessons that we may not understand at the time.

Some manage to do both.

The bull riding community was shocked to hear of the passing of a young superstar and world champion contender "Pearl Harbor," owned by Dakota Rodeo / Chad Berger / Clay Struve / H&C Bucking Bulls. The 6-year-old bull had risen to the top of his game but a blood clot near his brain took him away far too soon in his career. 

Pearl Harbor was having the season of a lifetime. He had gone 12-0, was sitting at a world average score of 46.25, and was No. 1 in the PBR’s World Champion Bucking Bull Standings. 

The respect this bull had garnered was crystal clear after the outpour of sympathy from the bull riding and rodeo community after his passing.

“One of the greatest athletes the PBR had ever seen,” reigning PBR world champion Jess Lockwood said. “He was strong, unpredictable, and overall just bucked—honored to say I was able to climb aboard this once in a lifetime bull.”

The four-time PRCA world champion bull rider echoed that respect in his own Instagram post. 

“I was sad to hear of the passing of one of the greatest animal athletes I’ve had the chance to ride,” said Sage Kimzey, who had the opportunity to ride the PBR bucking bull in a match-ride. “Pearl Harbor was a champion and always gave 100%. My thoughts are with Chad Berger Bucking Bulls!”

This terrible loss only demonstrates the level of respect bull riders feel for the very opponents that could quite literally make or break them. Another great example of that respect comes from two-time Canadian champion bull rider Scott Schiffner, who has provided a retirement home for several top bucking bulls when they’re ready to leave the arena.

In fact, Schiffner has taken care of an impressive list of bulls:

• Braithwaite Ranches’ “Wrangler’s Rock Star”: Who helped competitors to the $100,000 win at the Calgary Stampede twice. Schiffner himself scored over 90 points on him three times in his career, and the bull was also featured in a Westjet commercial after he launched a cowboy sky high after bucking him off at the Calgary Stampede. 
• Girletz Rodeo Stock’s “Walk Fast”: A talented bull that was the offspring of the 1999 Canadian Bull of the Year “Walk On,” also by Girletz Rodeo Stock.
• Calgary Stampede’s “Speed Dial”: The 2009 and 2010 Canadian Bucking Bull of The Year

In September of 2017, 400 VJV Slash from Vold Rodeo Ltd. stepped on to the Schiffner ranch for the first time—but not with ease. 

“It took me 45 minutes to get him out of that pen and on that trailer, and he chased me up the fence like five times,” said Schiffner, who remembers the three-time CFR bull of the finals as an aggressive bull that wasn’t afraid to pull that move in the rodeo arena as well. 

Leave it to the kindness of young girls—and a little food motivation—to soften a cranky, 14-year-old bull. 

“I kind of kept wondering… I’d feed Slash his grain every day and jeez he kept getting fatter and fatter, which is a good thing, but little did I know that when the girls fed their 4H calves morning and night, they were giving Slash their high dollar 4H feed too,” Schiffner said.

“They had a little pale and they’d dump a scoop of grain in for him every morning and night. Well, he got so accustomed to it that they couldn’t get the pale into the bucket through the fence because he was standing there with his head over it, so they just started crawling over the fence and pushing him out of the way.” 

Video provided by Scott Schiffner

Having a big ex-bucking bull around his place isn’t the easiest project to take on. Schiffner laughs as he tells stories of one of the retired bulls which broke down his slab fences—not to run away, but just because he could.

But his pride in taking care of these four-legged athletes until their dying day is evident when Schiffner speaks. 

“When you’re a true athlete and a true competitor, you deserve to be recognized, taken care of, and celebrated for what you’ve done for your sport,” Schiffner explained. “I think we honor a lot of great athletes of the human nature, so this is my way of honoring some of these bulls that have been so good and give the fans and the rodeo world something to ‘ooh’ and ‘ahh’ about.” 

In the world of bull riding today, with its extremely sophisticated breeding programs that can produce better and better bulls every single year, Schiffner believes these athletes deserve even more recognition for what they can do. 

“Make no mistake, they know what they’re doing and they want to win just as bad as we want to win,” Schiffner said. “That’s why I just love the respect term of it, and it's a great way to just showcase how great they were.” 

Before he eventually took the bull in, Schiffner spoke of a time when he drew “Speed Dial” in the final-four round at the Calgary Stampede. The bull rider—with a long career that includes 17 CFR qualifications, a PBR Canada championship, and a Calgary Stampede championship in 2014—had the talent he needed to ride the bull but didn’t win the match that day. 

“I have all the respect in the world for him and he cost me $100,000 [At the Calgary Stampede],” Schiffner laughed. “He bucked me off and I could be mad at him but I was mad at myself. He was the better competitor that day.” 

When the opportunity to take care of the bull came up, Schiffner didn’t hesitate. 

“It’s no different than two of the greatest boxers of all time fighting each other and then afterward they go have a beer. That’s the way I look at it.”

The other bulls have come and gone on the Schiffner Ranch, and now 400 VJV Slash will take their place as one of the legends that have roamed the property: watching over the rest of the herd, getting fat from expensive 4H feed, and garnering attention from two little girls that would rather go outside and brush an old bucking bull than play video games.

Although 400 VJV Slash may be tame now, Schiffner will never forget the skill of the bull that he never got a chance to ride himself. 

“I’m kind of glad I didn’t get on him, because I don’t think it would have gone that well," Schiffner said. "I think he would have probably won.”

Some bulls, like Pearl Harbor, are lost far too early in their outstanding careers and we have to sit and wonder about what could have been. Others, like 400 VJV Slash, get to live out their lives like kings, being honored as the champions they are.