While there are many cowboy and ranch handler traditions, rodeos are considered one of the most popular and well known. There are hundreds of annual rodeos all over the country. Rodeo is a very competitive equestrian sport that involves a sequence of roping and riding contests. Some of these contests include bull and horse riding and calf roping. Rodeo culture comes from the working skills of American cowboys in the 19th century, stemming from the Spanish-Mexican vaqueros. It was a way to demonstrate the open range practices during the open range era. During seasonal roundups, cowboys would gather and compete for the unofficial title of best bucking horse-rider. Rodeos actually became more popular as the open range era came to an end and cowboys strived for entertainment.