The Active Historian

*Originally written for the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum blog series “Breaking Trail.”

Are you ready to meet Bobcat Twister, the “Famous Educated Steer?”

Monte H. Reger of Buffalo, Oklahoma owned and trained the steer. They performed in hundreds of rodeos and fairs together across the United States. Bobcat Twister was affectionately referred to as, “Bobby” wherever they went. The newspapers state that Bobby weighed 1,325 pounds, had a horn span of eight and a half feet, and stood fifteen hands tall. His ancestral lineage included Texas Longhorn and Brahma.

Reger purchased a load of cattle for a rodeo in Doby Springs near the town of Buffalo, Oklahoma. Bobby was a part of the bunch. He was nearly impossible to ride because he would sweep riders off with his horns if he couldn’t buck them off. So, Reger ran Bobby as a bucking bull for a few years. 

In 1931, Reger chose to tame the steer and Bobby is credited as being one of the first rodeo steers to be tamed. Sources say that Reger used biscuits his wife made into a treat for Bobby! Who doesn’t love good homemade biscuits?! 

Reger trained Bobby to follow a lead rope, pull a cart in parades and jump over a parked Chevrolet Roadster. The latter was one of his specialties as seen in the pictures below from contemporary newspapers.

Reger also used Bobby to rope calves. Bobby knew to pull the rope taut just like a horse would. 

“One of our tricks is riding ‘Bobby’ with a saddle and roping other cattle from his back,” Reger said.  

Additionally, Reger was able to perform roping demonstrations from Bobby’s back. Reger stated, “That steer [Bobby] is as gentle as a horse.” 

Bobby lived a good, long life and brought many people joy watching his performances. Whether they saw him at the rodeos, in vaudeville acts or in Universal Studios’ movies you knew it would be a good show.

Bobcat Twister in Treasures From Our Atherton Vault

The National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum actually owns the taxidermy head of Bobcat Twister in their collection. It’s currently on exhibition through April 2024 in Treasures From Our Atherton Vault.

I actually got to write the exhibition panel for Bobcat Twister that’s on display. I based it off of this “Breaking Trail” blog post I wrote while working for the NCWHM! Check out the panel below:

Concluding Thoughts

I’m so glad that y’all wanted to know more about rodeo and livestock history. I want to give a shoutout to Nathan, a former curator at The Cowboy for telling me about the story of Bobcat Twister.

I hope you’ll join me further down the trail for our next post in the Breaking Trail series where we learn more about the stories from the American West!

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Sources

Newspapers

“Famous Educated Steer Scheduled To Appear at Pioneer Day Festival,” The Salt Lake Tribune (Salt Lake City, Utah), March 3, 1935.

“Famous Trained Rodeo Steer Has Given Last Performance,” Elk City Journal (Elk City, Oklahoma), December 16, 1943.

“Roundup Caravan Sensation,” The Corning Daily Observer (Corning, California), April 21, 1934. 

“Trick Rodeo Steer Has 8 Foot Horns,” The Daily Bulletin (North Platte, Nebraska), August 6, 1935.

“The Show’s On!” Express and News (San Antonio, Texas) February 10, 1968.

“Bobby, Famed Steer, Set For His Last Appearance.” Woodward Daily Press (Woodward, Oklahoma) December 9, 1943.

“Ogden Pioneer Days Boosters Visit Salt Lake With Educated Steer.” Salt Lake Telegram (Salt Lake City, Utah) July 10, 1935.

“Educated Steer to Perform at Rodeo Sunday.” The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, California) April 26, 1934.

“”Bob Cat Twister” Clears Chevrolet Roadster.” The Harper County Journal (Buffalo, Oklahoma) July 5, 1934.

*All newspaper clippings in this blog post were pulled from newspapers.com. I am not affiliated with this website. I just wanted to let you know where I found my digitized sources.