Published: June 01, 2007 06:05 pm         

Dances with buffalo

GREENVILLE — He doesn’t dance with wolves, he dances with buffalo.

R. C. Bridges, 58, of Quinlan used to dance with his buffalo, Wildthing, when the buffalo was a mere 600 pounds. But now that Wildthing has doubled in size, Bridges had to give up the dancing lessons.

“When I stopped dancing with him, he would pout,” Bridges said about his two-year-old buffalo.

Once a rodeo clown, Bridges is now a horse trainer, and he has trained Wildthing to do things that other buffalo have never done. Wildthing now knows how to pull a plow, pull a chariot, and has pulled their children on skis through their dirt arena.

Bridges relationship with Wildthing doesn’t stop at just being the owner. Wildthing is considered part of the family.

Wildthing was the bestman at Bridges’ wedding when he renewed his vows last year with his wife, Sherron. And Wildthing’s favorite thing to do is come in the house, snoop around and sit by his master’s recliner.

“It hurts Wildthing’s feelings when we don’t let him in all the time,” Sherron said. “He’s a nosy-body.”

“Once he’s in the house, he wants to see everything,” Bridges added. “And, no, he’s never used ‘it’ inside (referring to be house-trained).

Wildthing also recently celebrated his second birthday (inside the house) complete with a birthday cake and icing shaped like buffalo poop, and his family sang “Happy Birthday” to him.

When Wildthing isn’t inside, he’s curled up right outside the family room window, so that he can be as close as possible to Bridges.

“He’s usally checking on me and where I’m at every day,” Bridges said. “I think he checks on me more than I do on him.”

Wildthing has also become a “little” star. He appeared on Animal Planet several weeks ago along with Bridges’ blue healer, Miss Lisa. The two were shown playing what appeared to be a game of tag.

Bridges currently has seven contracts with Animal Planet and two contracts for appearances on America’s Funnies Home Videos. Bridges and Wildthing will appear sometime soon on CMT’s Country Fried Videos, in which Bridges was titled the “Buffalo Tamer.”

Bridges said he’s also been fascinated with buffalo all his life and he won two world championships in the American Buckskin Association in cutting. He started raising buffalo in 1995, but had to give it up after the price of hay went up.

In 2004, Bridges lost his eyesight in one eye when a parasite got in his eye while swimming in Lake Tawakoni. He’s had to have a cornea replacement, and next month, he’ll undergo surgery again in hopes to regain his eyesight. With his years of being a rodeo clown, he’s also suffered two broken necks.

“What keeps me going is my wife, my kids and God,” he said. “I also have a high tolerance for pain, which helps, and I don’t use age for an excuse. When I lost my eyesight, I realized that my family was more important to me.”

Bridges has been training Wildthing since he the buffalo was two months old.

“I try to do things that other people haven’t done,” he said. “I made a mistake in training him, though. He’s like my buddy, and I’m not quite as strick on him as I should be.

“Buffalo aren’t trainable animals, and it’s very dangerous to train him. If I hadn’t been a rodeo clown, I wouldn’t have attempted any of this. When I do things, I don’t know what his reaction will be.”

Bridges said one of Wildthing’s favorite pass times is to horn things. He has videos of Wildthing pushing over a wheeled-trashcan, a bench swing and his recliner. If Bridges is next to the trashcan or sitting in the swing or rocking chair, he said that Wildthing won’t touch those objects.

“I think he knows that he could hurt me if he did,” Bridges said. “I think he does respect me, and he tolerates a lot out of me.”

One of the first times that Wildthing took a walkabout in their house, he picked up the couch with his horns before exiting the building.

“I don’t let him stay in too long, because he could rearrange the furniture,” Bridges said.

Bridges said he can sometimes walk up beside Wildthing and get him to lie down next to him, and, he likes to snuggle up with him.

Bridges said buffalo need other buffalo or animals to bond with in order to keep them living.

“I’m like his mother and his best friend,” he said. “He lives for me, and his whole life is me.”