[video at full story link]

CASTRO VALLEY, Calif. -- For almost nine decades, cowboys and cowhands have gathered at the Rowell Ranch in Castro Valley to take part in the time honored tradition of the rodeo. But now animal rights activists are leveling stinging accusations of abuse against the rodeo, and they say they have video to prove it.

Two animal rights groups say horses used at the Rowell Ranch Rodeo last weekend were repeatedly shocked with a stun gun type device to get them to buck.

The activists posted video of last weekend's rodeo on Youtube. It shows a man in a blue shirt repeatedly leaning over the horses and using some kind of device on the horses to get them out the chute.

The activists claim it's a type of prod that gives the animal a jolt of electricity and is nothing more than animal abuse.

"They are breaking the law. They are torturing animals. They are using shocking devices which state law says clearly is illegal to use on these animals while they are in the chute," explains activist Alfredo Kuba of the Defend Animals Coalition.

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