Brothers in danger.

Byline: Chris Hansen The Register-Guard

In those chaotic, frantic, dangerously unpredictable moments of bull riding when the bucking chute springs open and an 1,800-pound bull comes barreling out with snot flying and legs kicking, Tim Vredenburg and Mick Thompson have faith in just two things - God and each other.

The former guides the two bull fighters through their daily lives, and the latter makes sure their immediate path is safe from ornery bulls.

Thompson and Vredenburg, dubbed the Dynamic Duo by local rodeo announcer Wayne White, have been a team for seven years and together have worked more than 200 rodeos and bull rides.

This week they've been performing at the Eugene Pro Rodeo, which resumes at 7:30 tonight at the Oregon Horse Center.

"I don't think there's anybody else in the country who has worked as many performances together as Tim and I," Thompson said. "I don't know that for sure, but it's very rare."

The two met at a rodeo on New Year's Eve in 1999 and began working together regularly by 2001.

"We developed a chemistry together right away, and that came from a shared philosophy that the sum is greater than its parts," Vredenburg said.

"This is typically an ego-driven sport, and most people don't want to work together as a team. We know we can do a better job if we're fighting in a selfless way."

The duo live and work in different parts of the Pacific Northwest and meet up to bull fight nearly every weekend from May through October.

Vredenburg, 31, who lives in Roseburg with his wife and three children, is a natural resource manager for the Coquille Indian Tribe. He's also a "thesis away" from earning his master's degree in forest biology from Oregon State.

Thompson, 33, lives in the Tri-Cities area of Washington with his wife and daughter. He is a federal officer and fitness specialist for the Department of Energy, and a former collegiate wrestler at Central Washington University where he graduated with a degree in exercise science and sports management in 1998.

Thompson, who has a brother who was a bull rider, first began fighting bulls in 1997 and earned his professional card in 1999. Vredenburg has been fighting bulls since high school.

"I've been around those two guys since they started, and they've come a long way," White said. "When they work together, they've pretty much got it down. What they're doing here is called `Cowboy Protection,' and they do it real well."

They also do a good job of looking out for each other.

"There's a lot of times where I think I'm about to get munched by a bull, and there's Tim," Thompson said.

A moment such as that occurred Saturday during the opening night of the rodeo, after bull rider Andy Crozier was bucked off his bull in the middle of the arena.

Thompson got to Crozier first and put himself between the cowboy and the bull.

"I thought the bull was going to get us," Thompson recalled. "I even tensed up and got ready to take the hit."

But it never came, as Vredenburg jumped in front of Thompson, put his hand on the bull's head and got it to follow him in another direction.

"God has really blessed Mick and I," Vredenburg said. "There have been situations where somebody should've have gotten hurt, but we were there to make the save. We look out for each other, and you lay it on the line for each other."

Of course, their first priority is to protect the bull riders - at all costs.

The duo like to work on opposite sides of the bull, staying about 10 yards away from the action.

"Tim and I are pretty fast, and we can cover 10 yards quickly," Thompson said. "But you don't want to get too close or the bull will see you, and if he sees you, he'll come out of his spin to chase you and it'll ruin the ride."

Once the bull rider hits the ground, the objective is simple, Vredenburg said, "One of us covers the cowboy, one covers the bull."

Often that means putting their bodies directly in harm's way.

"It's almost entirely instinctual," Vredenburg said. "When the cowboy falls off the bull, there's not time to think about consequences. But there is that moment when you get to the hole between the bull and the cowboy where you have to stop and wait and you know you're going to get hit but you have to stay there. That's the hard part, to sit and wait to get hit."

The cowboys appreciate the effort, and respect what the bull fighters go through to ensure their safety.

"They lay their butts on the line for us every time," veteran bull rider Vic Dubray said. "I've just got to come and get on one bull, maybe two, but they've got to fight as many bulls as there are out here. I give it up to them guys."

Vredenburg has been relatively free of major injuries in his career. He hasn't missed a show because he was hurt in 10 years. Thompson, on the other hand, broke a leg when a bull stepped on it and missed most of 2000. He was also kicked in the face at a performance in 2005.

Still, he considers himself fortunate.

"I don't want to look cool or get all the saves," Thompson said. "I want to make sure these guys can go to another rodeo. I know we really could get hurt at any moment, but we leave that in God's hands."

EUGENE PRO RODEO

Today and Wednesday, 7:30 p.m. at the Oregon Horse Center. Gates open at 5 p.m.