(ABC 6 NEWS) -- The bull.

It looks so peaceful sitting in it's pen, minding it's own business.

Then a cowboy decides to hop on it's back.

After the cowboy is thrown off the bull, he has to scramble away from the infuriated beast.

That is when the bullfighter comes in to save the day.

"For the most part you do whatever it takes to make sure that the rider gets out of there safe," bullfighter Lenny Dawkins said.

"It ain't as bad as people think.  I mean, if you know what you're doing you don't get too worried about it unless they're right up on ya," bullfighter Mick Niemeier said.

Bullfighters have no time to think about getting hurt because they have to make sure the cowboy gets out of the arena.

If the cowboy can't get away from the bull, the barrelman is there to help him out.

"If you're in the middle of the ocean and your boat's sunk, and this is the only island you can see for miles, I think you'd share it with just about anybody," Thompson said.

Thompson used to be a bullfighter but after enough injuries, he decided to become a barrelman. 

He says the role of comedic relief fits him well.

"It's worth a million bucks for me to see a kid that's four years old laugh and somebody that's 80 years old laugh, knowing that I made all these people giggle, that's worth it to me."

So even though these three guys share the arena with a highly irritated, two thousand pound animal, they still love what they do.

"You get this feeling inside, the adrenaline rush.  You just gotta be out there the whole time,” Niemeier said.

“No, I wouldn’t trade it for nothing.  I’ve had 16 good years.  I wouldn’t regret none of it.  Absolutely not.”