“Tommy G” is the king of mutton busting, and he says the unusual sport will save America’s "bubble wrapped" youth. As head of the aptly named Tommy G Productions, he’s in charge of the biggest game in the nation—Puyallup included!—when it comes to competitive sheep-riding for tots. His eccentric company is based in Pueblo, Colorado, but much of the year is spent on the road where the events are organized from an enormous trailer in which Tommy also lives.

The video games and gratuitous safety precautions that define today’s indoor childhoods have met their match. Mutton busting knows no bounds, and the sheep do not discriminate in their determination to toss girls and boys of all backgrounds off their backs with character-building (and sometimes hilarious) results. You never know which kids will excel until they face the wooly terror head on, but Tommy G likes to point out that 75 percent of the winners are girls, and even more are “city kids,” or those who did not grow up in what Tommy G refers to as "ranching families."

The historical origins of mutton busting remain a mystery, even to the granddaddy of the sport himself. Tommy G first came across mutton busting during a half time show at a rodeo in Colorado. Between other events, he told me, "They would put this mutton busting on. It kind of started off as a joke and it quickly became a crowd favorite—if not even more popular than bull riding—to watch these little kids ride sheep across the arena.” This was over a decade ago, and Tommy G saw great potential in the nascent competition. “I went to the Colorado State Fair manager and said, 'Hey, I’ve got this idea. Let's make mutton busting a stand-alone event,'" he told me. Even at the very beginning, mutton busting as its own event drew hoards of eager tots—so many he had to hold a lottery to determine who would get in. Thus was born competitive mutton busting.

“I quickly became the guru of the mutton busting world,” said Tommy G. “My company is truly the leader in mutton busting—it’s called Wool Riders Only. We have a world championship. In fact, we just had it recently in Fresno, California.”

The sport may seem extreme or dangerous, but most contestants and parents are excited to participate. Kasen Vargas, 7, lost a tooth in a flash of wool and dirt at last month's Washington State Fair in Puyallup. Even so, he was chipper in the aftermath, showing off his gapped smile and flexing his biceps. His mother, Mallory Vargas, remarked that he clearly didn't mind. “We had to take his boots off so he would make the weight limit,” she said. “He’s sad that he will be too big to compete next year.” (The weight limit for mutton busting is 60 lbs or less.) When asked if she was concerned about the safety of her son, Mallory Vargas replied: "Everything is dangerous. Riding a bike is dangerous. So is eating at a public restaurant. I think it makes for a well-rounded kid.”

Scrapes, lost teeth, and the very rare broken bone notwithstanding, the event is actually very safe, thanks in no small part to Milo Flores, one of Tommy G’s most important employees at Wool Riders Only. Milo is in charge of hoisting the little ones onto the sheep and pulling them off at the last second if they decide they aren’t ready. “You can tell that a kid is too nervous when she or he isn't holding on," he told me. When this happens, Milo yanks the children off the sheep before opening the gate, for their own safety. He points out that aggressive parents, not scared children, are his gravest concern. “A year ago I had a dad yelling at his daughter because she didn’t want to ride the sheep,” Milo said. “He was telling us not to 'pamper her' by allowing her to opt out."

Tommy G agrees that overbearing parents are a common issue. “There was one dad,” he told me, “who was so mean to his kid when the kid didn’t ride well that I pulled him aside and told him, 'Listen, if you’re gonna act like this, I don’t want you to come back. Your child is more than welcome to come back with somebody else.’”

In general, however, Tommy believes mutton busting promotes classic American family values. “The parents are right there with the child, whereas in other sports the parents are standing on the sidelines,” he said. “Our parents are right next to their kids the moment that gate opens.”

Tommy and his 18 employees also see this as an opportunity for kids to get in touch with something other than the culture's tendency toward over-coddling. “Nowadays,” he said, “everybody is anti-vaccine this, anti-vaccine that. It’s sad because you see even in schools, there’s this idea of a 'participation movement' [in which] everybody can participate. When I was a kid and somebody didn’t make the little league baseball team, you’d have to just work your ass off and get better at it."

Tommy G posits that the key to true self-esteem is earning one's accomplishments through plain old hard work. "We don't give prizes to every single kid that shows up," he said. "You ride that sheep and you’re either first, second, or third—or you lose. That’s what it is."

The Washington State Fair is particularly special for Tommy because of our unique climate, which often results in muddy riding. "When we get a little rain, the arena turns into a mud hole and the kids just don’t care," he said. "I’ve been at the Washington State Fair when the kiddie rides get shut down [because of the rain], but we still have our show. The kids love it."

At this year’s world championship in Fresno, seven year old Sophia Viscara was crowned world champion of mutton busting for 2014, a big victory for her and one more small victory for Tommy G. "We’ve had kids that were bullied at school and then they win a medal from us and their confidence just goes through the roof," he said. "Something as simple as riding sheep can do that for a kid."