MANHATTAN (KSNT) — For the 40th anniversary of the Kaw Valley Rodeo, organizers are bringing in a special act that’s sure to make everyone go bananas.
From the belt buckles and cowboy boots to the “bull riding, calf roping, team roping, barrel racing,” said Steve Frazier, Board Director for the Kaw Valley Rodeo. All are staples of the American rodeo, but across the U.S. there’s one cowboy who stands out from all the rest.
“He’s unique. There’s nothing else like him. There’s nobody else like him,” said Kenny Petet.

A cowboy who doesn’t need a horse just his trusty dog.
“I mean who doesn’t love a monkey? And who doesn’t love a monkey riding a dog?” asked Petet.
Like every good cowboy, he’s got a good stage name: “Whiplash, the Cowboy Monkey,” said Petet, Whiplash’s hired hand.

The now 22-year-old white faced capuchin has been riding since he was 2, so you could say this comes as second nature to him. “He love to herd them sheep, he loves to saddle up, he loves to ride,” Petet said. For the doubters out there Petat said: “He knows how to ride. He’s no more tied on to that dog than I am on to any horse I ride.”
And, like a true cowboy, you will never catch Whiplash, naked. “You never saw John Wayne naked, you never saw Roy Rogers naked and you won’t see Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey naked,” said Petet. “Every time you see him, he’ll be dressed up ’cause that’s exactly how cowboys are, you know, you don’t get to see us naked.”
Surprisingly seeing monkeys riding dogs isn’t new. Petet says they’ve been performing in rodeos since the 1930s. “There isn’t but two of us that do this anymore,” said Petet. “There’s a guy in Georgia that does something similar not exactly the same, but there is only one Whiplash the Cowboy Monkey.”
So go ride ’em cow… monkey?
You can see whiplash perform at the Kaw Valley Rodeo starting Thursday, July 22-25 out at Cico Park.