Bull riders have competed at the Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo for nearly a century.
However, they arrived this year at a time when rodeo and the larger Western culture for which it stands have never been more popular, as the country appears to be fascinated by anything related to the American West.
The popular “Yellowstone” television series spawned spin-offs faster than a six-shooter. Country music’s influence has spread to all musical genres. Western fashion is making its way down designer runways, and it’s no longer uncommon to see cowboy boots and George Strait hats on a walk through Brooklyn.
It is not the first time, but this time could be different.
“We saw something like this before, back with ‘Urban Cowboy,'” said Cody Custer, world champion bull rider and CFD gold buckle winner in 1999. “There was a significant increase in Western lifestyle. The honky-tonks grew in popularity, as did bull riding, before it faded.
“But I don’t think it will go anywhere this time. It is more than just a fad. “I think it’s definitely here to stay.”
Bull riders, who represent values such as grit, self-reliance, and bravery, may be the purest embodiment of the Western male archetype. But that doesn’t mean they have to resemble grown men.
No. 1 Spot
Today’s bull rider rankings are led by a man named Wacey Schalla, who, despite his masculine profession, has not yet grown a whisker of facial hair.
Schalla is 19, but in the right light, he could pass for 12, giving the very-adult Rolex Submariner on his wrist a subversive quality, as if it were a symbol of his rejection of youth.
He has alabaster skin and a few adolescent blemishes on his brow. His intense, hooded blue eyes contrast with a shy smile that could be from a high school yearbook.
His demeanor is a mix of ah-shucks humility and fierce self-possession, which is fitting for a ranch kid from Oklahoma who has risen to the top of the highest-paying sport in the rapidly ascending world of American rodeo in less than 24 months.
“It’s something I’ve done since I was a kid, and it’s what I’ve always wanted to do, so I’m living my dream and just taking it day by day,” said Schalla, catching his breath on a bench beneath the Frontier Days grandstands, his face dripping with perspiration from a bull ride just moments before.
“To be where I’m at, being able to do what I love, being a mentor to younger kids, seeing all the people who are watching me from home and cheering me on, it’s crazy,” he told me. “It’s amazing.”
Name of the Game
The rules of bull riding are straightforward.
Riders earn a score if they stay on a bull for eight seconds. They are graded on how much control they maintain and receive bonus points for style and panache. This can include maneuvers such as spurring, which involves riders flaring their legs away from the bull.
Bulls are also scored on the strength of their kicks, spins, and body rolls. Riders and bulls are each given a score of 50 out of a possible 100 points.
If the rules are simple, the sport becomes even more appealing. It all comes down to the incredible violence of the bulls and the bravery of the men who seek to conquer them.
“We’re talking about a 120-pound cowboy trying to ride and conquer a 1,900-pound animal that is doing everything it can to get him off its back,” said Jason Bain, chairman of the CFD’s Rodeo Committee. “It’s man versus beast.”
These aren’t your typical beasts.
Not Your Average Beast
The modern American bucking bull is the product of decades of tailored crossbreeding between Brahman, Hereford and Angus bull genes. They are stronger, fiestier and buckier than anything before.
It would be impossible to overstate how terrifying these creatures are.
“There are bulls out there that you know when you draw them, you better get your head on right, get in the zone, and block everything else out,” said Schalla, referring to bulls like Rank Frank, who resembles a stack of granite rocks spray-painted black.
That afternoon, Schalla prepared to mount one of the many bulls in the CFD arena. He stood above the chute with a deadly serious demeanor.
He took deep, deliberate breaths, rocked from one foot to the other, and fluttered his fingers at his side, like a gunslinger eager to draw.
The gate swings open.
The bull kicked, rolled, and spun, like a dog chasing its own tail. It felt as if the heavy metal Metallica song blaring from the speakers had been written with this exact moment in mind.
Schalla ran the eight seconds and landed gracefully in the dirt. The crowd erupted.
“I am rooting for Wacey Schalla. I like his attitude. “He appears to be a nice young man,” said a woman named Jeannine Jones, dressed to the nines and sitting in a high stadium seat.
Injury Guaranteed
Bull riding is called the most dangerous eight seconds in sports.
Analysis shows about 5% of all bull rides end in injury, the highest of any rodeo sport, leaving virtually all top riders with scars to show.
Earlier this year, Schalla was concussed on a bull ride in RODEOHOUSTON in Texas. Three weeks later he was knocked out again and separated his AC shoulder joint on a Bounty Bull ride in Ardmore, Oklahoma.
After a month of convalescence, he remained on the fence about returning to ride, until he saw an opportunity he couldn’t pass up.
“I was still entered [for optional participation], and I got a draw in Red Bluff, California, for a bull called Cherry Bomb,” he said. “He bucked me off at NFR last year. I was still pretty hurt from Ardmore, but I knew I had to go get revenge on that bull.
“I ended up winning Red Bluff, and I decided I can probably still get by riding bulls again. To be able to conquer a bull (that’s) 1,900 pounds, five times as big as us, that’s quite an accomplishment.”
It gives you a window into the mindset of bull riders. They’re driven by primal instinct, burgeoning passion and daredevil’s love for a thrill, according to one of the sport’s most prominent living icons.
‘Daredevil Mentality’
Cody Custer is the 1992 PRCA World Champion bull rider title winner as well as gold buckle winner from the 1999 CFD.
He was part of the original cowboy collective that founded the Professional Bull Riders (PBR) organization, which is currently being acquired for $3 billion by TKO, the parent company of WWE and UFC.
Custer has a soldier’s straight posture, cropped hair, and a lower lip that slants to one side when he speaks. He doesn’t come off as a thrill seeker, but lo and behold.
“Most bull riders are thrill-seekers. You get a taste of the challenge, and that’s what keeps guys going,” he explained.
“It’s one of the most dangerous things you can do, but if you take it to the extreme and are willing to die for it… That’s almost the type of mentality you need, a daredevil mentality,” Custer added. “Because then you’re not thinking about the things that can go wrong, you’re thinking about the things that can go right.”
Schalla thinks similarly.
“It’s something that fuels my fire, the nerves you get out there, the adrenaline, it pumps me up,” he went on. “And it’s something you can’t really explain unless you’re out there doing it.”
Custer explained that thrill-seeking comes with a cost.
“I’ve had shoulder and knee surgeries. Broken jaw. Broken ribs. A collapsed lung. I broke my nose, thumb, and toe,” Custer said, describing his injuries as the best-case scenario after a 21-year career in bull riding. “Fortunately, it was nothing major. Did not break my legs or arms.”
Rodeo athletes like Schalla are hospitalized for reasons other than bull riding.
Anomalies
Like athletes at all professional levels, rodeo competitors are increasingly specialized in single events, which is typically to their competitive advantage.
“It’s just like other sports. You don’t see professional football players who are also professional baseball players because it’s become too competitive in each professional sport. It’s the same with rodeo,” said Susan Kanode, public relations specialist with CFD.
Schalla sees it differently. He also competes in bareback riding.
“Today was a lot. I got on my bareback horse, had one event break then got back on my bull,” Schalla said. “Usually, I’m the first and last event and have more time to recover. But not this time.”
The rules in bareback broncing are similar to bull riding, but instead of holding a rope, riders use a custom rigging that looks like a suitcase handle. It’s also different in that it’s way more awkward.
If you hear the word bareback and think “Dances with Wolves,” think again. A more accurate depiction would be a man getting rear-ended in a car with no headrest — over and over and over again.
The rhythm of the broncs are faster and choppier than the bulls, and on the whole riders seem to be but men with a penchant for violent whiplash. Alas, these are men we look up to.
“I want to see myself at NFR [National Finals Rodeo] in both events in the future, like one of my idols, Ty Murray,” Schalla said.
Working-Class Athletes
Beyond the arena, the lifestyle is its own grind, because these guys have to make hay while the sun shines.
“It’s a money game, but it’s also a numbers game,” explained Jason Bain, a former traveling competitor.”They need to think, ‘How do I plan my schedule so I can be in Cheyenne and be in Ogden and be in Salt Lake and be in Deadwood, basically all at the same time,’ because those are all four going on together.”
The day before, Schalla competed in a rodeo in Salinas, California. He then flew to compete in a rodeo in Salt Lake City the same day, before getting in a truck and driving through the night to make it to the CFD rodeo.
Cowboys frequently have traveling companions. Schalla and fellow bull rider Justin Woodward rely on each other in more ways than one.
“When you’re on long drives, you don’t want to be on your own,” he told me. “Have someone to talk to when you’re not doing well, someone who can help you keep your head straight.
“But we do have a little fun. We play golf whenever we can. We enjoy finding places and going cliff jumping.”
It’s a hectic schedule that doesn’t allow for much outside socializing. Schalla wouldn’t mind having a girlfriend, but when does he have the time? We asked Schalla who his celebrity crush is.
“I wouldn’t mind meeting Lainey Wilson; we’re both sponsored by Wrangler and carry on the Western legacy. “I think it’d be pretty cool to meet her,” he said, his cheeks flushing like a 12-year-old’s.
If we run into Lainey, what should we say to her on your behalf?
“Oh, gosh, that is a difficult one. I’m not sure, but I think I’m pretty starstruck,” he said.
Schalla went on to win the gold buckle in bull riding at Cheyenne Frontier Days, scoring a monster 91.5 points.
