Contestants talk about life as a PRORODEO cowboy
For a PRORODEO cowboy, the job extends well beyond the time spent in the arena.
A season means traveling thousands of miles from one rodeo to the next, paying entry fees and competing without the guarantee of a paycheck. The schedule can change by the day, and when one rodeo ends, the next is often already waiting.
Sometimes there is a paycheck waiting. Sometimes there is only another drive.
Yet ask Stetson Wright, Josh Frost, Zac Dallas and Lefty Holman what stands out about the profession, and their answers have relatively little to do with the results.
As the PRCA approaches its 90th anniversary in October, the four cowboys reflect on the career they have chosen and the experiences that have come with it. For athletes who spend much of the year chasing rodeos across the country, the appeal remains rooted in the opportunity to make a living doing what they wanted to do in the first place.
“The coolest thing about being a PRORODEO cowboy is I’d say getting to do it,” Wright said. “I’ve always wanted to rodeo, and regardless of how big the stage is I just love going to get my rodeos whether I’m in Buffalo, Colorado or Sioux Falls, South Dakota. I like going to them all.”
Wright has competed on rodeo’s biggest stages, including the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo as an 11-time qualifier, but the distinction between them matters less to him than the opportunity itself. A small-town rodeo and a major late season stop still require the same thing, showing up, nodding his head and competing.
For Frost, describing his occupation to someone outside the sport can make its unusual nature more apparent. Professional bull riding has taken him across the country for a job that once existed simply as something he hoped he might be able to do.
“You know, it’s a dream,” Frost said. “It’s something you can’t even explain to other people. Like they don’t even comprehend what we do. But when you think about it, we just drive around from town to town, get to ride bulls and they pay us for it. It’s pretty special and something I’ve always wanted to do.”
That simplicity disguises what the job requires. PRORODEO operates without guaranteed results. Cowboys travel on their own dime, compete against the best in their events and depend on their performance to make the trip pay, but the same structure that makes the profession demanding also gives its competitors an independence uncommon in most careers.
“Oh man, it’s a blessing,” Dallas said. “We get to see the whole country and just have freedom to do what we want and get on these amazing bucking horses and meet a lot of awesome people. So, it really doesn’t get any better.”
Over the course of a season, those miles also create a community. Cowboys travel together, compete against one another and often depend on the same people they are trying to beat when something goes wrong between rodeos.
For Holman, some of the memories that have lasted have little connection to a score or a paycheck.
“I have so many of them from times with the buddies to times with the families to breaking down on the side of the road and having somebody help you out along the way,” Holman said. “I have countless amazing memories from this game, and I’m forever grateful for that.”
It is also a profession in which family life often travels with the competition. For much of the year, home can be wherever the next rodeo happens to be.
“I think it’s the life we get to live being a rodeo cowboy,” Holman said. “We get to travel the world, go to beautiful places all over the country, and bring our families with us. It’s an amazing life, and I don’t take it for granted.”
Nine decades into the PRCA’s history, much about PRORODEO has changed. The purses are larger, the travel is faster and the stages continue to grow, but the basic rhythm of the profession has not.
There is another rodeo down the road, another chance to compete and – for the cowboys who have chosen to build their lives around it – another reason to make the drive.
-PRCA
