Winner takes all: All-around, horses of the year among awards won at the Montana Circuit Finals rodeo
When the dust settled and everyone went home, it was Bo Vocu winning the all-around title at the Montana Circuit Finals Rodeo, held in Great Falls Jan. 9-11.
The Ashland, Montana cowboy competed in two events: the saddle bronc riding and the bull riding, pocketing $4,034 and winning the buckle.
It was the fourth time Vocu had qualified for the Montana Circuit Finals but the first time competing there in both events, after what he called his best year of pro rodeo yet.
“I had a great year,” he said. “I can’t complain. I was able to stay healthy all year and that was a big thing for me.”
The 23-year-old has suffered some big injuries in the last few years. In 2022, he blew out a knee and had surgery to fix the ACL and meniscus. The next year, he broke both bones in his leg, right above the ankle.
Last year, Vocu’s qualifications were good enough he could enter the big summer shows and did well at many of them.
“I was able to capitalize at a lot of the big ones,” he said, placing at Nampa, Idaho; Spanish Fork, Utah, and Deadwood, S.D., among others. “I had a lot of fun being able to do it, and it gave me hope that I am able to do this for a living.”
An enrolled member of both the Northern Cheyenne tribe and the Oglala Lakota tribe, he grew up near the Northern Cheyenne reservation, with rodeo on both sides of the family.
His dad, Michael Vocu, rode bulls and his mother, Shelly Small, was a barrel racer and breakaway roper. His granddad, Clinton Small, is an inductee in the Montana Pro Rodeo Hall of Fame and his other granddad, Dale Vocu, has a herd of bucking bulls near Kyle, S.D. he and his buddies like to get on.
“We’ll go down there any chance we get, to get on his bulls, because he has pretty friendly bulls that make it super easy to work on stuff and get better.” Dale provides bucking bulls to 4-H, high school, amateur and open rodeos and provides them for the Indian National Finals Rodeo as well.
At this year’s circuit finals, Vocu didn’t place in the saddle bronc riding but won the second round in the bull riding and finished fourth in the average in that event.
He would have loved to win the year-end all-around title, but was beat out by tie-down roper and world champion Haven Meged.
“It’s an honor to be able to compete against (Haven) in that respect,” Vocu said. “He’s given the guys at the (Wrangler) National Finals a run for their money so he wasn’t going to make it easy.”
This past August, Vocu got a job working for a non-profit, the Intertribal Agriculture Council, with its youth program. Its goal is to get Native American youth interested in agriculture.
Right now, he’s focused on getting the word out about the Bob Miller Memorial Scholarship, a renewable scholarship of $1000 per semester for 24 Native American students pursuing an agriculture, natural resources or food systems degree. Vocu’s work is remote, so he can rodeo as he works.
This year, he’ll travel with Shawn Bennett and Jake and Jess Lockwood, all bull riders. Jess, a PBR world champ, and his brother are pro rodeoing this year, and the caliber of talent in the truck is a motivator for Vocu. “It helps me out a lot, getting to go with those guys. I’m going to have to ride my bulls and keep up with them.”
He’s looking forward to the year.
“I’m going to try my butt off to make the (National) Finals in the bull riding, and maybe give them a run in the all-around this year.”
Vocu, whose last name is pronounced “VAH- sue”, has had his name mispronounced by rodeo announcers for years but that’s beginning to change.
“I always told myself, when I started winning enough money in the PRCA, that’s when the announcers will say it right. This year, they’re starting to say it right so that shows I’m on the right track.”
