I have been competing in rodeos since I was 12 years old and riding horses since before I could walk. I’ve been to hundreds, if not thousands, of rodeos now and rodeos, like many other things, there will be some stories. A couple of years ago, when I was at a rodeo in the scenic town of Meadow Lake in northern Saskatchewan, Canada, I rode a huge red bull. When I mean huge, I mean it was as tall as the slides (its back was level with the top rail of the slide which is six feet off the ground, its head and horns were taller than that) and well I quickly got my ass delivered by him. I remember lying face down with my hand still on the rope and my feet in the air thinking “I wonder how far off the ground I am.” When I finally hit, I got back on the slides as fast as my feet would allow me, even though I was only about six feet tall, as I didn’t really last long.

A little embarrassed and a little bruised, the bull’s owner, Kody Kropius, was impressed and asked if I wanted to go to Brazil in August for a rodeo there. Kropius meets Jim Ivory from Cody, Wyoming, the president of the International Pro Rodeo Association (IPR). The following Monday I called Mr. Ivory and he gave my number to Dici Birtche from Brazil, the International Director of the IPR, who invited me to compete in his rodeo, which ended up being only two weeks after that day. It turned out there were two open spaces, so a friend came with me, another bull rider named Jordyn Robinson. We managed to get our visas together and we got going. Upon arriving in Brazil and its overwhelming humidity, Dici Birtche himself met us at the airport and we were on our way to bull riding in Brazil! It was great to finally meet Dici and it was just the beginning of being in Brazil for the rodeo for the first time.

We drove through the city of Rio De Janiero as the sun set and the colorful and vibrant city buzzed around us. Once we settled into our hotel room, I crashed on my stomach for a few hours and woke up later in a haze hardly believing I was actually here. It was like a dream. I couldn’t do much more than smile and be grateful for this incredible opportunity. That we headed to Copacabana, the world famous beach, to see the afternoon views and swim in the ocean. The afternoon flew by. The next day we packed up and drove four hours north to the town of Campos Dos Goytacazes, still in the state of Rio de Janiero, the town where we would compete.

The first night the rodeo was to take place, we were a bit confused as to how the weather worked there. We arrived at around eight o’clock in the afternoon and it started to rain, so we took refuge under the announcers’ booth and waited for it to pass. Almost every event I’ve been to has an actual set start time, but they threw that rule out the window there. It was actually pretty good, we just waited until the rain stopped and then we started the show. Even when it was raining it wasn’t that bad because it was quite hot. When the rodeo finally began, the opening was absolutely unreal. There were fireworks and presentations as you would not believe. They did a great deal for each of us as confetti blew from the cannons, we lowered our flags down the stairs to the arena and became the center of attention.

After all the opening prep, I was in the mood to ride my bull that night, and every other night, for that matter. I can remember I was on the ramp and they kept turning the lights on and off. It was like they were on a dial in your room at home and the rodeo producers turned on the lights just when you were ready to ride. The production of the event was outstanding, even though we couldn’t ride until probably around one in the morning, the stands were still packed and you could feel the energy from the arena. As for the actual bull riding I did there, it didn’t go so well either. 95% of the bulls in Brazil are Brahmas and almost none have horns. They roll sideways a lot and kick the stars. When I refer to that, I mean that they kick with their hind legs so high that they are almost straight from top to bottom. In the three bulls I tried to ride there, I could have done 8 seconds in all three bulls combined. It hasn’t improved much in my recent trips to Brazil.

For those of you who have traveled, you know how out of place you feel in a foreign country. Well, take that and add having to compete in your sport and only one or two people within a mile of you speak your language, the announcer is off the pumping chute cheering on the crowd in Portuguese as you try to focus on competing. . Bottom line, I didn’t stay in any of my bulls there, but I had a lot of fun and met a lot of great people. In fact, there is a photo of me on the promoter’s website where I am face down on the dirt floor on my belly and the bull is three feet in the air showing off to the crowd. Overall, it was an experience that I won’t soon forget. The people of Brazil are one of the best people in the world that you could meet and I will return in the future every time I receive the invitation.