Bareback rider Ty Breuer earned nearly $5,300 at the Farm-City ProRodeo last week by sharing the title with Clint Laye.
It’s a good thing for Breuer, because his trip from Hermiston, Ore., the Lea County Fair and Rodeo on Thursday wasn’t what he’d hoped for. You see, the 2010 bareback riding rookie of the year had been matched in the random draw with Scarlet’s Web, a Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo bronc that’s been a major player at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo.
How good is the horse? They’ve won go-rounds at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo on the athletic bay mare, which was sired by the great Night Jacket. She’s also been named one of the best bareback horses in the Texas Circuit. Earlier this year, Richie Champion rode her for 87 points to share the championship at the Eagle County (Colo.) Fair and Rodeo.
Breuer and his traveling posse – consisting of fellow bareback riders Wes Stevenson, Caine Riddle and Will Lowe, along with saddle bronc riders Taos Muncy, Isaac Diaz, Travis Sheets, Jesse Bail, Curtis Garton and Will Smith – hustled as fast as possible to Lovington, N.M., tucked in the southeastern most county in the state after stopping off at the Salt Lake City airport to drop off Lowe and Riddle for their flight to Missouri for the Sikeston Jaycee Bootheel Rodeo.
Unfortunately, they were just a few minutes getting to Lovington late for Breuer to take his shot on Scarlet’s Web, but it wasn’t without great effort. Speed limits were ignored, as the van filled with eight top ProRodeo cowboys – seven of whom were competing that night – rumbled across the New Mexico plains just hoping to get on their horses.
It paid off for Bail and Diaz, who earned nice paychecks for their rides; the gamble, however, failed to produce the rest of the posse in that section of the rodeo. Stevenson, who was just catching a ride eventually to his home in Lubbock, Texas, returned to Lovington on Saturday night to compete, riding Pete Carr’s Classic’s Lady’s Man for 83 points to share third place and $2,161 with Austin Foss and Richie Champion.
But if you ask each of the 10 in the van at one time, it was worth the effort.