LAS VEGAS – After a long season of riding bucking horses, a person’s body is bound to feel the jumps and kicks that come with that lifestyle.
Even on the grandest stage of the sport, bareback rider Ty Breuer had felt a little stiffness through the first four rounds of rank competition at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. He failed to record a score in either Rounds 3 or 4, and he needed a bit of redemption Monday night.
He got it with an 86-point ride on Pickett Rodeo’s Top Flight, good enough for a tie for fourth place in the fifth go-round. He earned $8,885 and pushed his NFR earnings to $32,211.
“That could’ve went anybody’s way with a that pen of horses,” said Breuer of Mandan, N.D. “There were a lot of really nice horses out. Everybody rodeos all year to get on horses like that. It was fun to watch, not just ride.”
The fifth and 10th rounds of the NFR feature the most electric and fun-to-ride bucking horses in the game. The cowboys hand-pick the top 100 horses to buck at the finale, and they place the most elite are part of the TV pen. It certainly made for high scores Monday night.
“I didn’t know if 86 was going to place,” Breuer said with a laugh, adding that Canadian Jake Vold won the round with an 89-point ride.
Breuer did his part on Top Flight, an athletic bay that was voted as the third best bareback horse of the year in 2016.
“My riding feels like it’s coming around,” he said. “The last two rounds, I haven’t had my back worked on. Today it was pretty seized up. I was at the arena early this morning and got it worked on. Now I know I just need to keep getting it worked on the rest of the week.”
He proved Monday that when everything feels right, he is one of the best in the business. Of course, he wouldn’t be in Las Vegas this week if he weren’t. He earned the right to be here. He sits 11th in the world standings with more than $103,000 in earnings. He’d like to continue to pad his pocketbook.
“Anytime you can get a paycheck here, it’s a big deal and a lot of fun,” Breuer said.