Big Tex returns to bareback riding

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George Gillespie of Elgin, Ore., rides Big Tex for 90 points during the 2010 Crossett, Ark., rodeo. Big Tex was the 2010 Bareback Horse of the Year and has been a saddle bronc every year since. (ROBBY FREEMAN PHOTO)
George Gillespie of Elgin, Ore., rides Big Tex for 90 points during the 2010 Crossett, Ark., rodeo. Big Tex was the 2010 Bareback Horse of the Year and has been a saddle bronc every year since. The gelding returns to bareback riding this week in Weatherford, Texas. (ROBBY FREEMAN PHOTO)

WEATHERFORD, Texas – It’s been four years since Big Tex has bucked at a rodeo in bareback riding.

The Pete Carr’s Classic Pro Rodeo horse returns to his original discipline this week during the Parker County Frontier Days and PRCA Rodeo, set for 8 p.m. Wednesday, June 10-Saturday, June 13, at the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Arena.

Big Tex is a 15-year-old bay gelding sired by the great Night Jacket. In 2010, he was the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Bareback Horse of the Year, and he’s been selected to perform at the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo each of the past nine years; his last three have come in saddle bronc riding.

He is one of many top Carr animals that will buck in Weatherford this week, matched with one of the top young bareback riders in the game in Chad Rutherford of Itasca, Texas, a former College National Finals Rodeo qualifier.

Luke Creasy
Luke Creasy

There are some incredible match-ups scheduled for the Parker County Sheriff’s Posse Arena, including several elite cowboys matched with some of the best animals in the game. Luke Creasy, the No. 6 bareback rider in the standings, will ride Night Bells, an 11-year-old gelding that has bucked at the NFR five times.

Other bareback riding match-ups include Yvan Jayne, the fourth-ranked bareback rider, on Utopia; Jared Smith, a two-time NFR qualifier, on Good Time Charlie; Taylor Price on Alberta Child; and Winn Ratliff, a two-time NFR qualifier, on Dirty Jacket, the reigning Horse of the Year.

In saddle bronc riding, Wade Sundell, a six-time NFR qualifier, will try his hand on Manhatten Moon, a young horse on which Sundell won the San Angelo Stock Show and Rodeo with a 91-point ride. Other key rides will be Travis Sheets on Gold Coast, Doug Aldridge on Spur Strap, Cort Scheer on Cowboy Cowtown and Bradley Harter on Cool Runnings.

Two-time NFR bull riding qualifier Elliot Jacoby will be matched with Footloose, while four-time qualifier Tate Stratton will battle Missing Parts and Jacob O’Mara will try his hand on Poker Face, the reserve runner-up bull of the year in 2014.

The Weatherford rodeo has a grand history in the game, and the match-ups have set a strong standard for this year’s event to be one of the best ever.

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