LAS VEGAS – Bareback rider Ty Breuer wanted to get off to a good start at the 2019 National Finals Rodeo.
After the first two nights, he’s done it. He posted a solid score on Thursday night, then followed it up on Friday with an 87.5-point ride on Beutler & Son Rodeo’s Black Kat, good enough to finish the second round in a tie for fourth place. He pocketed $8,885.
“I’ve been on Black Kat a couple of times,” said Breuer of Mandan, North Dakota. “He’s been around a long time and is the one you want at Beutler rodeos, especially the short rounds. You know that one is going to do it every single time. That’s a good horse and has been for a long time.”
Breuer’s pretty good, too. This is his fifth NFR qualification, and he had a fantastic regular season. An illness kept him on the sidelines a good portion of the season, when he wasn’t off the rodeo trail to take care of the family ranch.
In fact, he earned $88,699 while competing at just 27 rodeos. By claiming his money in Vegas on Friday night, he pushed his season earnings to $107,584. If he keeps riding horses that well, he’ll keep adding to it over the next eight nights. He’ll have to score big, though. Through just two nights, bareback riders have posted four scores in the 90s.
“The horses and the cowboys are that good,” he said. “It’s better than it has been, and it’s fun to be part of it. When 90s are winning rounds, that’s pretty awesome.”
For Breuer, part of the excitement of his round-placing ride on Friday came with working through the rust that has developed. It’s been more than a month since he was on a bucking horse, so he needed to get back in the rhythm with his mount.
“It just felt good that I got stuff rolling again,” Breuer said. “I haven’t been on in a while. It felt so good to get on a horse where I could get my feet moving again and get everything rolling again.
Now he wants to keep the momentum going. Sometimes it takes just one quality ride to make everything better. He and the other 14 bareback riders will face the toughest-to-ride horses at the NFR on Saturday night when they dip into the “Eliminator Pen.” It will be a test of their mental and physical fortitude as well as their endurance of riding bucking horses back to back for 10 nights in a row.
“It takes a couple rounds to get the soreness out, but then a guy feels good about the 10th one,” he said with a laugh.
Whether he’s sore heading into Round 3 or not, he’ll feel pretty good about his riding.