Pueblo PBR & The Back Seat Buckers

PBR Headquarters, Pueblo, CO

Saturday morning of my weekend in Pueblo, CO held the inaugural competition of the Back Seat Buckers program, the ABBI’s newest 2 year old's competition, where anybody can invest in the bucking bull business.  I was thrilled to get to watch 90 more 2 year old bulls buck.

Bull introductions for the Back Seat Buckers

The opening of the event was similar to a PBR event with music and fireworks.  One funny moment was when they set the letters BSB, on fire, on the arena floor. Only the BS actually caught fire.  We could hear the laughter from the crowd!  The other B finally caught fire but the other two letters had burned out.   Hopefully this is not how this programs turns out...a bunch of BS!!

The bulls selected for this program come from superior blood lines,  The arena announcers were constantly dropping names like D&H Cattle, Teague, Moreno, Boyd & Floyd, JW Hart, Ravenscroft, Ace of Spades, Cox, Kish and others as breeders of these special 2 year olds....they were bred and born to buck!  Owners of these bulls are all manner of bucking bull industry giants, sports celebrities, businesses and folks who want to give the bucking bull business a go.  It was fun to hear folks cheering for their bull and it was obvious who the standouts were.

Ready to take on the dummy!

Scores for this competition were all over the place, from a 7.5 to the winning score of 90.5 (out of a possible 100 points).  Each bull received a score, regardless of if he fell down or not.  These young bulls are learning this bucking thing so there were those who fell down just in the exuberance of youth.  Their scores were not great but you could see the potential, and that is what I found fascinating.  With more practice and growth, many of these bulls will turn in to stars for the PBR!

The winner of this first event was a bull named “Booger Red Skoal”, owned by George Goins, from the ranch of Kent Cox.  Booger Red Skoal scored 90.5 points.  This little bull was outstanding from the second he left the chute!  The top 10 bulls had scores ranging from this 90.5 down to 86 points.

During the event I was keeping score and I put a star on my program next to bulls I personally liked.  My “top 10” included Booger Red Skoal, Not a Bus, Smoke and Mirrors, Trauma 1, -66/0, T-Dog, Seis Siete, Big Joe, 520 and The G Man.  I hope to follow these youngsters this year and see how they end up in Las Vegas.

John Elway's "Mile High Miracle"

One bull I was really excited to see was “Mile High Miracle” owned by John Elway.  Being a 30+ year football fan of the Denver Broncos, and John Elway being my favorite player ever, I was really cheering for his little bull! Mile High Miracle scored a respectable 75.5 points, but he did slip and that hurt his score.  But then I thought...Elway was the king of 4th quarter comebacks, so maybe his bull will follow in his footsteps!  Watch out for this little one later in the “game”.  ;)




One last bull I want to mention is Money Clip, son of the late Camo.  Money Clip scored 81 points in his out, and is now owned by Tom Teague.  It was special to note this bull starting his career, as we lost his great sire last week.

The Pueblo PBR event marked the end to the PBR’s first half.  Many of the cowboys were dealing with injuries and lots of the guys just looked tired.  In all, 21 cowboys scored at least one ride.  Renato Nunes won the event, and Meat Hook took top bull honors with his score of 46.25 points (out of a possible 50).  Round 1 was won by Cody Nance with 90.5 pt ride on Hee Bee Gee Bee.  Round 2 win was tied by Harve Stewart and Emilio Resende with 88 point rides.  Round 3 was won by Luke Snyder on Blonde Bomber for 88.75 points. 

RANGO scored 45.5 pts in the 15/15

BUCKEY scored 45.25 pts in the 15/15

SMACKDOWN scored 45.5 pts in the 15/15

The 15/15 Bucking Battle was outstanding!!  Of course I understand that I am in the minority when  it comes to being thrilled the bulls won 14-1!!  I would have preferred 15-0, but I guess there had to be 1 ride for the TV audience.  The bull scores ranged from 42-46.25 points.  Mulligan Man, Rango, Palm Springs, Asteroid, Smackdown. David’s Dream, Buckey and Meat Hook were incredible in strength, power and quickness in bucking off their riders.

Too Sexy looking for some attention...I was so close....then the guard yelled at me! :(

The Championship Round on Sunday saw more great bulls dominating the cowboys.  Shepherd Hills Trapper (45), Carillo Cartel (43), Gray Squirrel (45.25) and Prince Albert (43.25) were all standouts!  (My personal fav was Too Sexy and his 44 point effort. I love that bull!)

The other competition in Pueblo was the Classics, 3-4 year old bulls.  Shepherd Hills Tested continued his dominance with a buck off and 44.75 point score.  He is an exciting bull to watch!

My major disappointment for the weekend was the lack of good lighting in the arena and folding chair seats that were not only uncomfortable but had obstructed views all 3 days.    I was not able to get good pictures during the event and was especially frustrated during the 15/15 Bucking Battle because of the awesome bulls there.  Fortunately, I was able to visit some of the bulls at Bull Housing and snapped some handsome portraits!

So now, the first half is over.  It’s just two weeks in to the break and I am missing those big, beautiful bovines like crazy.  I wish I could hop in my car and drive over to a ranch and spend time with some bulls, but here in CT, ranches with bulls are in very short supply!  Guess it will be events stored on my DVR and videos when I get desperate to see bulls!  Hope the big boys are enjoying the summer break...and who knows, maybe some future Back Seat Buckers will be created!




All photographs by Susan Hanrahan