NFR Notes

The Wrangler National Finals Rodeo concluded it's ten day run on December 14th.  I will put it right out here...I only watch the bull riding.  Yes, I record the whole event and fast-forward to get to the bulls.  It was great to see ten nights of bull riding even though I am not as familiar with the PRCA bulls, contractors and some of the riders.  There were a few bulls bucking, that have bucked in the PBR, and there were a few cowboys I knew from the PBR but that's where the similarities ended.

Some of the things I found to be different were the quality of bulls, low scores, bulls not given scores or at least, the audience doesn't see the scores and the TV announcers never seemed to know who the reride bulls were.  I guess I'm spoiled by the quality of bulls brought to PBR events.  Many of the bulls just seemed flat, not much kick, maybe would spin a lot but not really buck, and many were bad in the chutes.  I understand that bulls, like people, have off days.  But some nights, I just sat back and was like, "wow! that was bad!"  It's hard for me to say that because, as most of you know, I love the bulls and always support them!

Night 1 produced 7 rides out of a possible 15 outs plus one reride.  The bull that stuck in my mind from Night 1 was STIFF DRINK from Rafter H Rodeo Livestock.  This bull was rank!

Night 2 produced 3 rides out of a possible 15 outs, no rerides.  Shane Proctor won his second consecutive round with an 89 point score.

Night 3 was the rank pen.  The rank pen was described as bulls that have a 97% or better buck-off percentage.  There were 4 rides that nights, no rerides.  The PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year, SHEPHERD HILLS TESTED, bucked in round 3.  He bucked off Josh Koschel, but even Tested didn't have his best out.

SHEPHERD HILLS TESTED,  the PRCA Bucking Bull of the Year for 2013

One bull I really liked in round 3 was MAGIC, a big, white Brahma bull from Wild Card Rodeo.  He and Cody Campbell combined for 90 points and the round win.

Round 4 produced 9 rides, out of a possible 15 outs, with 2 rerides.  This pen of bulls seemed to be the best matched.  They were consistently good and the cowboys made good rides.  I did notice the Latch Man in the arena had some issues with not getting that latch open on time.  One bull I was happy to see was PRICELESS from D&H Cattle.  He showed some good snotitude in bucking off Cole Echols.

PRICELESS, from D&H Cattle Company shown here in Kansas City, March 2012

Round 5 produced 5 rides, out of a possible 15, no rerides.  The round was won on GIN AND JUICE, ridden just once out of 55 attempts.  MR. BULL from Big Stone, Moreno & Growney had a great buck off in round 5.  In fact, MR BULL "pitched" a shut out in 2013!  Overall, he's got a 93.3% buck off percentage in his three short years of bucking.   Funny moment of the night from Don Gay, TV commentator, when asked if he knew anything about the bull, MR. CLARK from Western Rodeos.  Donnie replied, "He's here, so somebody thinks he's good".   From what I could find, MR. CLARK is good, with a 100% buck off percentage.

Round 6 produced 10 rides, out of a possible 15, with 2 rerides.  Trevor Kastner won the round on WILD EYES with an 88 point ride.

Round 7 was not a good round.  The bulls were not that good and the cowboys only managed 5 rides.  Several of the bulls slipped on the dirt, and that made for some nervous watching for this bull fan!  I did have to throw the "BS" flag once, on Chandler Bownds who took way too long in the chute on THUNDERSTRUCK.  The bull won out, and thankfully neither were injured.

A young SHEPHERD HILLS TESTED, from D&H Cattle Company, shown here in Kansas City, March 2012

Oh boy...round 8...the rank pen again...sigh!  SHEPHERD HILLS TESTED proved to be the very best of the bunch, bucking off his rider in 1.1 seconds.  Tested was spectacular.  The rest of the pen, well, let's just say, not so good.  The winning ride was only 78.5 points, the other two were 70 and 68 points.  Let's move on....

Round 9 produced 7 rides, out of 15, with no rerides.  MR. BULL was out again, and he was terrific.  Julio Moreno and his owners must be very proud of this young bull!

Round 10 ended the NFR with 4 rides, out of 15, with 2 rerides.  SPECK from Pete Carr Classic Pro Rodeo, LEON from Southwick's Rocky Mountain Rodeo and CLUBBER LANG from D&H Cattle were the stand outs in the final round.

Congratulations to JW Harris for winning his 4th Bull Riding PRCA World Championship.  JW covered 6 of his 10 bulls at the NFR, en route to winning the gold buckle.

So there's my 2 cents on that subject!  I can only write about what I see, and these are just my opinions.  I think I'll try to watch more PRCA events on TV, if I can find them, just to educate myself on those bulls, riders and contractors.  Hopefully I'll learn something, because one thing I do know, is that I never get tired of watching bull riding!

Wishing all a Merry Christmas, and a happy, healthy bucking 2014!




All photographs by Susan Hanrahan