That’s a bunch of bull
Tuesday, Aug. 16, 2011

(By Ted Harbin)

Justin has been doing a little extra work around his Porum, Okla., home recently. In fact, he’s carried it into the arena.

Justin has been putting in some time preparing to ride bulls; for those who don’t know, the 2008 bareback riding world champion is truly an all-around cowboy, and from what a bunch of folks are telling me, he’s an outstanding bull rider. I haven’t seen it in person, but I don’t doubt it.

Justin competed in the Championship Bull Riders event in Lubbock, Texas, on Saturday night, his first bull in competition since January 2008. He’d gotten on several practice bulls over the past couple of weeks and was excited about things.

“It feels good,” McDaniel said Friday night in Lovington, N.M., where he competed in bareback riding at the Lea County Fair and Rodeo. “I feel like I’m riding good. We’ll see, I guess.”

So why does a four-time NFR qualifier – who has twice won the average at ProRodeo’s championship – want to ride bulls?

“I just love it,” JMac said.

So McDaniel got in the CBR Cinch Tour event in Lubbock and tested his skills against some of the best bull riders in the business.

“I warmed one up, then he quit me and bucked me down,” McDaniel said, referring the bull having a good start before quitting the bucking action midway through the eight-second ride.

That’s just a new beginning for JMac, who won the all-around title at the Fort Smith, Ark., ProRodeo the first of June by earning money in both bareback riding and team roping. McDaniel is a cowboy, and he’s living a dream.

A flight that didn’t happen
Thursday, July 7, 2011

Click HERE to see what D.V. Fennell and Justin McDaniel had to say about their travel on Sunday, July 3.

Making this flight
Sunday, July 3, 2011

Part of Cowboy Christmas – the string of lucrative rodeo around the Fourth of July – is the possibility of competing at two rodeos on the same day.

For D.V. Fennell and Justin McDaniel, that came Sunday, July 3.

In order to insure they had the best shot at winning, Fennell and McDaniel took flight. Here’s hoping their Cowboy Christmas is profitable.

Rodeo bloggers D.V. Fennell, left, and Justin McDaniel prepare to fly from one rodeo to another Sunday, July 3.

It helps when rodeo officials are rodeo savvy
Thursday, June 30, 2011

I rode in the Greeley (Colo.) Stampede tonight, and it went really well. I had a good horse, and I’m splitting the rodeo so far.

But the trip to Greeley hasn’t been without incident. When I got behind the chutes, I changed into my riding pants, put my boots and spurs on and walked out the back gate to the Justin Sportsmedicine trailer. I said hello to the gate man, who was wearing his weekend badge and was wearing his newly acquired authority.

I got my hips worked on by the sportsmedicine team and went to walk back through the gate. That’s when I got stopped by our weekend warrior. He said, “I can’t let you back here.”

I asked why not, and he said, “Well, this is for contestants only! I need to see your PRCA card.”

I told him I didn’t have it on me, so we had to walk into the secretary’s office and look on the bareback riding contestant sheet. Then he had to look at my driver’s license to confirm that I was, actually, Justin McDaniel. I guess he thought I was just some tourist trying to get behind the chutes. Haha.

It’s kind of funny, but I have a request for all rodeo committees out there: Please get gate men that are rodeo savvy!

Getting some needed days off
Tuesday, June 28, 2011

I left Reno, and I didn’t have a good horse in Prescott (Ariz.), so I had three days off. I got to come home and check on my cows.

I ride in Springfield tomorrow night, and we’ll be gone until September, so it’s good that I got to spend some time at home. Now it’s time to hit it hard. First has about $66,000 right now, so I’ve got a lot of ground to make up. If I want to go to the finals and win another buckle, I’m just going to have to go.

It’s just part of being a cowboy. It beats getting that 9-to-5 job. This rodeo life doesn’t last forever for roughstock guys, so I’ve got to take advantage of every situation I can.

The Fourth (of July) run is hard, but you can also win a lot of money. You’ve got to put your name in the hat at all the big ones and see what’s going to happen. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the whole summer is important. We’re still going to be going to one rodeo about every day.

It doesn’t really slow down, so we’ll be taking our Hodge Ford vehicle as hard as we can. Of course, Hodge Ford has been awfully good to me. That’s important in rodeo.

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