Louisiana bareback rider Waylon Bourgeois rides Calgary Stampede’s Cincy Whitney during the 2024 Horse Haven Roundup in Kennewick, Washington. Bourgeois has qualified to compete at the National Finals Rodeo for the first time this December after just missing the sport’s championship a season ago.
(PHOTO BY ROSEANNA SALES)

 

CHURCH POINT, La. – Waylon Bourgeois had a fantastic 2024 ProRodeo season.

He earned $123,000 riding bareback horses. It wasn’t that long ago when earning that kind of money meant a guaranteed spot among the top 15 cowboys in the world standings and a trip to the National Finals Rodeo.

That wasn’t the case for Bourgeois. Instead, he finished 18th on the money list, three spots out of qualifying for that ever-important business venture to Las Vegas. Sure, there was a hint of discouragement, because every man and woman who competes in rodeo wants to battle for the world championship during the sport’s grand finale.

“I’m not going to say I was disappointed in myself, because I gave it everything I got last year,” said Bourgeois, 26, of Church Point, a community of 4,000 souls in southern Louisiana. “I fell a little bit short, and that was it. I learned a bunch from it, so I wouldn’t trade that for anything.”

It was also a motivating factor into his 2025 campaign. Instead of letting it defeat him, Bourgeois used that experience to drive harder and build his mind and body better.

“It just made me hungrier for this year,” he said. “I learned so much from coming that close and falling short, but life isn’t fair. You can’t dwell on it. You can just make yourself better.”

He has and will compete at his first NFR as the No. 12-ranked bareback rider in the standings with $137,864. He will also join his traveling partners, Texans Rocker Steiner and Cole Franks, in Las Vegas. It’s a chance for the band of bronc-bustin’ brothers to gather again, this time at the world’s richest rodeo, which features a purse of $13.5 million.

Go-round winners in each event will pocket almost $37,000 for each of the 10 nights of competition in the Nevada desert, so it’s an incredible financial opportunity.

“It took a lot more to make the NFR than I ever thought it was going to take,” said Bourgeois, who credits part of his success to his sponsors, Cinch, Boot Barn, Parish Rice and Burgess Brothers Bucking Horses. “I never thought about the work and the dedication that you had to put into it to get to this point. I just thought you rode good, and it was easy to make the NFR.

“What I found out is you’ve got to grind it out all freaking year and just bust your ass.”

It worked, and the rewards can be substantial. Rodeo’s a different type of professional sport, though. There is no guaranteed income; cowboys only earn money when they beat most of the field at any event. There are expenses, from paying for all travel costs to issuing a fee in order to compete at each stop.

While the payoffs are getting better, the chance for real profit comes in Las Vegas. That’s why it’s such an important step for the Louisiana man to earn his spot in the NFR’s exclusive field.

“I’m just taking it in and enjoying it,” he said. “Whenever it’s time to go to work, we’re going to work. I’ve got some goals set. I definitely want to get some round wins. Going after that average title is a big deal, but I think the big thing is taking it in, enjoying it and making memories.”

This is the kind of event that is made for memories, but that’s been Bourgeois’ year in a nutshell. It’s been a whirlwind, from traveling the country by any means necessary to securing his first trip to ProRodeo’s premier championship to being part of a nationally televised documentary to marrying the love of his life.

There’s more on the TV show, but the nuptials take precedence. He married his longtime girlfriend, the former Chloe Frey, on Oct. 17 in Eunice, Louisiana, not too far from where he was raised in the state’s coastal plains, some 65 miles north of the gulf coast.

“Me and Chloe have been through a lot together,” Bourgeois said. “We met when I was a sophomore in high school and she was a junior. We dated for nine years, and we finally got married. Her family only lives about 15 minutes from me in a little town called Mowata, Louisiana. She comes from a rodeo background.”

Yes, she does. In fact, her father, Winston Frey, qualified for the NFR in steer wrestling, and her uncle, Shawn Frey, was an NFR bareback rider. Now, she’ll be in Las Vegas as a newlywed with her husband, who has his own rodeo legacy on which to build.

“My dad and his brothers all competed in the bareback riding,” Bourgeois said. “Some went further in their rodeo career than others. My dad competed in college and went to a couple ProRodeos here and there. He was a pickup man at a lot of rodeos. We lived in the country. I don’t know remember how many head we had, but we had cows.”

Jeff Bourgeois spends most of his days as a tax assessor, and Eloise Bourgeois is a nurse. Together, they raised three boys on faith and family, and rodeo was always in the picture. Gavin was the first to come along, and Hayden followed two years later. Waylon was the baby, weighing in at more than 9 pounds at birth.

The boys did what Southern boys do. Sports were a big part of their lives. Gavin played intercollegiate baseball; Hayden was a college football player; and Waylon went to McNeese State University in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on a rodeo scholarship after being involved in multiple sports growing up.

“We were super busy as kids,” Waylon Bourgeois said. “I remember going to these junior rodeos with the rodeo starting at 8 in the morning. I had to jump in the car and get dressed in my baseball uniform while we were hauling butt to the park.

“We all kind of quit rodeoing and got into motocross. I started racing dirt bikes and playing football and baseball and all those things. Whenever I was a sophomore in high school, I got on my first real bareback horse.”

Just like his family before him, Bourgeois took to it. Uncles and cousins helped him to start, and he made the National High School Rodeo Association Finals three times. He went on to be a three-time college finalist and would have made it four had COVID not canceled the final few months of the 2020 rodeo season. Five years later, he’s heading to the City of Lights.

“I’ve got to give a huge credit to my traveling partners,” he said, noting that Steiner is the No. 1 bareback rider on the money list with more than $300,000 in earnings, while Franks is fifth with $200,000. “Frankie’s just the quiet one, and Rocker’s just outgoing, so we have a lot of fun together. We were together for three months at a time, so they’re like brothers to me.”

With that bond has come the chance to be TV stars. The documentary “Hell on Wheels” focuses on Steiner, but Franks and Bourgeois are co-stars of sorts. The Cowboy Channel and Boot Barn teamed to provide Steiner a bus emblazoned with a wrap, so the trio spent about a month riding in comfort while having a cameraman capturing their lives.

“We’d wake up, and the cameras were rolling sometimes,” he said. “I think it creates a lot of opportunities. This actually shows the ins and outs of rodeo.”

It also shows what life is like for young cowboys, all of whom will ride for big money soon.

“When we’re in the arena, we’re trying to beat each other, but I want them to do just as good as I do,” Bourgeois said. “Just to qualify for my first NFR and have those two guys that had my back throughout the last three years is really cool. To finally get one under my belt with those guys being there is just super special.”