Waylon Bourgeois felt everything that Championship Pro Rodeo’s Hooey Rocks threw at him, but he overcame the torture to finish fifth in Thursday’s eighth round of the National Finals Rodeo.
(PRCA PHOTO BY LARA ST JACQUES)

 

LAS VEGAS – The confines of the dirt-filled arena inside the Thomas & Mack Center are tight, and that can affect things at the National Finals Rodeo.

It’s not just the timed events, where contestants have to be fast in order to earn money. It can also affect how well bucking horses perform. Take Championship Pro Rodeo’s Hooey Rocks, one of the broncs in the “eliminator pen” of bucking horses.

Waylon Bourgeois felt ever jump, every kick of the powerful sorrel during his 84-point ride to finish fifth in Thursday’s eighth round, worth $9,463.

“I’ve seen that horse a bunch of times,” said Bourgeois, competing at ProRodeo’s grand finale for the first time in his career. “I watched Jess (Pope) win Dodge City on her, and I watched Rocker (Steiner) get on her in the third round.

“I knew it was a bucker, and that horse is easier in an open arena where she’s got room to move. I knew in this small arena, she was going to come back to the bucking chutes. When she turned that way, I knew it was going to get hard, and I was exactly right.”

The power of the hardest-to-ride horses in rodeo was evident in Hooey Rocks.

“She took a little scoot, hit off the wall and broke, and when she broke that first jump, it felt really good, but she catches you by surprise,” he said. “As she comes around, it gets harder and harder, and by the end of it, it was all I wanted.”

It’s a good thing a qualified ride only lasts eight seconds, because just after the whistle blew, the cowboy hit the ground.

“That’s part of the eliminator pen,” said Bourgeois, 26, of Church Point, Louisiana. “That’s part of the eliminators. They buck hard enough where you’re probably not going to be there for nine seconds.”

With that ride, Bourgeois increased his NFR earnings to $105,613 and sits eighth in the world standings with $243,476. He has two nights remaining in the Nevada desert to collect as much Las Vegas cash as he can. The bareback riders are tested by five levels of bucking horses, and Thursday was the most difficult. There’s a break Friday with the “hopper pen,” a grouping of horses that are considered the easiest to manage. The 10-day finale will close with the “TV pen,” the most electric broncs in rodeo.

“I think for world titles, you ought to have to get on all of them, the eliminators and the hoppers,” he said. “You’ve got to be able to ride both of them the best, and that’s what a world champion is.”

This is a rugged sport that tests athleticism and mentality. After eight nights of riding bucking horses, cowboys are battered and bruised, but that’s not stopping them.

“This is the funnest thing I’ve ever done,” Bourgeois said. “This is the pinnacle of our sport, and it’s a blessing to be out here in Las Vegas.”