Risk and Reward: A Look Inside the Life of a Professional Bull Rider

In the grand scheme of things, 8 seconds is nothing, but in the world of rodeo it can be the most dangerous and rewarding seconds of a cowboy’s life.

Most people work a 9-5 day job to support themselves financially. Hayes Weight’s livelihood depends on being able to sit on the back of a bull for eight seconds and do it with style. On Tuesday, Weight punched his ticket to the gold medal round after winning his set with a score of 91 at the Days of ’47 Rodeo at the Utah State Fairpark in Salt Lake City.

He will tell you that he has no rituals before he goes riding.

“I usually just stretch, and then I pray and just sit down and get my mind right, and think about my bull riding, what moves I need to make, and then I go out and do it,” he told the Deseret News. “I just let it all come to me and put my trust in God.”

His impressive score Tuesday night earned him the bronze medal in the final rounds on Thursday. The Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association ranks him No. 5 in the world for bull riding.

Since 1847, the Days of ’47 Rodeo has been one of Utah’s oldest traditions, honoring the state’s pioneer heritage. In 2017, it became the only rodeo of its kind to award gold medals to its winners, in a nod to Utah’s Olympic ties from the 2002 Olympic Games.

“The only other time contestants had a chance to do that was in 1988 in Calgary as part of the cultural arts festival. They had a U.S. versus Canada rodeo and they got to compete for gold, silver and bronze,” Ann Bleiker, media director for Days of ’47 Rodeo, told the Deseret News.

“Back then, in 2002, we had one here in Farmington, and it was part of the cultural arts festival there, and it was us versus Canada. So prior to 2017, those were the only two opportunities that candidates had for gold, silver and bronze,” she added.

On Wednesday, less than 24 hours after the International Olympic Committee voted to return the 2034 Winter Olympics to Utah, cowboys and cowgirls were honored with gold, silver and bronze medals at the Utah State Fairpark.

The Days of ’47 are just one of many rodeos across the state in July where contestants can win big money.

“The Fourth of July is what’s considered Cowboy Christmas,” Bleiker said. “There are about 40 PRCA-sanctioned rodeos during that one week that the Fourth of July falls on. It’s still big money, but now it’s basically the whole month of July.”

“This week in Utah, there are rodeos in Ogden, Spanish Fork and Salt Lake, and there’s about $2 million in prize money between the three of those rodeos. So cowboys have really started to focus on being here in Utah and going to those three rodeos.”

Bull Rider Mentality: Brave or Insane?

In 1991, Washington resident Wade Leslie, known as the 100-Point Cowboy, became the only bull rider in history to ever score a perfect 100 while riding a bull named Wolfman. Two judges are involved in the scoring of bull riding. This is because both man and animal are judged on their performance, and each can receive between 0 and 25 points from both judges, resulting in four scores that are combined for a maximum possible total of 100 points.

Ironically, the rules of bull riding are quite simple. Riders must hold the rope with one hand and keep their other hand in the air while riding the bull. If the free hand touches the bull or any part of the rider’s body at any time, the rider is disqualified and receives no points.

Like the cowboys on them, the bulls used in professional rodeo bull riding events were born for the rodeo. These cattle are bred to exhibit the behaviors that the audience sees in the arena: bucking, jumping, diving and spinning.

This breed, also known as the American bucking bull, is an officially recognized cattle breed created through a selective breeding program aimed at improving the bull’s genetic makeup for superior bucking performance.

Weight rode his first bull when he was 15 years old.

When asked if there was a bull he would never ride again, he replied that the only one he had a beef with was the bull he broke his jaw on last fall in Washington.

“But they sold him, so I don’t really have to worry about that,” he joked. Seven years after his professional career began at age 18, Weight has also undergone three shoulder surgeries as a result of his profession.

Millions of people flock to rodeos year-round to watch athletes like Weight perform in events notorious for injuries and danger. You’d think anyone who had the balls to ride bulls for a living would either be crazy or brave enough.

He told the Deseret News that he has had to train not only physically but also mentally to be able to do what he does almost every day.

“I went to a bull riding school where they teach you the grips and the basics of it, and I guess the mechanics of it, but they also teach you the mental side, that it’s conscious versus subconscious,” he said. “You have to ride bulls subconsciously. So it’s just getting that muscle memory for your body and then working on it until you perfect it, so it becomes second nature.”

Weight, a Beehive State resident from Goshen, Utah County, said that when he’s home or has a few days off, “I go to the gym and do drills, which is what you learn in that bull riding school, and we practice on lower bucking bulls, or what they call a buck. It’s like a mechanical bull, but he just goes up and down and does the basics.”

As a full-time professional bull rider, Weight does his work year-round. He and a few other bull riders travel all over the country to rodeos. He says they’ve become like family.

“We go out there and we’re these big rodeo stars for all these people; they don’t realize how hard life on the road can be. It’s fun, but some days you go a day without a shower because you can’t get it,” Weight added. “I mean, luckily for us now, we have an RV that we travel in, but when I was 18, I was driving a minivan everywhere by myself. You’re basically driving full-time for a living and rodeoing on the side.”

Weight is now 25 and in his prime, and if he takes good care of himself, he still has a few good years left to perform in “the most dangerous 8 seconds in sport.”

After that I want to “breed bulls and set up bull riding schools myself and help the younger generation understand how the road works and what they can expect from this lifestyle.”