Second annual Bucking Bash brings rodeo excitement to County Fair

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Hollister native Tucker Bourdet took first place at the second annual Bucking Bash, held at the San Benito County Fair on Oct. 4.  The event was put on by Lone Oak Western Productions and a portion of the event’s proceeds will be donated to Hollister VFW Post 9242.

Bourdet, 21, grew up on a ranch and started competing in bucking horse events five years ago, something he had always wanted to do.

“The first time I did it was such a long time ago,” he said. “Even at the time, it was hard to remember. It was more of just a blank screen. You have to get on good five, ten times before you remember anything.”

When pressed, however, he can recall one thing from his first attempt—getting bucked backward over the horse and kicked in the head, suffering a minor concussion.

“It is just you and the horse out there,” he said. “your head kind of takes over, everything slows down, and it becomes kind of like a dance. But the horse is most definitely leading the dance and you are just trying to keep up with it.”

Bourdet said that riding bucking horses successfully takes a lot of time, practice, and concentration.

“If you want to look pretty and win, it’s 100% technique,” he said. If you’re just trying to hold on, you just get whipped around like a rag doll, and you’re not going to win any money.”

Cameron Messier, 27, came in third at the event. Hailing from a rodeo family in Galt, Ca., Messier said he had been riding horses since he could barely walk. He got into bronc riding when he was 13 years old after attending a school in Northern California that taught him the basics.

“You practice a bit, and that decides for most people if they are going to continue,” Messier said. “I took off with it in high school and college, and then eventually went professional.”

Messier, who attends around 100 rodeos a year, said riding is 90% mental and 10% physical. The key, he said, is staying focused and maintaining a good mindset for the eight seconds you have to be on the horse.

“If you have done it and practiced, a lot of muscle memory will fall into place,” he said. “It sometimes seems like you’re up there forever. But other times, it’s the quickest, fastest thing you’ve ever done.”

Messier described being on the horse as similar to riding in a roller coaster car that has left the tracks. Over the years, he said he had suffered some strained muscles and broken bones, but has been lucky enough to have walked away from most of his falls.

“You tell most people what we do, and they think you are crazy,” he said. “Some people jump out of planes. I would never do that. To me, this is just a normal day in my life. It’s kind of neat when you are the guy who can ride the horse that most people can’t.”

King City High School senior Tryan Hurley, 17, traded his position as a varsity running back for bronc riding two years ago, following in his father’s and brother’s footsteps.

“I was a little nervous at first,” he said, “but I fell in love with it once I got on it and the horse took off. I made it to the High School National Finals in the bareback riding, so I am having a little luck in that.

Hurley said riding was initially scary, but he quickly got hooked on the adrenaline rush and learned that having his mind ready for the ride was the most important thing.

“You have to be prepared,” he said. “I don’t think about much more than hanging on and moving my feet. A lot of kids get tight—I’ll do it, too—but if you just go out there and have fun, you’ll do good.”

Younger participants, including 12-year-old Lilly Matthews, also had a chance to compete as teams in the Wild Pony Race, a miniature bronc riding event. Matthews began riding when she was six after her grandmother gave her a horse named “Dixie.”

In the race, two participants between eight and 14 must rope and halter the horse while a third mounts and rides it.  The team with the longest ride is deemed the winner. Matthews says she loves competing with her friends and that being bucked off is kind of like flying.

“From the moment you get on the horse,” she said, “to the moment you get off, all you are thinking is, ‘Don’t get hurt.’”

Emily French, who owns Lone Oak Western Productions with her husband Elliot, said that the horses used in the rodeo have very long bloodlines and are bread specifically for bucking.

“When they are old enough to have their first rider,” she said, “we get to see whether or not they will buck. If they don’t, they get to be a ranch horse. It is really their choice.”

French said she and her husband are trying to preserve the Western tradition of the classic rodeo, which originated in the early days of ranching when horses were essential.

“You needed horses to do things like check fences and gather your cows for branding,” she said. “Horses don’t naturally want to be ridden, so when cowboys trained a horse, they would have to break it.”

French said that breaking horses eventually became a competition, creating the sport of bronc riding. Her company breeds horses for bucking and said they are treated very well on the ranch, contrary to a perception that rodeo animals are abused.

“Bucking horses have the easiest possible life of any horse,” she said. “They have tons of space and can be like wild horses. About once a month, they are asked to perform for eight seconds, and then they get to go back to their lives.”

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