Boquet, Baker and Hurst Head to Cheyenne
#22 Bull Rider – Dustin Boguet
“If Prayer becomes a habit then success becomes a lifestyle” is the phrase on Facebook describing the twenty-two year old bull rider who also uses #mygamehisglory.
The Louisiana native from the Deep South city of Montagut is currently sharing the spotlight with Koby Radley as one of the two latest bull riding sensations to come out of the Bayou state.
Boquet is currently riding at his highest percentage since turning pro in 2013. Riding 42.1 percent of the bulls you get on is no easy feat as his home is 45 minutes south of New Orleans and it is a long drive to get out of Louisiana – much less to any rodeo or bull riding. He is ranked number 22 in the CBR World Standings and in the top 20 of the CBR’s Horizon Series as well.
Now living in Bourg, the Louisiana cowboy is looking forward to the trip to Cheyenne and competing in his first CBR World Finals.
“I am pretty excited and everyone says it’s fun, I am looking forward to the chance to get on some really good bulls for two days,” said Boquet.
Boguet said if he got to pick his draw at the World Finals it would be Dirty Blonde from the Brown Ranch.
“He is the same every time and looks like a great bull to ride,” continued the Cajun bull rider that began riding steers when he was twelve years old and was a finalist in the Louisiana High School Association Finals as a youth.
Moving up 11 holes in the CBR standings from last season, Dustin Boquet has qualified for his first CBR World Finals in 2017 and will head to Cheyenne for the first time in the number 22 position on the 24 man roster.
Boguet began riding in CBR Horizon events when they were held in Mesquite several years ago and rode in one CBR tour event in 2014 in Del Rio, Texas. In 2015 he attempted four events on the Road to Cheyenne, and as he was preparing to go to Jackson, Tennessee in January of 2016 he broke his leg in the practice pen and was out of competition for over seven months. When he got back on his feet he went to Horizon Series events enough to qualify for the televised tour and set his sights on the CBR Road to Cheyenne tour and the CBR World Finals.
After riding in eleven events on the Road to Cheyenne this season, he advanced to the semifinal round four times, catching his stride in the last quarter of the tour. With a total of 17 attempts, Boquet made six qualified rides with three of those coming from two of the last three events – Salina and Fort Worth where he rode two.
He advanced to the final four man Shoot Out round at the season opener in Huron, South Dakota. His highest marked ride on the Road to Cheyenne was 89.5 on Swamp Dog in Jackson, Tennessee. His career high marked ride was on Lineman for 90 points at the Liberty PRCA rodeo in 2016.
Traveling with Jeff Askey and Bayle Worden for the summer season of rodeos is how he plans to prepare shape for the CBR World Finals.
#22 Bull Team Challenge Qualifier – Baker and Hurst
The #22 team on the list of CBR qualifiers is the winner of the Enid Cheyenne Challenge, an event that gained immediate CBR World Finals qualification and was held on January 6 during a sub-zero weather pattern in Enid, Oklahoma.
Known as the hometown friends, CBR Bull Team of Tom Baker and Lyndal Hurst first joined forces to compete in the CBR bull team competition several years ago and neither remembers how many. Many thousands of miles later and a yearly trip to the Cheyenne World Finals, you can still find them laughing, smiling, and enjoying the back of the bucking chutes together. Describing each other as best friends and partners, the Tom Baker – Lyndal Hurst duo is headed to Cheyenne again this season to compete for the $100,000 winner’s bonus check and the prize monies equaling over $300,000.
“We love what we are doing, this is where CBR is different, we are all friends and it’s a competition but it’s a friendly competition,” said Baker about why he participates in the CBR Bull Team Challenge year after year.
The famous friends met around 2010 when the ABC Rodeo Committee sponsored the first CBR in Lubbock, Texas. Later it was a chance meeting that would develop into the franchise team.
“One day I was eating Mexican food in Lubbock and I stopped to say hi and before I left I owned half interest in a bull, 975. From then on we have just grown as partners on bulls and I bought a bull team four or five years ago.
The dynamic duo now own nine partnership bulls together with bull competing in various parts of the bucking bull industry and Baker added that it is trust that keeps them together.
“I immediately trusted Lyndal, and we have not had a harsh word since we started – I do what I say and he does what he says and we keep going,” continued Baker, the owner of Great Plains Steel Company.
With valuable points and a trip to Cheyenne on the line, Tom Baker and Lyndal Hurst finished in first place in Enid with their trio of buckers.
“We bucked our bulls Monday night and picked the team based on the Circuit Finals performances and at the house,” said Hurst holding his Hy O Silver trophy buckle and jumbo check for $20,000.
With 2.19 points separating first and second place, Hurst’s team was anchored by Joe Frost’s 92.5 ride in round one on Yellow Hair, a CBR Finals and NFR bull who marked 90 points on the bull side of the score.
Hurst’s second bull out was 285 Wreck Em, a seasoned bull who assisted Colton Jesse with 86 points. 343 Rio, the latest addition to Hurst’s line up, was described as a young bull added to the team on Monday night after bucking him at the Texas Circuit Finals in Waco.
“He was just turning four years old when I bucked him in Enid, and he really has matured and become a valuable part of my team,” said Hurst who can usually count on Rio to post big bull scores and Kimzey remains the only bull rider to earn a score on him at a PRCA Extreme bull competition.
Lyndal Hurst is no stranger to the back pens of Cheyenne, or any pens for that matter. As one of the first competitors to win over one million dollars in the competitive bucking bull world, Hurst has remained a contributor in all aspects of the bucking bull industry since he wandered into it with his wife Leslie in 1986.
It is hard to look at the CBR standings whether its bull teams or individual bulls and not see Lyndal Hurst’s name beside multiple times. The long time breeder and renowned bucking bull trainer has played a role in the success of bulls and bull riders and many of his peers credit Hurst with shaping the industry’s perception of what a good bucking bull is worth.
Today he develops and bucks bulls in all facets of the industry and owns a pro rodeo company, Hurst Pro Rodeo. You can find him flanking bulls at both the NFR and CBR World Finals and has been an avid CBR supporter for over fifteen years both as a stockholder, former member of the Board of Directors, and a bull team owner. Hurst is best known for his honesty and willingness to help riders, stock contractors, and the production staff on and off the bucking chutes.
Hurst has many awards on the mantel such as Bull of the Year, NFR Round Winner, ABBI Futurity Champion, and the list goes on, but it is obvious the greatest award this team has won is the REWARD of friendship.
Courtesy of CBR