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Chandler Appreciates the Lessons he Learned from Hart

By: Justin Felisko
March 16, 2018

Tye Chandler in Sacramento. Photo: Matt Breneman / BullStockMedia

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Tye Chandler says he never actually busted a hole in his bedroom wall in Celina, Texas, but he sure left a couple of indents along the way.

Chandler was a teenager when he first visited J.W. Hart’s ranch in Marietta, Oklahoma. The two had connected at a youth rodeo when Chandler was 13 years old and Chandler’s father, Freddy, asked Hart if his son could one day come by and get on some practice bulls.

Hart agreed and so began a stretch of three years where Chandler would come by and get on some practice bulls and learn lessons from the 2009 Ring of Honor inductee.

One of those lessons was put to the test last weekend in Georgia when Chandler won Round 1 of the Duluth Invitational with a career-high 87 points away from his hand on Gangster Boy.

Chandler had an extremely, wild free arm as a kid.

Technique to him meant 8 seconds. Nothing else.

Hart, though, gave him some ideas on how to try and work on his free arm position when he was at home.

“He said, ‘Get against a wall and slam your elbow up against it until it got sore enough,’” Chandler recalled. “I can’t tell you how many times I did that. Your elbow can’t get behind you then. In your head, you just think, ‘Stop it. Stop it. Keep it in front of you.’”

The rookie is trying to put a series of Hart lessons and advice in action during his first year on the PBR’s premier series.

Chandler heads into the Ty Murray Invitational, presented by Isleta Resort & Casino, ranked 28th in the world standings following his round victory last weekend that pushed him up seven spots in the standings.

He has drawn Hart’s bull, Bottoms Up (8-5, PBR UTB), for Round 1 on Friday night. Fans can watch Round 1 exclusively on Ridepass.

“Well, he was swinging his arm behind him so far that it has to stop,” Hart said. “It can’t go back there. You have to pretend there is wall there and you can’t go behind it. However he interpreted it is how he got it I guess. You just can’t get it back there. It has to stop there. If it gets too far back, it will twist your hips.”

It hasn’t been a smooth transition so far for Chandler, who is 2-for-16 in seven 25th PBR: Unleash The Beast events.

Chandler had a conversation with Hart in Duluth about his Round 1 ride and he was hopeful he was beginning to figure things out at the premier level.

He explained to Hart that he had bulked up a little too much from training to much in the gym and that he has lost five pounds to try and be lighter on the back of the PBR’s rankest bulls.

Hart admitted earlier this year that it has been bewildering at times to see Chandler struggle as much as he has.

“Look at him,” Hart said as Chandler walked by in in Kansas City, Missouri, last month. “He is the right height. He is the right size. He is in shape. He styles good, but he don’t make the freaking whistle for some reason. He should. He has every tool in the toolbox, but he doesn’t have successful rides.”

Chandler said in Duluth he believes he was battling his own head and letting the bright lights of the top level affect him some.

“A little bit,” Chandler said. “I am trying to stay myself and have fun and stuff, but I think I am trying too hard to make sure I am not thinking about it. In reality, I am thinking about it. That was maybe a problem. I am past it. It is just time to ride now.”

Chandler is third in the Rookie of the Year race and trails Keyshawn Whitehorse by 205.83 points.

The 23-year-old is 11-for-20 (55 percent) at non-UTB events this season.

“I know there is a plan,” Chandler said. “It is not how I planned how it was going to go. But God has a plan for me. I am trusting it and am going to stay doing what i am doing. It was working before I got here and it is going to work now that I got here. I just have to keep doing it.”

Chandler’s faith in God stems from his mother, Vikki, who is a lieutenant for the Lake Dallas Police Department. Vikki has worked for the Lake Dallas Police Department for 19-plus years and also considers barrel racing one of her hobbies.

Tye’s father used to ride amateur bulls and introduced the sport to Tye’s older brother, Josh, who passed it on to Tye.

Tye still remembers getting on mini-bulls in the practice pen when Josh was practicing.

Freddy, who owns his own heavy equipment excavation company, was always big on his sons getting on practice bulls, and if not for him approaching Hart, there is a chance that Chandler may have never reached the highest level of professional bull riding.

Now that he is riding on the Unleash the Beast full time, Chandler can once again ask Hart for help when he seems him.

He appreciates Hart’s candid advice about his struggles.

“He taught me a lot, especially being a cowboy,” Chandler said. “A lot of the bulls we were getting on weren’t chute broke.  He just taught me a lot in the chute. Taking over and being a cowboy. Taking some laying down or just having your way in there.

“He always helped me. I think it was more me not listening. I knew what I was supposed to do. It is just hard to do it.”

© 2018 PBR Inc. All rights reserved.

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