Cowboys See Chance at Redemption through ProRodeo Tour
Last season, bareback rider Taylor Broussard missed out on qualifying for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo by less than $6,000. Broussard had made the NFR the year before and desperately wanted to get back to the big-money rodeo.
The Easterwood, La., cowboy was just outside the Top 15. The disappointment of missing the NFR has him working harder to return to Las Vegas in 2021.
“It has really pushed me to want to do better every year,” said Broussard, 28. “That way I don’t have to put myself in those positions that I have to fight for my life at the end of the year. I need to keep drawing good, riding good and placing wherever I go over the next few months.”
Broussard is off to a good start in accomplishing that goal this season. He’s sitting 11th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings and 16th in the ProRodeo Tour with 2,007 points.
He’s just one of the many athletes who are leaning heavily on the Tour to get them back to the NFR. The Top 24 in each event qualify for the ProRodeo Tour Finale at California Rodeo Salinas Sept. 23-26.
“If a guy wants to make the Wrangler NFR this year, he needs to make sure to be at Salinas at the end of the season, there’s no doubt about that,” said Tate Kirchenschlager, who made the 2019 NFR in team roping heading but missed out on the 2020 NFR. “So, every ProRodeo Tour stop from here on out you need to do well at.”
Kirchenschlager is just inside the Top 15 in the world standings at 14th and 21st in the ProRodeo Tour standings, as he heads into a key stretch of the rodeo season. A couple of those key ProRodeo Tour stops are happening this week, with the Calgary Stampede and Pikes Peak or Bust Rodeo in Colorado Springs, Colo., underway.
“Those rodeos provide us with a great opportunity, there aren’t many rodeos that you can win $12,000 in one day at,” said Kirchenschlager, 28, referring to Pikes Peak or Bust. “So, anytime you have a chance to go to one of those or win one of those, it’s very helpful toward the end of the year.”
The pressure may be on for these two cowboys to return to the Silver State this winter, but for them, it’s business as usual and only worrying about what they can control.
“I’m taking it one horse at a time because there’s no sense in getting worked up over something you have no say in,” Broussard said. “Stick to what I know and what got us into this position.”
Courtesy of PRCA