ProRodeo Athletes Make Cameos on Yellowstone
Fans of the hit TV show “Yellowstone” who also follow ProRodeo might have noticed several familiar faces during the rodeo scene in the episode that aired Aug. 2.
A few days after winning the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up in mid-September last year, bareback rider Tilden Hooper found himself in a different kind of spotlight during the filming of an episode of “Yellowstone” near Park City, Utah.
“It (the set of a TV show) is like a rodeo really,” said Hooper, who helped on the episode. “It takes a lot of different moving parts and people behind the scenes to produce what you see on TV or in the arena, so it’s pretty cool.”
Sid Steiner, the 2002 steer wrestling world champion, and his son Rocker are among the cast for Season 3, Episode 7, titled “The Beating.” But in the background and around the action fans are likely to notice some of ProRodeo’s top athletes in bareback riding and saddle bronc riding.
“The episode had a shot of Rocker Steiner riding bareback, and Sid, Bob and Joleen (Steiner) were there and involved with the storyline, so we happened to be around town, and Sid asked if we would help buck the horse,” Hooper said. “I ended up flanking the horse and helped Rocker out there. Kaycee Feild was there too helping do pickup, Cort Scheer was on the bucking chutes and made it in some shots, and Jake Finlay was there too. It was a handful of contestants who stopped and helped.”
Hooper is a six-time qualifier for the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo (2008-09, 2011, 2014 and 2018-19). Feild is a four-time world champion bareback rider (2011-14) and a 10-time NFR qualifier (2008-15, 2018-19). Scheer is a saddle bronc rider who has competed at the NFR six times (2010, 2012-15, 2018), and Australian saddle bronc rider Finlay is shooting for his first Wrangler NFR, sitting 17th in the PRCA | RAM World Standings as of Aug. 12.
“For the bucking scenes, they did all of those in one take, but there was a lot of stuff leading up to it that we did 20 takes of,” Hooper said. “But the riding part, they understood the danger there. That is what I noticed, they respected the bucking horses and made it as safe and as good as possible.”
As for a career in show business, Hooper hasn’t ruled it out.
“I’d love the opportunity to do something like that,” Hooper said. “It seems like back in the day it was an easy transition to go from competing in rodeos to acting or doing stunt work. It’s definitely something that interested me.”
“Yellowstone” airs on Paramount Network. It is also on NBC’s streaming service, Peacock Premium, and on Amazon Prime. It’s also available for purchase on various online entertainment stores.
“All the feedback has been positive, and in general the rodeo community likes seeing cowboys on a show like that since it’s authentic,” Hooper said. “They get on board with rodeo every chance they get and promoting the sport in every way they can. Those guys are gung-ho with rodeo, and it’s awesome to have a TV show or business like that in our corner rooting for us.”
Courtesy of PRCA