This Isn't Donny Proffit's First Rodeo

Settle in for a wild ride with one of the nicest, humblest bronc riders you'll ever meet because in this episode we're talking rodeo with Wyoming's up-and-coming bareback rider, Donny Proffit. Yee haw!

Transcript

Authentic Wyoming
February 26, 2024 
Donny Proffit

This transcript was generated automatically using speech-to-text technology. The accuracy may vary in spots.

Hi, I'm Myra. And I'm Tressa. We are fancy marketing people with Union, a Wyoming-based telecommunication company. Yes, Wyoming really does exist. We proudly serve the Rocky Mountain region. 

On this podcast, we will feature businesses, organizations, non-profits, and influential people from Utah, Colorado, and Wyoming.

 Our mission is to highlight those who inspire their communities daily. We believe this makes us truly authentic because a journey of a thousand miles always begins with a single step.

 Ye hey, ye. Where's that? I don't know. Yeah. A minute ago I was thinking sundown about the good to Metallica. I don't know what's happening to me. Doing all right? I was like the. That's our guest. He's inspired me in you getting in the cowboy theme. Is that what that is? Yeah. Well, our guess that we'll get to in a minute.

He, like, is not from the South, but he totally has this accent. And I get Twain year and Twain gear. The more I talk to him. So I'm very nervous. I don't know what might come out. We'll see. Yeah, we can understand it. Yeah, I don't. The last episode, we recorded my accent, I guess, was really... And then I don't know what's going to happen.

 Yeah, cause you said white chili. Yeah, And he heard wild, wild chicken. Chicken chili. I didn't even. I was doing it. It was what? It was. Chicken chili. yeah, Yeah. yeah. Wild, wild chicken chili. Yeah. And I called Blake immediately after that episode and was like, listen. And he's laughed and laughed and said, Now we're going to call it wild to conceal.

 I like it. And I do it a little. Like to try it, though, so keep me in my next time. Yeah. I didn't make, like, a big batch. Yeah, that's got to be great. So what's been going on in your life lately? Well, I'm still pregnant. Still? Yeah, but it's looking great, though. Yeah, it's still happening. I'm still here.

 Eternity is going on forever. I don't know. I feel like I'm a busy person. I just. I don't know. I go everywhere, and I rarely just say no, you know? And I go everywhere with my daughter. And then I go everywhere with, you know, Blake and I feel like since I became pregnant, I was like, I'm just going to go everywhere.

 I mean, like, everywhere. Yeah. And I think there was a stint where I might have been home one weekend out of three months. Why? What am I thinking? You know, but I did buy tickets a year in advance to this punk rock emo millennial gay festival called When We Were Young in Vegas. But I. I bought the tickets a year ago with Catherine and Catherine as our mutual friend and colleague.

 So yea. Catherine And we wanted a sibling quantity too. And little did I know my life would unfold the way it was. So anywho that was not long ago. And I went like seven months pregnant and 95 degree heat in Vegas. How was it worth? It was miserable. Miserable? Yeah. I mean, it was fun and miserable in the same moment.

 Yeah. Yeah. So I'm like, this is why I don't plan things. Usually when I go on a trip, I book it, like two weeks. Yeah, two weeks in advance. I literally trip to Italy in two weeks. I was like, I'm just going to Italy, you know? And Hey, Tressa, by the way. Yeah. You're like, Hey, can I have some days off?

 Because I just booked a trip? Yeah, it's only two weeks away, but surprise, I never leave. I never take time off. But when I do, it's like, See you tomorrow. Don't you don't call me. So, yeah, I don't know. I think I learned the lesson. Yeah. I mean, they taught everybody tickets a year in advance. I think that's too much for me and know they festivals a lot.

 Yeah, would be a lot for me. I think if I even if I wasn't pregnant, I think it was a lot. I don't know. I'm not as young as I thought I was. Yeah. In my heart, for all my 95 years out there, we're like really close to 30. So I don't know. It's like, I don't really know if this is what I should be doing right now.

 Yeah, I could feel it. You can feel it? Yeah. Yeah. I struggled. It was really hard. And then I just wanted shade and food and like, normal people things. Yeah. A 28-year-old telling a 51 year old. I'm sorry. I don't know. My. Come on, toughen up. I'm tough. But, God, that beast that beat me, it felt like it felt like all 12 days of frontier days in one day.

 Yeah, that's the best way to explain it. Yeah. There you go. Where you're, like, sleeping forever. An eternity on concrete and it's hot. And then you're listening to music. There's music thrown in there, and then there's bad food and thrown in there, you know, and like, street food and. Yeah, that's it. That's it. That's way to explain it.

 Like all told days in one like that is brutal. Yeah. But I did see one country two. Well good. Yeah. I hope it was worth it. Yeah. And then they announced they're coming to Utah, so that was kind of stupid. I could've drove 2 hours and I'd like to be in an indoor arena. Yeah. yeah. Income for.

 Yeah, and chemo. But it was worth it. Yes. Yes. Yeah. Well, cool. Well, we're ready to talk to our guests today. Speaking of Frontier Days, we met Donnie Profit at Frontier Days. This year. He is a bareback rider from the state of Wyoming. He lives in Kemmerer Diamondville. Whatever one or either way, change of right? Yeah. Yeah, it's kind of crazy.

 There's like two different little towns there, but, like, you can't even tell which one is what for. And when they announce Diamond Vail, people are like, Where is that? Yeah. Then the ones who know where Cameron is, it's that's few in numbers anyway, but no one knows where. Diamond villages seem like. Yeah. So yeah. So we asked Donnie to come on and just talk to us about rodeo in general and you rodeo for the U.S University of Wyoming for four years.

 Yep. Four years. Qualified to the Sienna for all four years. But COVID hit my freshman year, so I got canceled. Yeah. Like everybody else was like, Yeah, yeah, we'll kind of stop for a second. Yeah. Yeah. So now that that is ending, you're going to go professional, is that correct? Yeah. So this past year, 2023, that was my rookie year, so I kind of got my toes wet there, went to roughly 90 rodeos, so I went to a lot, hopefully get a little some more in there, hit more those winner rodeos a year now that I won't be having to fly back and forth to Laramie going back schools march.

 So I'm excited. I'm feeling confident and healthy get good at this challenge I'm sure yeah I can't yeah I like they threw in the healthy you're like I'm pretty good. Yeah You're wild chicken, silly. That's how good you are. So what made you get into this bike? I've never woke up and thought, this is going to be I mean, there's a lot of women that did that, I guess.

 But anyhow, you know, I don't know anyone that said this is my destiny. Like, what made like to get out in a wild animal? Yeah. Like, let's just go. Do I mean, okay, Yeah. You live in a different environment. It also didn't grow up. Yeah. In that setting. But I grew up on a ranch. My dad had bareback horses for a long time, too, so kind of followed in his footsteps in that aspect.

 Growing up, I always wanted to be a bull rider. You know, you watch 8 seconds once, everyone wants to be a bull rider. And I tried that for a really long time. It wasn't until my sophomore year of college I kind of decided I'd had enough that started beating me up, and I wasn't riding them nearly consistent enough.

 I didn't feel like. So I just went straight back riding. So how do you, like, train for this? besides just torturing yourself or is that really. Well, yeah. I mean, nothing's going to feel like a real horseback and under. Yeah, yeah, there's. We have some stationary stuff just working on your spare stroke and quickness and stuff like that.

 Repetition. If you do something enough times a little, you can do it faster, you know, just like any other sport. But a big, big jag of it, a lot of bareback riders especially tend to work out a lot, try to keep their body in good condition, and I should probably do a little better job with that. But is it like a lot?

 Of course. It's got to be a lot of core strength, right? yeah. It's a lot of core strength. Shoulders are big thing. You see guys get their shoulders tore up pretty regular. Yeah. Core strength and quickness. That's kind of it. As far as athletic ability, I guess. So what's the progression? I mean, as you are like a youth, like do they start you out on I mean, I'm really dumb, but with ponies, I don't know how this stuff works, right?

 So like, you think about where they do the mutton busting at some of the rodeos, like what's the trajectory? How do you actually graduate into, you know, being on an actual full-sized animal? Yeah. So I started out riding sheep during the mountain bison thing. And back then my dad was still riding back and horses some. So it's one of those things we can now both go and compete is kind of cool.

 But, you know, as I got older, I didn't really do the ponies as much. I have broken ponies, but they're so rapid and fast and you see a lot of those kids that are doing that growing up and their bodies get beat up and they they don't learn as much technique going that route. A lot of bareback riders typically start in like high school where their bodies kind of grow up enough.

 They can kind of handle the power and grow up mentally especially. But I rode cows, mini bulls, big bulls. And then then I started getting on bucking horses. I think I was a junior when I got on my first bareback horse and I got on broncs when I was like a sophomore and started getting on broncs and but my dad wanted to hold me back, make sure I was strong enough and, and had the mentality to kind of take the fight to, I guess.

 Yeah. So, I mean, a lot of it is the mental state like them and the mental drive behind it. How do you how do you train for that? Like how do you prepare yourself? that's a that's a tough question. I guess for me it was it was easy for me to transfer my wrestling background, the mentality of threat.

With wrestling, you're out there by yourself. That can be scary for a lot of people. They'll have a team to depend on and that aspect of of being aggressive and and physical and that kind of just transferred over into the bareback ride. And once I figured that out, that's when that kind of baby riding ability went like I grew a lot that those days when I first got it figured out that way.

I was probably a freshman in college before I figured that part out fully. Okay, so it sounds like one of your biggest mentors. Was your dad, right? It sounds like you learned a lot from him. Yeah, more so on the mental side of things, just because, I mean, he my wrestling coach and stuff growing up and so and he rode back and horses and wrestled and did all those things.

 So he kind of had a pretty good grasp on what the mentality should look like. And yeah, when you're around a coach 24 seven, I guess you kind of pick up some things. Yeah, he never turned it off. Yeah, Yeah. Because he always in coaching mode. Girls with working cows too. Yeah I that's. That's your life now. Yeah, this is my life.

 Yeah. I think it's really cool because I. I love mental endurance. I think that's, like, the best thing in the world. I mean, I'm all about, like, the physical body and training the body, but training the mind is such a skill and it takes someone just really having to look so inward and to just stay focused and to really build that toughness like that doesn't just come.

 I mean, it does come natural some to some, but you have to really, really, really exercise that to get everyone the fear to the outcome. How do you you know, the horse can feel it, the animals can feel it. They know what you're thinking. They can feel your fear, you know, So like you're working with two live creatures, you know, it's not like, you know, a barbells normal.

 I mean, I guess without I could really go down a rabbit hole about the barbell loss. But anywho the horse is an animal, you know, like he's got a heart. It has, you know, So when you're connecting with them and like, they. I don't know. It's like this. The horse want you to win. Do they want to?

 You know, they don't know who's winning or not, but it's like they have one job and you have one job and how do you connect? But you really need to work together. Like you need this horse to be on your side. Yeah, I need the horse to perform as well as it can for me to be. Yeah, as many points as possible.

 And I don't know what the live animal horse I was, you know, raised on a ranch and deal with horses day in and day out. So I think that was something also that really helped me because you have to be when you're putting your egg in an animal, especially young horse, where they're kind of not used to the bark and shoots and and the noise and all all the stuff happening.

 You have to be pretty quiet and easy. And then to have that be able to flip that switch when you nod your head and just be aggressive like it's and the last thing I want something happening in the shoot. To me that's scariest place to me is you're surrounded by still holding my breath. I can't. Yeah. For those who don't know and listener land our box at CFD, we get to see behind the shoots and it's really cool and really scary all at the same moment.

 Like there's my heart stops more then sometimes than when the gates open and or the chute opens. And it, you know, now, when a horse freaks out or tries to flip up a match. Yeah, they have a rope on the neck tied to the outside, a shoe where someone can hold the horse from bearing all the way over.

 But sometimes it slips. I mean, they're strong animals, you know? And there's some things you can do to help minimize that. Mostly it's just being quiet and easy and. And understanding that the animal itself. I guess so, yeah. So, like, I love what Myra is talking about. Like your your state of mind and your energy as you're getting on the horses is invaluable.

 Then you're saying, like, if you're calm, then the animal will be calmer, right? So have you been around other riders who have like a higher level anxiety or don't feel as confident? And do you see that impact the performance? yeah. I mean, you have to kind of have your mind made up for you get in there, but you're going to go out there and do your job to the best of your ability and for me, it's I just tell myself fast feet and be aggressive because if you do those two things, it typically works out pretty well for you.

 Fast feet. Yeah, I get way. No feedback on them. Yeah you're like booting it out. Yeah. Otherwise I do start really yanking on a guy. Yeah. If you're a little behind on, they let you know. Yeah. Can you talk a little bit about how scoring works for both the rider in the horse? Yeah. So there's 50 points that can be given to the rider or the horse.

 There's two judges. They both judge the rider and the horse, one on each side. And so the judges are looking for as far as the animal is concerned, jumping up in the air, kicking out fully in degree difficulty. And then for the riders, it's, you know, fast feats. One of the things but exposure, bringing your leg, your feet out away from the horse and setting them back in the neck and controlling your upper body not being all over the place.

 So there's kind of a lot to watch. And the 8 seconds and, you know, everyone cusses the judges, but it is a tough job and I wouldn't want that job. Yeah, Yeah, I bet it would be a tough job. And these horses are bred specifically to do this. yeah. Yeah. There've been a lot of them, generations and generations of horses that have been bred that way.

 You know, you can't make them buck. And especially the way the way that they bark. I mean, if you get on a colt with a cold back in a box, it's not the same. They usually are doing a little more running and bucking. But a and everyone thinks a flying strap makes them back. And that's just not it helps them kick out.

 I guess it kind of tickles them a little bit around the flank. But now I've seen horses, like the really great horses. That flank might come off and they'll perform the exact same and it's pretty impressive to watch. But then there's things like the rider can do to help these horses back, like we call it picking them up.

 So you kind of drag and try to almost pull the front end of the horse off the ground, slows them up a little bit and can increase their chances of getting a good score. That's good to know, because, yeah, I was one of those people who assumed that the flank strap was what caused the animal to buck. But that really has no not much relevancy now.

 And they're they're bred to bark and then they're kind of taught how to do it, I guess. So I have the opportunity in Laramie, great contractor, Summit Pro Rodeo, JD Hamacher. I've got to go out there while they dummy back colt. So they have like this little boxing. It goes on their back and it starts like flank and they turn that horse out and they let it back for a few seconds and hit a button and it pops and releases that off of them.

 And they do that a handful of times. But that's more to for them to have something on them to feel like what that feels like. Yeah. And they can kind of go through their horses and be like, well, this one just doesn't have it. And, you know, I might find their home somewhere else. Who knows? Yeah. Are you in a you know, they might start, they might use a pick up on a lot of them.

 Yeah. Pick up man. yeah. They ride a lot of bucking horse, rejects a lot of that's cool. I love that pickup group C of D, the pickup, whoever you are sister. Yeah. And all of them. Yeah, I know the guys, the woman and their horses. Like last year, my first year at CFD and watching the pickup men's horses and the girls horse, she went, she'd get all the equipment that came off of the riders stuff like straps, like straps and stuff.

 Yeah. And those horses are like, trained so well, It's like they turn on a dime, they stop on a dime. I imagine it's mesmerized me. So this is the most controlled thing I've ever seen in my life. Controlled chaos. Yeah, it is. Yeah. I just like it when they start within the ropes around. And the bulls are like, you know, like, you mean business?

 Okay, okay. Yeah, like we personify them or I don't. I give them personality, so. And yeah, good pickup men are, you know you're replaceable like they're. Yeah. You feel a lot safer when you know the guy out there can give you a hand if you get in a tight spot. Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Do you. I mean, some people who do athletics are a little superstitious.

 Do you have any superstitions or like, a ritual that you do before you ride? kind of, I guess. I always tie my left boot on first. Okay. And so I do that for I get on, I squat, slap the insides of my legs, kind of like my switch. So I guess I have some things I wouldn't say.

 It's superstition. Like if I didn't do it that way, it wouldn't affect me. But more like just. It's just habit. Yeah. Yeah. You know, I tape up for roughly 45 minutes for the rodeo. Starts between 30 and 45 minutes. So, yeah, some things that I like to do the same, you know, just it's like any other sport. You do things the exact same.

So you're, you know, ritual before you get on. Everything's lined up the way you want it to be, I guess. Yeah. Kind of keeps it consistent. Yeah. Yeah. Do you ever get paired with a horse so. Or like, do you, like, keep one or this is your horse? no, never. Or we are. So we find out what we draw typically two or three days before the rodeo.

 So that's okay. Yeah. So, and sometimes it's even longer. It depends on the size of the rodeo and stuff like that, and sometimes it's shorter. I just got back from Indianapolis and we didn't know what we had drawn until 3 hours for a purse. So some areas are a little different in how they do things. It's really nice to know what you have because if you draw something that, you know, typically you're not going to be 80 points or more on.

 There's a good chance you're not going to get a check about any rodeo anymore. So you kind of you don't want to spend a whole lot of money to get to something that, you know, you just wasted all that money to get there. And you still have to pay your entry fees regardless and your turn out fine.

 But yeah, it's so we know like and I'm going to Vegas and Brawley, California this weekend and so I'll find out what I draw tomorrow. Okay. Okay. See if I want to go to both or one or so then do you look at the stats of the. Yes. Okay. They have stat stocks that sometimes are a little not right like they they miss out or something or are late getting them up.

 But yeah that's a big you can see who got on them where how many points and then you can go find that guy, you know Instagram account or Facebook and go see if you can find that video, that horse and decide if it's good or not. I guess it's kind of like rewatching plays like of like I think about football, you know, it's kind of like, yeah, you're studying film.

 Yeah, exactly. So that's what I meant. Film. Like, there's a word for this and it's just left my bad. Yeah. Like where you're studying film or where you're. Yeah, it's similar to that. Or thinking of another like in wrestling you, when you start figuring out your opponent and yeah, you've heard, think about it, you know, you don't have as much time to think about it.

 But yeah, and there's a point to where you don't want to think about it too much. You know, you don't want to be in your head too much about what you have and if you should go or not. Like typically I'm going to go get all them. Like it has to be pretty bad for me not to. But yeah, it's a blessing and a curse sometimes, I guess.

 Yeah. So you said something when we first started. About right now you're feeling really good and you're in good health. I'm sure throughout your career you've had some injuries and some setbacks because I don't know if in that line of work it's not if it's when you might have an injury, Right. How do you handle that and what kind of things have happened to you in the past and how do you like what drives you to continue after those types of things happen?

 Yeah, luckily I haven't had anything super serious. My most recent semi-serious one was a come off a horse in Colorado Springs at the Nevada Open and not got knocked out and separated my collarbone on my free arm side. But I took a day off and then I was at another area the next day. So it's you kind of have to just forget about it after it happens.

 I mean, holding on to it's not going to be any good. And then I was to college finals one year and got my leg smashed and the shoe horse came out of the shoe land and jump back into it. And I hit me right on the thigh. And I had a pretty bad blood contusion. And it they said it was like that turn it calcified, I guess turned into bone, basically my thigh.

 Luckily, that hasn't affected me much that year. It did. I couldn't bend my leg till about middle of July, so and I still trying to go get on and thinking that I could be tough for 8 seconds and that year I kind of learned where to draw the line. Like if it's going to affect my performance, I'm wasting money.

 I shouldn't be going to getting on, stay home, get right. Yeah, but there's other things like, yeah, you're going to be dinged up and saw a lot. Like, you have to just get tough about it sometimes. Yeah. Yeah. A lot of Epsom salt baths. Yeah. Baths. Yeah. Yeah. I start. Yeah, maybe both massage. I don't know. What do you do?

 That kind of stuff. I was kind of we did some I spent like, yeah, I got really big this year so yeah, a lot of guys were doing it. Not so much sitting in a cold tub and finding a cold lake or something, or even in the Wyoming one. Yeah, I found the stream and there were some pretty cold lake.

 So I was up in Laramie and a bunch of us went up to lake in those mountains back there, and there's a glacier sitting right above it, you know. So that one was cold, though. yeah. The natural ice bath. Yeah, I really like the cold. So yeah, that is the mineralized. Yeah. I like your theories. Forget the freezers that people are buying and jumping in and it's way cheaper this way.

 Yeah. So we're getting ready to wrap up, but I wanted to ask this for sure. Like, what does rodeo mean to you and why do you think it's important that Rodeo continues on? What does it bring to our communities, our livelihood? For me right now, I mean, it's it's all I've ever wanted to do. I guess it's all I've since I can remember, I've always I knew I wanted to rodeo, whether it's riding bulls or whatever.

 And it's it's a really unique way of life. We're not like most pro athletes. We don't sign a contract and get paid. We have to show up to the rodeo and win to make money. And I think that's that's cool aspect of it. And that's why you see a lot of guys right and hurt and stuff is because they don't ride and they don't win and they don't get paid.

 Yeah, and I it's really cool. The Heritage Heritage too and with the cowboy channel now there's been a lot more fans around the rodeo you're seeing increases in pay out so I think rodeos it's futures looking pretty good right now. Right now, the rookie class of bareback riders, especially about saddle bronc and bull riding, is pretty similar.

The number one guy in the world right now going into the NFR, Keenan Hayes, he's a rookie this year and he just set a new season's earning record. Like, that's the kind of guys that are going to be around for a while. Yeah, Yeah. And so it's it's been really exciting and cool to see all us rookies doing so well.

 Yeah, Yeah. I think it's interesting what the Cowboy channel. I have seen a lot of growth, right? Yeah. In the sport and a lot more recognition, which I think is great. Yeah. I feel like even in our communities, parents are really trying to reshape the way rodeo is structured at the high school level too. I mean, you're seeing I know there's always been clubs and things and activities, but it seems like it's more of a push to try to get more kids involved or to get it more localized instead of people having to maybe go to Idaho or go into other states.

 Do it. Yeah, and a lot of that stuff I think is great and needs to be pushed. And I think I think the people doing that, that they're doing it. But and then you're seeing things like Break we're open now is really big and there wasn't a it wasn't in rodeo that long five years ago I think when that really started getting in there and getting big.

 And so it's they're adding another event. And so it's just it's cool to see that kind of stuff going on. yeah, I think it's a great way of life and the people you meet through rodeo, that's how I've met most of my best friends through rodeo, great people, people. And I call if I was in a bind 10 hours away and needed help, you know, they'd be there.

 Yeah. So that's the really cool thing. It's such a tight-knit family, I guess, And you kind of I wouldn't say, you know, everyone, but you, you know, a lot of them, I guess a lot of the people in your job. So is the ultimate goal or like the Super Bowl staged the rodeo, The NFR? Yeah, that is we call it the World Series.

 Okay. So, yeah, that's that's my goal. This next year. I ended up 36th in the world this year, Not where I wanted to be, but not bad. Yeah, I know. Have I. That's not too shabby. I mean, I get it. Yeah, but I. You know how it is. Yeah. I can always do better. Could always no worse world now, Donny.

 Okay. Yeah, I get it. So what, where do we need to have in 2024 to identify top 15? Top 15. All right, we got you. All right, so, listeners, ladies, whoever is out there, put the good juju out for Donny. Yeah. Awesome. Well, before we end, how do you stay authentic? How do I stay authentic? I don't know.

 I guess I always end up going back home and helping my dad on the ranch. And we do things a little old-school way. I guess. We don't really believe in four-wheelers and motorcycles. We ride horses and. And we trailer cows from Kemmerer to Bridger Valley every year. We're fixing to do it again in November after Thanksgiving.

 So that'll be fun. So I guess that's how I say authentic. Go back home and be a cowboy for a while. Yeah, I love it. I do. Yeah. It's. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you, Don. I really appreciate you being on the podcast today. Thanks for having me. Yeah, thanks. 

Until next time…

Stay authentic.