What makes a bull rider?
An early start with animals on the farm got Justin McBride on the path to two world championships

Didn't matter what it was either. Family dog. Shetland pony. Little calves. Dwarf bulls.

"Whatever I could get to hold still long enough to let me get on,” McBride said.

Years later, the only thing that's changed is the size of the animal.

McBride now rides 2,000-pound bulls, and he rides them better than anybody in the world. He has won the Professional Bull Riders' world championship two of the past three seasons, breaking all sorts of records for wins and earnings. He pushed his career earnings to nearly $5 million.

But for shoulder surgery sidelining him until this summer, including this weekend's Copenhagen Bull Riding Challengers Tour Championship in Oklahoma City, McBride would be building on his legend.

How did he manage to wrangle the world of bull riding?

McBride is part tough guy, part technician.

He has suffered too many injuries to count. The rods and pins and bolts in his body would be enough to start a hardware store, but he's ridden through hurt. Heartbreak, too. McBride came oh-so close before finally winning that first world title in 2005.

Then, there's the way he rides. At only 5-foot-8, 140 pounds, he has great balance but doesn't try to hold the bulls with his feet or muscle them around.

"He just kind of floats on top of 'em,” bull riding buddy J.W. Hart said.

Still, all of that doesn't tell the whole story. To understand how Justin McBride became the world's best bull rider, head west until you're almost to Texas, then go south out of Sayre until the paved roads become gravel. This is the area where his mother grew up, where his parents settled and he eventually followed.

Past the cattle pens and the sorting chutes, the unbridled horses and the tack room in the red corrugated metal barn, you'll find McBride on his ranch and in his element.

Then, you'll know — he was born to be a bull rider.

If you get bucked off, get right back on.

McBride's father would put both of his boys — Cooper and Justin — on the family's Shetland pony. A breed known for its mean streak, that horse would buck the boys off time and again. But every time, Jim McBride made them climb back on and try again.

"There wasn't any time for whining,” Lori McBride said.

That's the way the McBrides raised their boys. They had to be tough because that's how life was.

Jim worked as a hired hand on ranches tending cattle. The hours were long, the chores endless, the paychecks minimal.

When Justin was 7 years old, Jim moved the family from Texas to a ranch in the Nebraska panhandle. It was an hour's drive from the closest town and four hours from Rapid City, S.D. For a year, the boys attended a country school with only eight students. Justin rode his black and white Paint horse to school most days.

"I grew up in a really, really desolate, isolated place,” McBride said, "and a lot of people would think, ‘Oh, my God. That had to be so boring.'

"I loved it.”

McBride spent most of his free time with his dad. There was always something to do. Cows to feed. Fence to mend. Calves to brand.

His father might have been slim and small in stature, but McBride saw him as larger than life.

"I thought my dad was John Wayne,” McBride said, "and I followed him around everywhere all day every day.”

Along the way, he saw how hard his dad worked, the endless hours and the exhausting chores that come on a ranch. Hauling hay in the winter. Birthing calves in the snow. He saw, too, the way his dad went about his business.

Page 1 of 2

12Next

Show / Hide Comments

Sports Photo Galleriesview all

Oklahoma Sooners receivers from 1999-2002

Freshmen Curtis Fagan, Damian Mackey, Antwone Savage, Trent Smith...

16 photos

Thunder vs. Lakers Game 5

View pictures from Game 5 of the NBA playoffs between the Thunder...

55 photos

OU v Oregon State softball

See photos from OU's win in the NCAA softball regional

13 photos

Thunder vs. Lakers Game 4

View pictures from Game 4 of the NBA playoffs between the Thunder...

36 photos

Page 1 of 5

Prev 1 2 3 4 5 Next