Oh! Winning bareback ride ends with a thump

Schmidt hangs on for 8 seconds to repeat title

By Brad Byler , Special to the Rocky

Published January 28, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Photo by Javier Manzano © The Rocky

A police officer stands at attention for the Pledge of Allegiance on Sunday at the start of the National Western Stock Show Rodeo Finals at the Denver Coliseum. The 102nd annual event drew a crowd of 8,305.

Cleve Schmidt is allergic to horses, which is not such an unusual thing.

Unless you consider that he makes a living hanging on to horses for as long as he can.

Schmidt held on to a bucking horse named Grim Proof for eight seconds Sunday at the finals of the 102nd National Western Stock Show Rodeo before the horse sent him to a hard landing on the dirt floor of the arena at the Denver Coliseum, which drew a collective "Oh!" from the crowd of 8,305.

The landing aggravated an old hip injury and left Schmidt walking with a pronounced limp the rest of the day, but the South Dakota cowboy won the National Western's bareback riding title for the second straight year, taking home $14,719.40 for his pain.

"Winter rodeos usually treat me really good," Schmidt said. "A good start in Denver gives you a boost and extra confidence in yourself."

When Schmidt injured his hip for the first time eight years ago, a doctor told him he would never ride bareback again. But he shrugged off the pain after collecting a sparkling new belt buckle as a trophy Sunday.

"Anytime you nod your head into bareback riding, you're gonna get some kind of soreness," he said.

At 32, Schmidt is considered an old man in the rodeo business, and Sunday's winner's circle was proof that it's mostly a young man's sport.

Nineteen-year-old Spud Jones collected the bull riding title in his first trip to Denver. The lanky cowboy from New Mexico grinned from ear to ear after riding a feisty bull named Locomotion to victory in the final.

Jones had trailed 21-year-old Kanin Asay, of Powell, Wyo., in points heading into Sunday's final, but Asay was bucked off on his first ride after only two seconds. He was granted a re-ride after the judges determined that his bull had slipped coming out of the chute. His second ride lasted just more than four seconds, giving Jones his first victory.

"This is my first year at National Western, first win, first time everything here," said Jones, who collected $9,551.13 for winning the title. "I just tried to have fun out there and not think about anything else."

Jones had to successfully ride two bulls to qualify for Sunday's final, but he said Sunday's bull was definitely the toughest.

"Locomotion was the toughest bull I rode (at the National Western)," said Jones, who has twice broken his leg riding bulls.

The team roping competition was won by brothers Riley and Brady Minor of Ellensburg, Wash., who made up over two seconds on the leaders Sunday to capture the title. The National Western title gave the brothers three victories in their first three rodeos of the year.

"It's really good to get a good start on the year," said Brady, 23. "We've been real fortunate, and it worked out again today."

Samuel Kelts of Alberta received the biggest payout for winning the saddle bronc riding title. Kelts pocketed $16,396.49.

Attendance

* 673,449 people attended this year, up 3.67 percent over last year.

* 44,616 attended on opening day, the biggest crowd in the show's history.

The show also set a record for biggest single-day attendance, 68,610, set Jan. 19.

Overall attendance was second only to the record-setting centennial year of 2006, when 726,972 people attended.

• June 15, 2008

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