Small rider, big score: Bownds ensures lack of size isn’t issue
Cierra Smith is the 13-year-old who sang the national anthem before Tuesday’s sixth go-round of the National Finals Rodeo.
She stands about 5 feet, 3 inches and looks like she could be older than bull rider Chandler Bownds, who looks much younger than his 20 years.
While Bownds can’t sing, Smith certainly can’t ride 1,200-pound bucking bulls.
And it doesn’t matter to Bownds — and apparently not the bulls — that his 5-foot frame carries what he insists is 125 pounds, though many in rodeo question that figure.
His diminutive stature ranks him the smallest Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association contestant in the NFR. He’s even shorter than most of the female barrel racers.
But what can’t be calculated with a tape measure or scale are character traits such as heart and toughness. Were those qualities quantified, the bull rider from Lubbock, Texas, would fall on the highest of the spectrum.
"I don’t think my size matters. That’s just people talkin’," he said.
"They know I’m here, and the bulls don’t care."
The 17,277 fans at the Thomas & Mack knew he was there Tuesday when he won his second go-round of the NFR by completing his eight-second ride on Sutton Rodeo’s Crystal Springs Peach with a score of 89 points.
In addition, Bownds was named PRCA bull riding rookie of the year on Tuesday.
"I had a good bull he came around left to start and then went back around to the right," said Bownds, whose 91-point winning ride in the second go-round is the event’s highest score thus far.
"He hung me out there at the end, and I had a bad get-off, and he threw me over his outside shoulder."
The bull didn’t injure its shoulder. Bownds, however, wasn’t as lucky.
After dismounting Tuesday, the bull saw a target it couldn’t refuse.
Bownds caught a horn in the buttocks.
He spent about an hour getting treated in the Justin Sportsmedicine room but didn’t back away from an interview, although back away might not be the best verbiage.
"Yeah, he got me and I’ve got a big old hematoma on my butt," he said. "It’s a big bruise, but it won’t bother me (today).
"(Bullfighter Darrell Diefenbach) stepped in there and took a hooking. The bull got me and Darrell both.
"I’ll keep riding. It’s just a popped blood vessel."
Bownds plans to put the injury — what is called an "ivory enema" in rodeo jargon — behind him and would not rule out a chance of winning again tonight.
And two buckles is not enough for him.
"I plan on winning four or five (gold) buckles before I leave here," he said with the confidence of a giant.
He was not second-guessing his plan for good reason.
Through six rounds, Bownds has earned $35,769, which is about half what he won during the regular season.
He probably couldn’t be paid to ride a bicycle today, but he won’t back down from riding a bull, especially when there’s another $17,884 awaiting the winner.
Jeff Wolf is a freelance reporter. He can be reached at (702) 406-8165 or nitrorodeo@gmail.com.
