What It’s Really Like to Be a World Champion Bull Rider: The Million Dollar Cowboy Tells All

When it comes to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, there’s one timed event that really grabs people’s attention. When it comes on, fans know they’re in for a wild ride. It’s an eight second fix for thrill-seekers. It’s the consistent winning category for the High Flyin’ Awards.

Bull riding.

RodeoHouston draws the best riders year after year. PaperCity sat down with a champion bull rider to learn more about the grueling sport and get some sage wisdom.

Sage Steele Kimzey finds bull riding like a fine-tuned dance.

“That is one thing a lot of people don’t understand about bull riding,” the 23-year-old cowboy tells PaperCity. “People think it’s a big macho thing, mano-a-mano, man vs. bull.”

This Rodeo cowboy knows better. “It’s like, man, you’re a 150-pound man vs. an 1,800-pound bull. You’re never going to outmuscle it,” Kimzey says.

When it’s done correctly, “you’re in time with the bull, matching him move to move,” Kimzey notes.

Kimzey’s bull riding career looks like a nonstop highlights reel. The cowboy is the first to ever win a million dollars in a regular season. He’s the first to win four straight NFR World titles, starting with his rookie year.

His secret to success is simple. “Win at all costs,” Kimzey laughs.

It’s a different kind of sport, he adds, one where you have to get comfortable with failure.

“It’s a lot like baseball. If we buck off half the time, we’re still one of the best in the world,” Kimzey says. His tactic is gaining that comfort with failure while still striving for perfection.

With four Gold Buckles under his belt, “it’s crazy to look back on my career,” Kimzey says. “It feels like last year I was here when I was 19 in my rookie year, just a starstruck little kid.”

But it’s a bit early to look in hindsight just yet, even though his entire life has been building up toward it.

“I got on my first sheep and calf when I was three or four. I got on my first big bull when I was 14 or 15,” Kimzey says.

He wouldn’t exactly call it scary. “It’s a little intimidating, but it’s just like anything,” Kimzey says. “The more you do it, the more you become comfortable with it. The fear just kind of turns into getting ready for the event.”

Preparation involves turning his brain off, clearing his mind. And more than a little ballistic stretching to keep his muscles flexible and pliable.

“I want to bend but not break,” Kimzey says. The cowboy can prep with bucking machines or drop barrels, but no equipment precisely mimics the “forward movement. That’s where all the power of the bull comes from. It’s really hard to counteract that without trial and error.”

It may be hard, but Sage Steele Kimzey does it again and again. “Every second of every day of my life all I dreamed about was being a world champion,” he says. “As I got older, the bigger the dream got, the more romantic the moment became for me.”

That includes RodeoHouston wins. His favorite memory? “The first year that I won it. It was 93 points,” Kimzey says. “That was one of my favorite bull rides.”