All BULL

story by Anne Beaty | photos by Kristy Reimer

For Airdrie’s Joe Messina, any day on the back of a bucking bull is a g’day. Messina, who hails from Burra, New South Wales, Australia, has been calling Airdrie home for the past couple of years, ever since he headed halfway around the world to pursue his passion for bull riding and ultimately set up his business, Fantasy Adventure Bull Riding Ltd.

Raised on a hobby farm with a bit of livestock, Messina, 32, says he had an interest in bull riding since he was knee-high to a grasshopper. “For as long as I can remember I was always … passionate about the sport of bull riding,” he says.

His first forays into that wild world as a child were on the back of sheep. At age 14, he tried riding his first steer. “I lasted about three jumps and hit the ground,” Messina says. The rude awakening didn’t deter him; rather, he was hooked and even more determined to become a professional bull rider. Even though a good part of the sport can be spent facedown in the dirt, Messina’s enthusiasm never waned. “It’s the biggest adrenaline rush you’ll ever encounter in your life,” he says.

When he was in his early 20s, Messina decided to head overseas and his journey took him to Europe, where he met a girl from Calgary. He was on his way to Texas to compete, so he told her that if he won some money, he’d come up to see her in Canada.

As a result, he ended up in Calgary in 2000 and took a real fancy to the area. “I fell in love with it, I guess – the cowboy culture,” he says. “That was the drawing card.”

The next few years were punctuated by back-and-forth trips from Australia, visa applications and bull-riding competitions around Canada and the U.S. Ultimately, Messina applied for permanent resident status and moved to Airdrie three years ago.

The idea for his business arose when he took a paragliding course, just to meet people and try something new. “I’ll never forget it,” he says. The course participants were a diverse group, ranging in age from 18 to 60, but most were there to live their dream, to experience something special and unique. That gave Messina an idea.

“Sitting there I kind of just got this bit of a brainwave,” he says. “I thought, I wonder if people would pay me to get on a bull.”

That idea set him on a path of researching and creating a business plan, drawing on the business degree he had earned some years earlier. In May 2008, after retiring from competition, he opened Fantasy Adventure Bull Riding, which is located just west of Airdrie at Girletz Rodeo Ranch.

The concept is that participants are introduced to the sport, from its history to the equipment needed to the specially bred and raised bulls used. Then the students have the opportunity to not only try their luck on a mechanical bull, but to also actually get on the back of a real one in the pen.

Messina’s very first class comprised mostly friends and family, who were all blown away by the experience. “Everyone just said, ‘Wow, what an amazing product you have here,’” he says.

Now heading into his third year, Messina has put 620 people through his class and not one, he says, has been disappointed. “People just absolutely love it,” he says. It’s a very diverse market – he’s even had a 65-year-old woman in class and, he adds with a chuckle, “the girls always do so much better than the guys.”

While Messina would like to expand his business to Australia, that market is a bit more of a challenge. “It’s a completely different culture. You don’t sort of walk down the main street of Sydney and see a cowboy in boots and a cowboy hat,” he says. “We do have some really, really good cowboys in Australia … but [rodeo] is just not as big.”

In fact, when he has explained what he is doing in Canada, he has met with a disbelieving response. “They think you’re taking a mickey out of them,” he laughs.

Nonetheless, Messina is definitely looking at franchising the business and, despite the initial response Down Under, he hopes to be operating out of Sydney in short order. He’s already building what he calls “strategic alliances” here in Alberta and he’d love to ‘go mobile’ with the PBR (Professional Bull Riders) organization.

“I’m the only person in the world who offers this type of experience,” he says.

While business is thriving and has proved highly fulfilling for the former bull rider, Messina does admit that he misses the competition. He has sustained serious back problems from his years on the bulls and he knew that he had to retire when he did, but it was a tough decision. “I guess I didn’t really finish on my terms,” he says, “[but] sometimes you’ve got to go with the plan you’re given.”

That plan includes spending the summer in Airdrie and heading back to Australia when the season is over. “I don’t do very well in the winter, so my ultimate plan is to sort of stay here … from about April to November,” he says. Come late fall he’ll be off south of the equator to bask in the sunshine. “The boots and the hats and the buckles go back in the cupboard,” he says, “and the shorts … come out.”

The multi-hemispheric lifestyle may not be for everyone, but Messina is content with the way his life is unfolding. While he plans to keep his home in Airdrie, he would eventually like to get some land in Australia close to the beach “where I can raise my bulls and surf,” he says.

In the meantime, his busy summer schedule is set and he is even pursuing another long-time interest – guitar. “I’ve wanted to [play] for 30 years and I finally picked it up last Christmas,” he says. life more life online

Bull Riding 101 with Joe at www.airdrielife.com

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