ryan dirteater Bids Bull Riding Farewell By Barbara Pinnella
Oklahoma native Ryan Dirteater made his 12th appearance at the PBR World Finals in 2020, but getting to see him compete was bittersweet for his many fans. According to Ryan, this would be his last year riding bulls. He made that decision a long time ago, saying that he would stop riding when he was 30 years of age, and he is now 31. Only three weeks had passed when Humps N Horns Bull Riding Magazine spoke with The Cherokee Kid, and we wondered if the reality of retirement had actually set in yet.
“The bull riding I’m at peace with. It’s the locker room, and all your buddies, and all that. The PBR employees-I’ve made friends with a lot of the employees-seeing the fans. That’s the hard part. All the locker room comraderie.”
“Sometimes it does,” he replied. “To be honest with you, I don’t think it will really hit me until the new year, because this is really my off season. Come January we are normally going to New York, so I really don’t think it’s gonna hit me until then. Then I’ll be itching to go.
“I could never find that feeling I was looking for. I would ride bulls here and there, but I did fall off the last few TV events; I think I fell off five or six in a row before I finally stayed on one. I was getting on practice bulls each week, and I would ride one here and there. I might fall off a practice bull, but I was getting on pretty good stuff at the time. But I was inconsistent.”
Leading up to those 2020 Finals, Ryan was getting on bulls after coming back from injuries, but he admitted that he just never felt right.
Here is his description of what his last Finals appearance felt like to him. “At the PBR Finals I fell off my first one, then I picked the bull Bezerk. I had ridden him twice before, so my confidence getting on that bull was through the roof. I rode him, but I didn’t feel like I was 100% in control of it. It felt like a struggle getting to the eight seconds. I was like, ‘Dang it!’ “The next bull I get on, (Payin Debts), I had seen him at Sioux Falls and knew he was an outstanding bull. I scored him really well. It just seemed like when I nodded my head, I felt perfect. That feeling that I was looking for those two or three months was right there. “Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. I was 91 points for my last bull ride, and that’s a feeling that a bull rider looks for when he nods his head. Even though I fell off Big Black and Smooth Operator – Smooth Operator winning World Champion Bucking Bull AGAIN – there’s no shame in falling off of either one of them.” Photo by Phillip Kitts / Avid Visual Imagery
A huge disappointment for Dirteater this year was not
Humps-Horns.com · 18 · February 2021
