Provides Big Opportunity for Young Bull Riders By Barbara Pinnella Photos by Katie Clouss So, you have a young child who tells you they want to be a bull rider. What do you do? Where do you go? Nobody can deny it’s a dangerous sport, so what is the next step for the justifiably nervous yet supportive parents? One option might be to check out the IMBA. That stands for the International Miniature BullRiders Association. In their own words they are, “An association dedicated to providing appropriate miniature bulls for youth with a fun family atmosphere.” At the helm of the organization as President is Tobie Olson. His son began riding mini bulls, so they went down that trail for a year or two, but there just wasn’t anything local to his area of Idaho. That was what ultimately got them into the promotion.
“I have been doing this for five years now,” Tobie told us. “This seems to be a vastly growing industry. We have always been about the quality of the stock for the riders. We want to make sure that the riders are getting on the right animal for their skill level. That’s the first thing of importance. “The second thing to consider is that our association is rapidly evolving. There are a lot of youth rodeos out there, but our focus is to do it in a professional way. We want the best riders on the best stock. Ultimately our goal is for the PBR or the PRCA actually keeping an eye on us and who we have coming out of our ring.” Tobie told us that he handles the day-to-day workings of the association, but it is one of the original founding fathers of the PBR and World Champion Bull Rider Cody Custer who is the CEO. His interest in youth bull riding did not happen last week, however. He had been closely tied to a couple of youth bull riding associations along the way since about 2005. “I have been a youth bull riding advocate for a lot of years,” Cody said. “But I had not really laid my name to any organizations. Last year the board members took over the IMBA. Many of the stock contractors are also board members and several of them reached out to me, and we had a lot of conversations. “I realized that their main priority was to take care of the kids, and grow these kids into real bull riders. So, after talking with these people and getting their ideas and concepts, I felt I needed to be a part of it. They wanted me to be on the board, but I really didn’t have time for that. “I told them that I would be an advisor. ‘Let’s just do it that way,’” I told them. “They came back after a couple of meetings and said, ‘How about we just call you the CEO? You can help us with public relations and sponsors and things like that, as well as being an advisor.’ I thought that would be great.” Cody made it clear that his voice in the association is not the be
Humps-Horns.com · 18 · June 2021
