ProRodeo Sports News - April 17, 2020

07) and was selected to work the Wrangler National Finals Rodeo a record 14 times (1992-2004 and 2006). He retired in 2011 after his 19th appearance at the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up. “I’ve never seen anybody as smooth as Joe Baumgartner,” Moffatt said. “You weren’t just a bullfighter back then, you showed with the crew and worked your butt off. When Joe laced his cleats up, I think that was his easiest time at work. As a cowboy protection guy, I wanted to be just like Joe.” By March 2005, Moffatt joined the PRCA as a bullfighter. “I think the key for me is the drive of wanting to be better,” said Moffatt, 40. “Instead of bullfighting being hard on me, I wanted it to be effortless.” Moffatt established himself as a strong bullfighter, especially on the West Coast. “I knew when Rick was there, I didn’t have anything to worry about,” said bull rider Steve Woolsey, a seven-time qualifier for the NFR. “I trusted him. He’s always been a good bullfighter.” Living life as a cowboy led Moffatt to also become a rodeo pickup man. “Clayton Biglow, I watched him since he was 7 years old, he’s like a little brother,” Moffatt said. “The biggest rush for me (as a pickup man) is to be around greats like that.” Biglow is the reigning PRCA world champion bareback rider. ANOTHER PROFESSION While fighting bulls and being a pickup man, Moffatt got his shot to be a stuntman in Django Unchained , which hit the big screen in December 2012. “I owe all of my stunt career to the Dashnaw family, Jeff and Tracy,” Moffatt said. “They are a great stunt family. I also got help when I started from (stuntman) Freddie Hice. His (stepson) is bull rider Dylan Vick Hice, and I was able to work with Dylan on a few things. Freddie and Dylan really helped me get my start as a stuntman as well.” In the last seven-plus years, Moffatt has worked as a stuntman in numerous movies, including American Sniper (2014), which starred Bradley Cooper as U.S. Navy Seal Chris Kyle and was directed by legendary actor/filmmaker Clint Eastwood. “I did the rodeo scene in that movie,” Moffatt said. “It was awesome to get to work around Clint Eastwood, he was my John Wayne.” Moffatt also worked on the set of Magnificent Seven (2016). “I got nominated for the Taurus World

Phil Doyle photo Rick Moffatt picks up a young rodeo contestant who was taking part in the activities at the Rowell Ranch Pro Rodeo in Hayward, Calif. Moffatt also is a pickup man in the PRCA and a Hollywood stuntman.

Stunt Award for my work on that show,” Moffatt said. “For a little cowboy like me to get nominated for something like that was amazing.” In the TV realm, Moffatt is a stuntman in “Godless,” a dramatic series on Netflix that debuted in 2017. Most recently, Moffatt worked as a stuntman on Jason Momoa’s thriller The Last Manhunt , which has yet to hit theaters. Dashnaw, who met Moffatt on the set of Django Unchained , has high praise for him. “Rick can figure anything out and he has a no-quit mentality,” said Dashnaw, a stunt coordinator and second-unit director. “I will give you an example. On ‘Godless,’ he was doing this nasty wreck off a horse. He was falling off the horse, sliding across the wagon and bouncing off the other end through a keg of flour and he did it the first time. I told him, ‘Darn, Rick, that was awesome.’ He said he didn’t like it. He felt like it could have been better. He did it again. It is in the movie and I use it in my reel for directing, that’s how good it was. “Rick is a guy I would go into battle with. He’s not going to let anything happen to you.”

Photo courtesy Rick Moffatt Rick Moffatt, far left, awaits instruction on the set of the hit movie American Sniper . Moffat was a stuntman in the movie, which was directed by legendary filmmaker Clint Eastwood, far right.

ProRodeo Sports News 4/17/2020

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