ProRodeo Sports News - April 5, 2019

FAMILY

Are there any differences in your equipment?

Parker: My spurs are three inches long and they angle inside. I ordered them that way because my toes don’t turn out. It helps me hold without doing anything special, but he used normal spurs that weren’t very long. He used a normal bull rope, and I transferred to a Brazilian bull rope about five years or so ago and never looked back after that. You can come off either side of the bull and not have the danger of hanging up on them with a Brazilian rope. I wear a helmet, but Dad wore a mask. I wore my hat for the start of my career, then I broke my eye socket in 2014 and that got me wanting to protect my face more. Scott: He rides backwards with a Brazilian rope. I had a common American rope that pulled from the same side you ride with. His spurs are longer than mine in the shanks. I didn’t care for that much length because I got ahold deeper than he does. How is your approach to traveling different? Parker: Flying nowadays might be a bit easier than it was for them. The biggest thing is we have a cellphone, and I remember Dad told me he needed to enter a rodeo and had to find the nearest pay phone. That sounded like so much more work and a headache to keep entered back then. When I started rodeoing, I had a TomTomGPS, and I thought it was the coolest tech ever. Now if I put it in the GPS and the phone, it is two different routes, but I stick withmy phone. My dad had a big atlas in his van he would get out like he was sailing a ship with the gist of the direction he needed to go. I wonder howmuchmore time he spent driving than we would with our phones telling us the quickest way? Scott: His debit card flew up red flags because he travels all over, and if I couldn’t pay for fuel in the middle of the night I don’t know what I’d do. We had to use pay phones and there were no cellphones. I helped him drive to Fort Smith when he was more of a rookie, and I asked, ‘Where is your atlas?’ He said, ‘I don’t need one.’ I told him I wouldn’t trust the GPS. …When you get into the town, it’s harder to find the location, and the GPS will take you right to it. That’s neat. As far as getting from point A to point B, I thought my method was faster because we knew the shortcuts, and the GPS tends to go for the main course. What’s something Parker could improve on? Parker: My upper body gets in a C-shape and I get a hump in my back when I go to the front end of a bull. I see it in my rides, and it makes me want to arch my chest out more so the rides look better. Scott: I told him the other day to get out on them quicker. You will wear yourself out in there (the chute). If they have all four feet on the ground and aren’t laying on you, might as well go because it always gets worse the longer you wait. What could Scott have done to ride better? Parker: What I liked about his style, no matter

PRCA ProRodeo file photo

Scott Breding, top, rode Bodacious at the 1995 NFR. Below, Parker Breding rides Four Star Rodeo’s Hooey at the 2018 Wrangler NFR. At first glance their styles look similar, but Scott’s toes are pointed out more and Parker rides with a Brazilian rope.

what bull he had, he could fit them, and he rode with the same attitude. His biggest problem was his free arm with the injuries, so if it could have been fixed that would have gone a long way for him. He made the Finals for the first time at about 30 years old and had some bumps and bruises by then. I idolize him because he stuck it out and it paid off later in his career. Scott: I took pretty good care of myself and always worked out, so I don’t know if I could have done much different.

PRCA ProRodeo photo by James Phifer

ProRodeo Sports News 4/5/2019

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