ProRodeo Sports News - January 11, 2019

IN HIS OWNWORDS: ZEKE THURSTON RIDER KICKED OFF 2018WITH DENVERWIN

Zeke Thurston has had good luck at the National Western Stock Show and Rodeo in Denver. Last year, the 24-year- old saddle bronc rider from Big Valley, Alberta, won the winter rodeo, cashing in for more than $10,000 and

Outside the arena it was a big year for me, too. My wife, Jayne, and I had our first child. Lucy was born in August. I actually had to turn out of a couple rodeos that week. I got home from a bronc match and that night Jayne went into labor. Lucy has been so much fun. We’ve been very blessed and lucky. She’s a great baby. And she’s a great traveler. When she was about 3 weeks old, she and Jayne flew down to Puyallup, Wash., on the short-round day. From there we went to the Pendleton (Ore.) Round-Up and stayed there all week after making the finals in the bronc riding. Had a blast. Then we came home and went to a few fall rodeos in Canada. After that, we went to Nebraska to my grandparents’ place. My dad had some cows down there, so we helped run some cows and ship calves and then went to the Canadian finals, and from there we went to the NFR. We’ve been traveling nonstop. She’s great. At a month old, she had been to five or six states. Now, she’s been to 12 states and two provinces. After Denver, I usually fly back home. Then I take horses south to Texas for the winter. I go to a family friend’s place – John Rothwell’s (Rothwell qualified for the NFR in tie-down roping seven times over the 1970s and ’80s). We ride and rope. We’ll enter in the odd rodeo to rope for fun, see if we can’t make some money and qualify for the all-around. I really enjoy roping and riding young horses. It beats sitting around the hotel room during the winter. Just recently we went to Roundup, Mont., where they had a benefit for (injured bareback rider) J.R. Vezain. We went down there and supported him. I always look forward to after the NFR coming home and hanging out, taking it easy. I know some guys get home from the NFR and then go on holiday. That’s the last thing I want to do. I want to come home, hang out, ride my horses and rope, feed my cows. That’s my revamping time.

D enver was a big win for me. That time last year, I had come off the NFR and I hadn’t had a very good Finals. To come back to the first rodeo of the year and to win it – not only win a rodeo, but a big, prestigious rodeo – was pretty cool. I was tickled about that. Anytime you can start off with a win and build your confidence, it gets the ball rolling, because 95 percent of this sport is mental – 95 percent of any sport is mental. To get your confidence going that just carries on through the rest of the winter and the year. This Finals started off pretty good. I stayed consistent. They threw me off in two rounds, but I placed in the other eight rounds and had a chance to win the world. Can’t complain about that. I won two go-rounds, that was fun. That was the best pen of horses since I’ve been going out there that I’d seen. That’s only the last four years, but that was great stock, great bronc riding. Finishing third in the average and third in the world was huge. That’s a great Finals. You’re riding against the best riders in the world and the best broncs in the world. To have success and be able to compete at that level is a pretty good feather in your hat. setting him on a path to qualify for his fourth consecutive Wrangler National Finals Rodeo. At the Finals, he won nearly $150,000, finishing third in the average and third in the PRCA | RAM World Standings with $262,041. Not a bad Finals and not a bad season for the 2016 world champion.

Photo by karenkellyphotography.com

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ProRodeo Sports News 1/11/2019

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