ProRodeo Sports News - June 12, 2020

give you goosebumps and make the hair on your neck stand up.

What was it like when you won your first world championship? Zeke: It was happening fast. I came in behind in the world standings (he was fourth to begin the 2016 NFR, more than $67,000 behind leader Jacobs Crawley). I don’t think anybody really expected me to win it. Things fell right and I won. Not to be boastful, but I always felt I could win a world title, but to do it that quick was crazy. I remember when I won, my dad told me that he may not have won a world championship, but he raised a world champion, that was a special moment. How gratifying was winning your second world championship? Zeke: The first one I didn’t even expect myself to win. I was just having fun riding broncs, and the next thing you know, they told me I was the champ. The second one, Ryder (Wright) and I had quite a bit of money on everybody else. Then after a couple of rounds, I took the lead in the world standings and had a target on my back, and that was stressful. I would much rather be chasing than be chased. It goes back to the basics. Mentally you have to keep yourself level. You know how to ride broncs, and it’s all the same broncs you have been on before. You just have to go out there and do your job. That’s what I kept telling myself. I did my part, and the rest took care of itself. I would say winning the second world championship is harder. It was for me. I have never been so nervous in my life. Howmuch pride do you have being fromCanada and being a multi- time PRCA world champion? Zeke: It’s really cool when you get to represent a whole country, and everybody back home is supporting you. It seemed like for a little bit there Canada was not sending as many people to the NFR as they should. Now, since I have been going, there are quite a few young bronc riders coming up out of Canada who could really do well, and they all could make the NFR. That’s cool to see. Howmany times have you won the Canadian Professional Rodeo Association world championship? Zeke: Just once, and that was last year. That’s cool. That was on my bucket list. It seemed like I had done everything else. I had come close quite a few times. Last year, I came in with a pretty good lead, did well and took care of business.

were supposed to be working some cows, but Sam and I were over practicing tricks. Wyatt wanted to learn what we were doing, and he went with us to the next lesson. From there we took some lessons and got our horses trained. Then, the Innisfail (Alberta) Pro Rodeo is close by us, and we got asked to perform there and we did. Everybody loved it, and it took off from there. It got huge in a hurry. We did it four years. It was a cool experience. As theThurston Gang, what was it like performing for the Queen of England, PrinceWilliam and Princess Kate? Zeke: We performed for the Queen of England in Edmonton, when I was like 12 or 13. We were just giving her a demonstration of trick roping and riding. We didn’t get to talk to her, and she had security guards all around, but it was great to perform for her. We performed for Prince William and Princess Kate in Calgary a day or two before the Calgary Stampede started when I was 15. We did get to meet them and shake hands with them. That was cool. Billie-Jean Duff photo Zeke Thurston has spent more time with his daughter, Lucy, the past few months.

What advice would you give young saddle bronc riders? Zeke: I would say there are no secrets

behind it. What you put into it is what you get out of it. If that’s what you truly want to do, then put everything into it. Find a good group of guys to go with, guys who have similar goals and positive attitudes, and jump in and go as hard as you can, give it all you have and enjoy it. You were part of theThurston Gang. How did you get involved with trick roping, trick riding and Roman riding? Zeke: I had a tape of (ProRodeo Hall of Famer) Ty Murray when I was younger, and on the tape he did gymnastics and credited some of that to his success. I kept bugging my parents that I wanted to try gymnastics. My mom (Lynda) said we didn’t live by any towns that had gymnastics, but she said she had a friend who was a trick rider and it’s like gymnastics on a horse, so why don’t you try that? She took my brother Sam and me to famous trick rider Jerri Duce- Phillips’ place. She gave us a lesson, and we thought it was cool. We came home and

Billie-Jean Duff photo Left to right, Luke Skocdopole, Riley Warren, Zeke Thurston and Logan Young, take a break while doing some work at Thurston’s place in Big Valley, Alberta.

ProRodeo Sports News 6/12/2020

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