The bull and the buckle
November 17, 2018, 7:51 am
MacLeod Elementary Journalism
Ty Cutler, a 15-year-old McNaughton High School student, received an honor that he thought he would never in a lifetime achieve over the October 23rd weekend.
Together, he and his uncle Bobby Stevens own a bucking bull called Stay Away. Stay Away was awarded the MRCA (Manitoba Rodeo Cowboys Association) Bull of the Year. Ty’s uncle let him know about the prestigious award by texting him to “start shining up his belt because he got a new buckle for it.”
In order for his bull to receive Bull of the Year, the cowboys all vote on their favorite bull. Ty told us “they vote according to the most consistent bull that bucks hard every time and allows the rider to achieve a high score.” News spread quickly about the honor, as it was posted on the MRCA Facebook webpage.
Ty spends most of his summer attending rodeos with his uncle Bobby and the bulls in communities in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba such as Moosomin, Grunthal, Virden, Spy Hill, Swan River, Arcola, Bengough and Wapella. It is a lot of long, late night drives.
“It gets a little challenging, staying awake for those long drives home at the end of a rodeo,” he says.
“My dad was a rodeo announcer and he and I went to a lot of rodeos together. That inspired me to be a bull rider and so I started riding steers, but I wasn’t very good.”
He then decided to switch things around and get into buying bulls with his uncle Bobby. This is the third year that Ty and Bobby have had Stay Away. Stay Away’s father was a bucking bull in the PBR.
The bulls, including Stay Away, live on Bobby’s farm. Ty and Bobby share in the costs as well as the money that Stay Away makes. Ty told us he tries to help out on the farm and work off some of the costs that are involved with owning a bull.
Ty’s favorite part of the rodeo experience is watching the bulls buck. He told us “you get pretty pumped up when he is bucking well.”
Ty’s favorite rodeos to attend are the ones close to home like Virden, Moosomin and Dodge City (Wapella). Each rodeo has its own things that he likes about them.
“Swan River has a midway and that is pretty cool, too,” he says.
We asked Ty how he felt when his bull was chosen. He said “I thought I would never get it, or at least it would take a lot years to get it. It was a great feeling. I’m probably one of the only 15-year-olds to achieve this.”
When asked if he sees himself doing this when he gets older, Ty replied, “Probably. It’s a hard thing to get into. I will see what happens.”
