Fightin’ Bulls & Havin’ Fun

The rodeo world is converging on Las Vegas and while most contestants have been taking a little time off before the Wrangler National Final Rodeo’s first round, Thursday, Wyoming bullfighter Dusty Tuckness and partner Andy Burrelle were judged champions in their craft after the dust settled at a PBR event in Atlanta, Georgia the weekend before Thanksgiving.

Five bullfighting teams qualified and were judged simultaneously with the PBR riders/bulls. Fighters were assessed in a number of categories including: turning back the bulls, follow through, aggressiveness and degree of difficulty.

Three days and many outings later, Tuckness of Meeteetse, Wyoming and Burrelle of Oklahoma scored the highest and were named the best in the business.

Tuckness is very pleased with the victory in Atlanta:



The Challenger Cup was televised nationally on Versus.

We caught up with Dusty on the day he was preparing to pick up a tux for best friend Kanin Asay’s wedding ceremony. Both young men are going to see each other a lot the next two weeks. Dusty is working his first as a national finals bullfighter and Kanin returns donned in his favorite color purple to ride bulls.

We are unsure as to how Kanin’s new bride is accepting of this choice for a honeymoon but a few winning rounds for her hubby will buy a bigger diamond or two for that new ring.

Music from Moorcroft

If you grow up in a place where there are only two people per square mile you can sing as loud and often as you want and not really cause much of a stir, except maybe with the cattle. Chancey Williams is singing for crowds now as frontman for Chancey Williams & The Younger Brothers Band. They played the big saloon on Frontier Park every night of the 2009 Cheyenne Frontier Days. A new CD is getting attention and a regular gig in Las Vegas is a far cry from the open country around the town of Moorcroft in northeastern Wyoming’s Crook County.

Like a lot of Wyoming kids, Chancey was raised on rodeo. He rode broncs all of high school, three years at Casper College, and one year at the University of Wyoming in Laramie.

The band started in Moorcroft and continued to grow in popularity and skill. Chancey kept up with the books and graduated from UW with a master’s degree in Public Administration. He is definitely administering to the public now in a country-rock sort of way.

We visited with Chancey after a set at the Wyoming State Fair in Douglas last week:



To stay on top of what’s happening with this up and coming group from Wyoming go to: www.theyoungerbrothersband.com


Bull Fight at the WYO Corral

There’s a new posse in town. Wyoming has three bull riders who are in the top ten of the world standings. A bullfighter from Meeteetse has a good shot at being named to work the national finals in December. Quite the foursome – Kanin Asay and Dusty Tuckness from Park County; Bobby “Red Boots” Welsh from Gillette and Clayton Savage of Casper. We had the chance to spend some time with the group before they competed at a special bull riding event at Wyoming’s State Fair in Douglas last week. Mr. Savage won the event, by the way. Our intrepid video-man Mike gives you an inside peek at this gang we’ll call Dusty & the Long Riders:

State Fair Play

The middle of the top ten bull riders in the world standings as of this week all call Wyoming home. Bobby Welsh, Kanin Asay and Clayton Savage are #4, #5 and #6 respectively with winnings ranging from $66,000 to $77,000 thus far. If you are a rodeo fan you know that money has gone to travel, food, and family. The chance to actually show a profit for the year is by placing in a few rounds at the national finals in December. Until then, it’s rodeo to rodeo – paycheck to paycheck.

If you can, plan a visit to the Wyoming State Fair this week to meet these young men and show them your support as they ready for the big dance in Las Vegas. Bobby and Kanin have been a part of our state sponsorship program since their first national finals appearances and we know how proud they are to wear “Wyoming” red. Clay will be joining us, we believe, in short order.

Kanin likes the color purple and even wears a helmet of that shade. Our little “Wyoming” patches adorn that helmet and clashing red/purple aside, Kanin was threatened with a fine for sticking those home patches on his headgear. The Powell, WY man reached a compromise with the PRCA and continues to keep Wyoming on, and in, his noggin.

Bobby and his wife have three kids and boy did they need the cash that Cheyenne Frontier Days brought by Bobby sticking to all three draws. They live near Gillette, WY and are hoping to win enough in Las Vegas to purchase a nice, roomy, motorhome. Near the end of Frontier Days last month I looked in the rough stock riders “ready” area and saw Bobby reading a bible lesson to his fellow riders. He wasn’t preaching. He was proclaiming, and explaining, his beliefs. He is becoming a leader.

We first met Clayton as he was prepping to ride at the Evanston, WY rodeo a few summers back. He was pretty retro 1970s in his look and he clearly had talent in spades. I’ve heard a few of the experts say Clayton’s straight-armed riding style and his get-off (dismount) are liable to lead to injury. My assessment of the world these fellows live in is they know what works best for them. Clay told us he grew up riding the furniture at Mom’s house in Casper and there was no stopping what he was going to do once old enough.

We don’t have a pro football team here in Wyoming. There are no professional sports, at least at the highest level, other than rodeo. I like sports. I like to root for someone who wears my colors. The aforementioned bull riders get on for themselves naturally but I like to believe they’re riding for me too. I clap and holler when they win and feel bad when they buck off early. I worry for them because what they do is so dangerous. I know they are highly skilled and would not be where they are if they didn’t know how to keep themselves as safe as possible. I want them each to one day own a world champion’s buckle – maybe two, or three.

Come out to the state fair early Thursday. The bull riding event starts at 7 p.m. and will feature our young men headed to the national finals. At 3 p.m. we will be set up next to the Pepsi free entertainment stage. There will be freebies galore and a chance to meet the riders. They have free autograph sheets to give you along with a smile and a handshake.

As a special bonus, bullfighter Dusty Tuckness from Meeteetse is going to be with us. He joined the Wyoming team this year and has done numerous public appearances, and press interviews, since winter when he was fighting bulls at the big rodeos in Houston and Fort Worth. He is widely acknowledged as one of the best at his trade. Dusty is very popular with the fans, his rodeo colleagues and dare I say with the ladies. Blush. Dusty was an alternate at the national finals last year and could very well get the votes to make the A-team bullfighting crew in 2009. Of course, Dusty will be working Thursday night in the state fair rodeo arena helping his pals make it safely back to the chutes. Dusty and Kanin are close friends having been reared in the same county and garnering their rodeo chops at the rodeo arena in Cody.

See you in Douglas! Meet the boys. Pick up free DVDs and have fun listening and dancing to Wyoming’s own Chancey Williams and The Younger Brothers Band. Showtime is 3 p.m, Pepsi free entertainment stage, at the Wyoming State Fair.

Xtreme Crowds

A family of five from New York told us they enjoyed their first rodeo so much at the July 4th Cody Stampede they stayed overnight and came back for the Xtreme Bulls event the next night. An extended family of seven from Mexico spoke little English but made it known they wanted to meet some pro rodeo cowboys and anxiously stopped by our booth area three or four times during the Cody-Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls hoping to get an autograph. They returned after the riding was completed and waited in line an hour before getting to meet bullfighter Dusty Tuckness of Meeteetse, WY and Wyoming bull riders Kanin Asay from Powell and Seth Glause from Rock Springs. Pictures were taken, hats and autograph sheets signed, questions answered.

‘Did you win?” more than one kid queried.
“No, but I tried,” said Glause.

One woman whispered to a friend. “My daughter likes country music so I want to get his autograph. I know he’s one of those singers,” she assured her pal. I passed this information on to Seth and he said, “Yeah, like I can sing.” He got a good chuckle out of the whole thing.

We only had two chairs therefore Kanin Asay was low on a stool during most of the fan gathering. That’s okay. He’s young. He also stood and signed and posed and laughed and answered questions for more than an hour. Then Kanin and his traveling partners headed up the road to the Calgary Stampede. They departed the Cody arena around 10pm.

A lot of new rodeo fans were made Sunday night in Cody. There was the group of thirteen from the UK and Australia attending their first rodeo. “How do you speak cowboy?” they asked our video man, Mike. Being a Casper, Wyoming native this was not a hard question to answer. “I don’t really know,” said Mike. “Just start every sentence with ‘Y’all’ and be sure to remove your hat when you first meet a lady. Also, don’t leave your hat on the bed. It’s bad luck.” .

You had to feel good watching all those folks waiting to meet our cowboys. And if you get the chance this year I hope you do the same. Rodeo people aren’t perfect but they sure are good. Manners matter to them. A handshake is a contract. And when they get bucked early, or miss a loop, they smile and say, “I tried.” And then they’ll try again.

Seth Glause and Kanin Asay may not have scored inside the Xtreme Bulls arena in Cody but they sure made some points with fans afterward. Our talented video person, Mike McCrimmon, has some highlights for you and they’ll come at you as follows:

1. Seth Glause in the Fourth of July Cody Stampede rodeo. He lands an 83-point ride and finishes in the money.
2. Kanin Asay staying on for 7.76 of the required eight seconds, July 4.
3. A batch of work from bullfighter Dusty Tuckness on July 4-5.
4. Kanin Asay and Xtreme Bulls ESPN television announcer Dan Miller (a Cody resident) before the competition on July 5.
5. Money-winning performances by Wheatland’s Tyler Willis and Casper’s Clayton Savage in the Cody-Yellowstone Xtreme Bulls championship round, July 5.
6. The fan gathering at and near our Wyoming Travel & Tourism booth after the Xtreme Bulls

event in Cody.