ELDORADO, Ark. (July 9, 2010) - There are no guarantees in bull riding.
Reese Cates learned that lesson under very humbling circumstances.
Two years ago, the Arkansas cowboy was riding high. He pocketed $181,590 on the Professional Bull Riders circuit and finished as 2008 Rookie of the Year.
But last year, Cates’ annual earnings plummeted to $48,314. Still, he began the 2010 season competing on the Built Ford Tough Series after riding as an alternate at the 2009 PBR World Finals in Las Vegas.
Though Cates had an opportunity to redeem himself at the beginning of the year, he just couldn’t get back on track. He was cut from the PBR’s top tour in early March and he was financially drained.
Cates suddenly moved from riding bulls in some of the most famous sports arenas in the country to doing odd jobs in his hometown of Eldorado, Ark.
“I did everything ranging from building fence to picking up trash on the side of the road,” Cates said. “It was a pretty humbling time in my life. You’re picking up trash in your hometown to make money during rush hour, lunch traffic. People are driving by and saying, ‘Hey, I just saw you on TV a month ago.’”
And it got worse.
“Then, my car breaks down and I’m without a vehicle,” Cates said. “There was just a big series of events that occurred. But it all started with getting cut from the tour this year. Since then, I’ve gradually been trying to pull out of all of that.”
Cates got a big break on the weekend of June 18-19, when he earned more than $11,000 after winning a Touring Pro show in Bismarck, N.D.
And during the July 4 weekend, Cates pocketed almost $5,000 after tying for second at a Touring Pro show in Park Rapids, Minn.
That helped push his season earnings to $32,326, giving him hope that his career has taken a sharp turn for the better. Cates is ranked 37th in the PBR Finals Qualifier Standings, meaning he’s on pace to secure a berth in the World Finals, scheduled for Oct. 20-24 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas.
Though he broke a small bone in his (right) riding hand while competing in Park Rapids over the Independence Day weekend, Cates said the injury will not require surgery and the break has not placed on him on the sidelines. He said the break is near the first knuckle of his ring finger.
“It was broken last weekend, and I’m pretty sure I felt the worst pain that I’m going to feel with it then,” Cates said. “It was freshly broke and I was getting on the day after it happened. I’m sure the worst part is over with. At least I hope so.”
Cates is hitting the Touring Pro circuit over the next week. He is scheduled to ride in San Antonio (July 9), Springdale, Ark. (July 10), and Salinas, Calif. (July 14).
As he rosins his rigging to compete in the summer events, Cates is relieved to know he’s been riding well again.
“When you get on a losing streak like I did, it makes you wonder whether you can actually compete with the best guys in the world night-in and night-out,” Cates said. “It just takes you a while to get your confidence back and to regain yourself and who you are.
“It makes you appreciate being in the Top 40 in the world. You don’t really realize how much that you take it for granted until it’s gone.”
Cates, 21, who has $295,025 in PBR career earnings and writes a blog on pbr.com, said he’s taken time to contemplate what went wrong during the past 18 months after winning the 2008 Rookie of the Year title.
“I had always strived to be on the Built Ford Tough Series, and to be one of the best and to be successful,” Cates said. “It seemed like once I reached that, I just kind of took a step back. I lost my focus a little bit, and probably wasn’t trying as hard in the arena. I wasn’t working on my bull riding as far as working out and staying focused.
“The main part of bull riding is staying focused on the job at hand. I probably was thinking I was a little better than what I was. If I got bucked off of three or four bulls, it didn’t really bother me because I was the Rookie of the Year and I had already proven myself.”
Cates said he now views competing differently.
“In bull riding, you have to prove yourself every night,” he said. “But again, it’s all about staying focused, and it’s really hard to do in this sport. I feel like from here on out, I have a new approach toward bull riding and toward my career.”
After doing manual labor in the Arkansas heat, Cates said he’s motivated to make a go at riding bulls.
“I don’t know how many people realize how humid it is in South Arkansas during the middle of June,” Cates said. “From May until mid-September, it’s pretty miserable. You start working at 6 in the morning, and by the time 9 o’clock rolls around, your day is just getting started, but the heat is up and you’re soaking wet and miserable. When I was working in those conditions, I was thinking, ‘Man, I just want to ride bulls. I don’t want to do this.’”
During the past four months, Cates said he still entered bull riding events when it was financially feasible. He said he sometimes signed up for smaller, local events that were less challenging.
“I never stopped going to the events completely,” he said. “But there were a few weekends where if I had bucked off the weekend before and didn’t have any money, I’d have to stay home and work that next weekend to make sure I had enough money to go to the next one. But it was a time that I had to learn how to manage my money.”
Cates said he learned to deal with financial and mental pressure at the same time.
“When you put every dime that you have on a gamble saying that you’re going to win money at a bull riding event this weekend, that’s all good and well that you have that much confidence in yourself and your abilities to ride, but subconsciously it’s going to be eating at you,” he said. “You know you have to stay on. You have to ride. So what happens is you’re riding with too much pressure on you.”
Cates handled the pressure at the Bismarck show when he turned in lofty scores of 90 and 89. He earned $6,092 after winning the title on June 19, and he received a $5,000 bonus for finishing as the highest money winner at the tough two-day show.
The victory proved to be a big confidence booster.
“To win Bismarck was great,” Cates said. “There’s not a whole lot of other (Touring Pro) events that are as hard to win. You’ve got Chad Berger, who has been the PBR Stock Contractor of the Year, bringing his stock. You know you are going to get on good bulls and you know that the best bull riders are going to show up and compete against you. And you know you’re going to get the opportunity to win a bunch of money.
“But the night after I won Bismarck, I was entered in Calgary and I got bucked off. So you realize that every day always is a new day.”
Cates said he has a new appreciation of how complex bull riding is to master.
“I’ve never seen a sport that’s so physically challenging,” he said. “But on the other end, it’s mentally demanding. It’s a sport where competitors usually don’t have a lot of coaches and you don’t have a lot of people backing you. You often have to figure it out for yourself, whereas in football or baseball, you have a coach right there telling you how to fix it.
“But it’s a dog-eat-dog world in bull riding. It’s like if you’re not winning, nobody else really cares. They’re just happy that you’re not beating them.”
Cates said he’s gained a high respect for veteran bull riders who consistently finish in the money year after year.
“Bull riding is a sport of highs and lows, and the guys who can play the middle, as far as highs and lows go, are the guys who come out on top more times than not,” he said. “If you can stay at the same mentality regardless of whether you win, lose or draw, you have a better chance of winning.”
