First-time bull rider learns at school of hard knocks

Bozeman High School senior Matt Paffhausen might not have the experience yet, but he certainly has the right mentality to be a bull rider.

When bad things happens, he says, he shakes it off and climbs back on board. It was true in freestyle skiing, in which he broke his back just messing around. It was true in motocross, where a pileup in a race last spring in Dillon left a tire tread mark on his arm that is still visible.

And still held true this week, when Paffhausen and several teammates from the Bridger Mountains High School Rodeo team got a chance to ride bulls in practice with members of the Montana State rodeo team. Paffhausen rode two bulls in practice, and the second one bucked him off and stomped on his left arm just above the elbow, leaving a nasty bruise.

Undaunted, Paffhausen climbed aboard a bull Saturday at the Gallatin County Fairgrounds during the Bozeman High School Rodeo, rode it and scored a 58 - good for fourth place heading into Sunday's competition. He didn't complete his second ride.

Not bad for a cowboy who'd never been on a bull until this week.

"I guess I needed more adrenalin," he said, grinning. "I can't really explain otherwise why I really wanted to try it. I had been to some rodeos, and my one of my best friends is on the rodeo team. I would watch, and I kept thinking that I had to try it."

With no previous rodeo experience, Paffhausen joined the team this fall. Knowing his interest in more extreme sports, he said, neither of his parents were surprised by his interest, and they encouraged him. His older, Mike, a defensive lineman on the Carroll College football team, was a bit more skeptical.

"He kept asking me: 'Are you serious?'" Paffhausen said. "But, once he heard Saturday that I did it, he told my dad: 'I guess we've got a bull rider in the family.'"

Paffhausen said several friends on the team offered advice on riding, but he was eager to get some hands-on experience before actually riding one this weekend in competition. So, he and several members of the high school team went Wednesday to MSU practice, where they got some personal tutoring from Andy Bolich, the Bobcats' rough stock coach. Even better, he said, they got the chance to ride two bulls. He was bucked off both, but the experience gave him confidence heading into the weekend.

Though Saturday's first competitive ride wasn't pretty, Paffhausen said he did what he needed to do to score.

"I probably rode on the side the last two or three seconds, but I was not going to let go," he said. "I kept thinking: 'When is the whistle going to come?' When I heard it, that was the best feeling in the world."

ALWAYS SPECIAL: Wilsall's Kody Lahaye added another buckle to his growing collection, winning the steer wrestling competition on Saturday and the average for the rodeo.

The Shields Valley High School junior, who also competes in tie-down and team roping, estimates he's won 15-20 in his rodeo career. Winning is a feeling that never gets old, he says.

"The more you do it, the more confident you get," he said.

Lahaye, 16, says his goal for the 2007-08 season is to make next summer's National High School Finals Rodeo. He just missed out last season, but he's in better shape this season. Heading into the weekend, he was tied for fourth in the steer wrestling standings.

SOMETHING TO SMILE ABOUT: Belgrade High School senior Rachael Tatarka has had a rough year as a competitor. With both of her horses hurt, she's had to use borrowed horses. It's been a struggle.

But on Sunday, Tatarka was wearing her other hat, that of president of the Bridger Mountains High School Rodeo Team. And, while she didn't get a buckle herself, she got to present them to the winners.

In that she could smile, because the team had put on the first high school rodeo in Bozeman in two years.

"It is something to be proud of, because it's really hard putting on a rodeo," she said. "Our team did a really good job pulling together and getting it done."

THE WINNERS: Belgrade's Niki Baumann was the all-around cowgirl after winning both the goat tying and the breakaway roping. She clocked 18.03 seconds on two head in the goat tying and 7.0 seconds on two in the breakaway roping.

In addition to Lahaye, other local winners were Manhattan's Makenzie Johnson in pole bending (43.73 seconds) and Three Forks Thomas Nerlin in the saddle bronc (67 points).

Park City's C.J. Hanson won the calf roping, and all-around cowboy Shawn Bessette combined with Trevor Sunvison to win the team roping. Roberts' C.J. Graveley won the bull riding. The cutting winners were Hamilton's Allison Darrow and Ronan's Levi Walchuk.