Local bronc rider Elliot French had a bit of a rough weekend,
but not one that is reflective of his season to date.
”
This is my best season so far, for sure. But it’s been so up and
down that it could be a lot better,
”
French said.
”
I wish it’d be a little more steady for me, and that’s what I’m
working on.
”
SALINAS
Local bronc rider Elliot French had a bit of a rough weekend, but not one that is reflective of his season to date.
“This is my best season so far, for sure. But it’s been so up and down that it could be a lot better,” French said. “I wish it’d be a little more steady for me, and that’s what I’m working on.”
The 24-year-old San Benito County resident scored a 64 on Friday at the 99th Annual California Rodeo in Salinas – a score he wasn’t too pleased with – then hopped a Saturday morning flight out of San Jose to Frontier Days in Cheyenne, Wyo., where he was unsuccessful in marking out his horse on two occasions.
“It was a pretty close call on both of them,” French said of his two rides at Frontier Days. “The first horse, he didn’t kick very hard and it wouldn’t have been much of a score. The second horse, he kicked but he wasn’t a good bucker.
“He wasn’t the kind (of horse) that you can win on.”
Aside from last weekend’s adversity, though, French is certainly finding his footing in just his third season as a professional bronc rider. With a strong first-place finish in Scottsdale, Ariz., and an even bigger payday as a runner-up finisher in Clovis, French is currently third on the California circuit, and has already earned more money than all of last season. He even figured into the top 50 of the world standings for several weeks earlier this year.
But traveling all over the map, sometimes hitting several rodeos in a single weekend, French said it’s tough to stay in top spirits, especially when nothing less than eight seconds of work will equal a paycheck. In a sport where a bronc rider’s score is partly based on what the horse does, though, French is keeping a level head.
In Salinas, for instance, atop a horse that took off from the chute and practically sprinted across the arena, French did his part by staying on for eight seconds.
The horse, however, didn’t necessarily help.
“When they buck, they put certain forces on you to give you a good ride,” he said. “The way he was bucking in Salinas, he was so long and kind of flat that it wasn’t helping me do my job.
“I could have rode him better … but both you and the horse have to work together to make a good ride.”
It’s a brief, eight-second bond that can mean a world of difference to any bronc rider, and it usually takes just one good ride to turn around a cowboy’s spirits.
Saddle bronc rider and Tres Pinos resident Jeff Rianda was bucked off his horse at the California Rodeo on Saturday when he sat on his foot.
“If you have a mediocre day (in rodeo), you’re probably won’t get paid nothing,” he said.
“Sometimes your foot will come too far back and you’ll sit on it. It’s kind of hard to recover from it.”
But Rianda, 25, managed to recover quickly later this past weekend when he scored a 74 to finish fourth at a rodeo in Fortuna. He’s currently 14th in saddle bronc on the California circuit.
“You do have to keep a level head,” Rianda added. “What I like to do, just practice when you go out there and work on the fundamentals.
“It makes it a lot easier. When you get a couple of guys who can chip in and be able to recognize what you did wrong and what you did right, from that perspective, it sure does help.”
Finding fellow bronc riders to practice with isn’t necessarily difficult in San Benito County, either. French and Rianda were traveling partners last season with Tres Pinos bronc rider Sam Swan, who’s currently in 10th place in the California circuit. Swan recently took home first in saddle bronc at the San Benito County Saddle Horse Show and Rodeo at Bolado Park.
But during the offseason, and even in-season when they can get the chance, the three bronc riders can be spotted at John Flook’s practice pen in Tres Pinos, working on the ins and outs together.
“He’s the ring leader of the San Benito group,” French said. “He was an inspiration to us.”
And even Flook, 31, is a bronc rider. Holding down 17th place in the California circuit, though, Flook says he won’t take credit for any success the other three have. “Those guys have done well on their own,” he said.
Nevertheless, Flook does provide a way of staying positive on what can be an otherwise frustrating circuit. A couple years ago, the bronc-riding Flook injured his knee while riding bulls in Livermore, and reinjured it earlier this year while back riding broncs. Building upon some success at smaller rodeos, though, Flook is taking it one rodeo at a time, and he’s expected to be competing this weekend in Truckee.
“It’d be nice to come back from an injury and go straight to the top and start winning,” Flook said. “But it doesn’t happen that way, at least not for me.”
See the latest installment of The San Benito Score below featuring professional bronc rider Elliot French.
Rianda, too, is expected to be in Truckee this weekend, as is French, who will hit rodeos in Salt Lake City and Joseph, Ore., prior to returning to Northern California later this week.
“This year, I’ve definitely been trying to go as hard as I can,” said French, who’s already looking forward to the Days of ’47 Rodeo in Salt Lake City after drawing a “really good horse.”
“It’s all bronc riding in the end, whether you’re in Cheyenne or in the practice pen,” he added. “Once you get to his level, everybody knows what they have to do. But the guys that are more mentally ready are the guys that win, I think.”
Mutton Busted
Dallin King, of Hollister, took home first place in the mutton busting event on Sunday at the 99th Annual California Rodeo in Salinas. King defeated Maddy Black and Alexander Lopez, both of Salinas.
