Ryan Dirteater - Bids Farewell to Bull Riding

Photo by Phillip Kitts / Avid Visual Imagery By Barbara Pinnella

Oklahoma native Ryan Dirteater made his 12th appearance at the PBR World Finals in 2020, but getting to see him compete was bittersweet for his many fans. According to Ryan, this would be his last year riding bulls. He made that decision a long time ago, saying that he would stop riding when he was 30 years of age, and he is now 31. Only three weeks had passed when Humps N Horns Bull Riding Magazine spoke with The Cherokee Kid, and we wondered if the reality of retirement had actually set in yet.

“Sometimes it does,” he replied. “To be honest with you, I don’t think it will really hit me until the new year, because this is really my off season. Come January we are normally going to New York, so I really don’t think it’s gonna hit me until then. Then I’ll be itching to go.

“The bull riding I’m at peace with. It’s the locker room, and all your buddies, and all that. The PBR employees-I’ve made friends with a lot of the employees-seeing the fans. That’s the hard part. All the locker room comraderie.”

Leading up to those 2020 Finals, Ryan was getting on bulls after coming back from injuries, but he admitted that he just never felt right.

“I could never find that feeling I was looking for. I would ride bulls here and there, but I did fall off the last few TV events; I think I fell off five or six in a row before I finally stayed on one. I was getting on practice bulls each week, and I would ride one here and there. I might fall off a practice bull, but I was getting on pretty good stuff at the time. But I was inconsistent.”

Here is his description of what his last Finals appearance felt like to him.

“At the PBR Finals I fell off my first one, then I picked the bull Bezerk. I had ridden him twice before, so my confidence getting on that bull was through the roof. I rode him, but I didn’t feel like I was 100% in control of it. It felt like a struggle getting to the eight seconds. I was like, ‘Dang it!’

“The next bull I get on, (Payin Debts), I had seen him at Sioux Falls and knew he was an outstanding bull. I scored him really well. It just seemed like when I nodded my head, I felt perfect. That feeling that I was looking for those two or three months was right there.

“Everything worked out the way it was supposed to. I was 91 points for my last bull ride, and that’s a feeling that a bull rider looks for when he nods his head. Even though I fell off Big Black and Smooth Operator – Smooth Operator winning World Champion Bucking Bull AGAIN – there’s no shame in falling off of either one of them.”

A huge disappointment for Dirteater this year was not being able to compete with team USA Wolves at the Global Cup. That is one thing that just might be sticking in the corner of his mind for 2021. But who knows?

“Come next year for that event I might be way out of shape. I might not want to think about crawling on a bull. I don’t know. I wanted to be done, and I’m done. But it did cross my mind. My team asked me; they do want me there, and I didn’t get to ride this year.

“But then I think about those injuries that go with it,” he laughed. “The longest I was out at one time was nine months. I figured out that in 14 years riding professionally, I’ve been out with injuries three years. When I collapsed my lung last year, leaving the sport did cross my mind at that time. But I knew I had one more year left in me and I didn’t want to go out like that. I wanted to go out on my terms. I love the sport and wanted to go out on my terms, and that’s what I did.”

As previously mentioned, Ryan decided to quit the end of the year he turned 30. Most bull riders want to ride as long as possible, so we were curious as to why he picked that particular time.

“Bull riding is a young man’s sport,” he told us. “I’ve been there for 20+ years, and I just know that there’s more to life than bull riding. I’ve got cows; I love cattle. I wanted to be young when I walked away from it. I’m planning on getting married to April and building a house. She’s catching up with school, so we’ve got big plans come ’21.

“I just felt like the retirement age for bull riding is between 30 and 35. I’m 31, and if you ride much longer than that, it’s really hard. I don’t want to make a great ride and get up hurting,” he chuckled. “You can’t stop Father Time, it’s gonna hurt! Those great rides are gonna hurt. Those older guys like Valdiron and Wallace, I don’t see how they’re doing it, uh uh!”

He reminded us that the younger guys are just getting better, with regard to their talent and athleticism. And of course, the bull power is not slowing down either. They are getting ranker and bucking harder as well. The sport itself continues to grow, and Ryan feels that you can’t stay on top forever.

“Respect the old and make way for the new, because they’re coming. And I like to see it. There recently was a junior bull riding in Texas, and there were six kids down there to ride mini bulls that live within a 10-mile radius of where I live. It’s awesome. So it’s time for me to just watch them grow, and for me and April to move on with our lives.”

Ryan has done a bit of coaching, and enjoyed it. He and Zane Cook put on a bull riding school the week after the Finals and had 16 bull riders and bucked about 75 bulls. Judd Napier put on the bullfighting clinic, and he had five students. They are planning on putting on another one in the spring, and then again late in the year.

“I enjoyed it, and at least I’m around it. I still team rope and I’ve got some bucking stock cattle. So I’ll still be there. You’re still gonna see me. It’s given me everything, so I can’t just drop it.”

Since 1994, the PBR World Finals has been at a venue in Las Vegas. In his last year competing at the Finals and thanks to Covid-19, Dirteater and the others had to abandon Vegas for Arlington, Texas. We wondered if he was disappointed with that move.

“Yes and no. I never thought that last year would be my last time riding in Vegas. Nobody did. But that stadium (in Texas) was awesome! A lot of my family that wouldn’t have been able to go to Vegas made it to Arlington, so I’m happy about that. It was good in a different way.”

One of Ryan’s most memorable moments came back in 2016, when he won the PBR World Finals event.

“Guilherme (Marchi) rode his last bull and he jumped ahead of me. All I had to do was stay on Brutus to win more than $300,000, and the buckle. I love the pressure! That’s what we feed off of, it drives us. Put us in a corner and it’s time to step up. And I did that.

“Another big moment was when I won Oklahoma City the first time. That was in 2018. In the long round I rode a bull that had bucked me off three times before, and then rode another one. In the short round I picked Bruiser. I think I picked fifth or sixth and I couldn’t believe that nobody had picked him yet. He had just come off winning the World title in Vegas, and I bucked off of him in Vegas. I wanted him! I scored 93.25 in Oklahoma. That was really special.

“The next year was almost the same situation, but this time I come back first. I picked Big Black, and I was 91 to win the event. To win your home state event is huge, but to win it back-to-back is even better. To even win a UTB event is an accomplishment, but to win in your home state is special. I have won nine UTB events. So those three are all very special moments for me.”

In his career it seems as if Ryan has been able to get on every bull he ever wanted – or had he?

“There were bulls that I didn’t want to get on, but I’d sure like to get on, if that makes sense. I wish I would have gotten on Bushwacker, but I didn’t want to get on him at the time. Now that he’s retired, I’m like, ‘Man, I should have gotten on him!’ but I didn’t want to get on him back then,” he laughed.

“I do wish I had gotten on Cochise more than I did, I only got on him once. He was so awesome and felt really good. He felt like an old pillow. It’s hard because I got on about every bull I had wanted. That’s what makes it special about picking bulls in the short round.”

Then one bull did come to mind.

“Actually, Soulja Boy, I never did get on him. That was back in 2010, 2011, the days of Kody Lostroh and Austin Meier. He was a little red bull. I think Skeeter Kingsolver rode him once.”

While Ryan will quite likely have traveling and bull riding withdrawals, he is looking forward to watching the PBR in 2021.

“I can’t wait to watch the young guys step up in ’21, it’s gonna be fun watching, I know that.”

We speak for all of the Ryan Dirteater fans out there, ourselves included, when we say that we will truly miss watching him ride. He has always been a willing and very enjoyable interview, for which we thank him. Humps N Horns wishes all the best for Ryan and April, and hope we get to see him somewhere down the road – maybe with a bucking bull or two for others to challenge!