RIDER RUNDOWN with...
Macon Thomas By Katlin Truelsen CAC Media Group
For Macon Thomas, rodeo wasn’t something built on a family tradition and passed down from generation to generation. It was something you watched on television with your grandpa on the sofa on Saturday night. Rodeo was something that someone else did, not him. Eventually, though, that little kid who watched from the sidelines stepped up and took a chance at riding bulls, and in 2023, he found himself competing at the Junior World Finals in Las Vegas and getting his moment to shine.
KT: Can you tell us your name, age, and where you are from? MT: My name is Macon Thomas, I am 17 and I am from Cuero, Texas. KT: What made you get into bull riding? MT: I don’t come from a rodeo background and none of my family does anything with rodeo. I was just one of those kids that when I was younger, I loved following the PBR with my grandpa. I watched Eight Seconds and thought it was the coolest movie, but I didn’t get on my first bull until I was 14. KT: You definitely have come a long way in four years. How many times have you been to Vegas and what did qualifying look like for you? MT: This was my first time out here. I qualified in a previous year, but I got hurt beforehand and couldn’t ride. This year though, I qualified through a Branded for Christ series in Texas. I won the series, so I was able to come to Vegas. KT: What are some big challenges for you bull riding? MT: I have faced a lot of injuries; I had surgery in July on my collarbone for the second time. I also have to have surgery on my shoulder when I get back home. KT: That sounds like a lot, what makes you keep going? MT: There isn’t an option to quit. I have already come really far, and I plan to keep going.
Humps-Horns.com · 9 · February 2024
