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As Brody Wells finished his 8 second ride, the already loud crowd at the Cody rodeo grounds erupted. When the judges revealed his score of 86.5 had tied him for first place on opening night of the …
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As Brody Wells finished his 8 second ride, the already loud crowd at the Cody rodeo grounds erupted. When the judges revealed his score of 86.5 had tied him for first place on opening night of the Cody Stampede, the cheering only grew.
Once the next three days of rodeo had wrapped up, Wells wound up finishing tied for fourth with a payout of $2,673.
On July 1, Wells was in the midst of the ever busy Cowboy Christmas stretch, having flown in from Arizona, where he rode in Prescott the night before. He was headed to Montana next for rodeos in Livingston and Red Lodge the next day, but he savored his roughly hour and a half spent amidst a crowd filled with family, friends and other supporters.
“I get more nervous here than pretty much anywhere,” he said as he cooled down from the ride. “I got off, I looked up there. I mean, there’s hundreds of people up here that know me, or my family and they’re pretty loud.”
This has been a successful season for Wells, who entered the Stampede 10th in the PRCA in saddle bronc with over $76,000 in winnings. He’s coming on the heels of his first National Finals Rodeo appearance, and a successful one at that. He won two early go-rounds, placed in five of 10 and finished 10th in the world with well over $200,000 in season earnings thanks to the high dollar NFR wins.
He said having the Las Vegas experience under his belt has both taken off some pressure and put some on.
“The pressure gets lifted off your back when you make the NFR once, but I feel like now it’s a little more pressure in a different way: Are you a one hit wonder or can you make it every year?” he said.
The pressure sure didn’t get to him in front of the home crowd, those who knew him growing up in Wapiti or attending Powell middle and high school.
Riding Frontier Rodeo’s Cowboy Town, he held on through the bucking and well beyond the horn before escaping the bronc with the help of two pickup men.
“I’ve seen the horse a bunch, and guys place on him here every year,” Wells said. “He takes one two, really hold your feet and he’ll break underneath you and then he just jumps and kicks around to the right and lets you make a good ride.”
In front of the home crowd, Wells made the ride count.
