Success comes from unlikely horse for barrel racer Mote
Jul. 28—CHEYENNE — For Laura Mote's horse, Reb Hot Redbull, an early injury may have been a blessing in disguise.
When he was just a baby, the gelding broke his skull after running into a concrete water trough. The skull needed to be wired shut, and he wasn't able to start barrel racing until he was 4 years old.
"It kind of helped him, because he's one of those horses that needs more time to mature mentally, and so I think it was good for him to wait until he was 4 (years old) to start," Mote said. "That way, he was more mentally and physically mature."
Following the injury, it didn't seem like that Redbull would turn into a quality barrel racing horse, Mote said. But her dad, Bobby Mote, had a good feeling after he broke him. Then, it all went from there.
"For a while, he was an odd duck out ... nobody really did anything with him because they didn't think he would be anything," Mote said. "But when my dad broke him, he had that feel to him that was like, 'Maybe this is a really athletic horse.' And then my mom started riding him and working on the barrels, you could tell instantly he was going to be nice."
Redbull got his name because of how wild he is, Mote said. Now, the 9-year-old is helping the Llano, Texas, cowgirl make some noise in the barrel racing world. Redbull's love of barrels helped him quickly adapt, even with the late start. Because of his enthusiasm, Mote said, Redbull needed about a week to relax after a week running barrels during training.
"He understood to run barrels so much and loved it," she said. "He just wanted to run at 110% all the time, and he just needed that time to turn down."
Mote timed in at 18.47 seconds during Wednesday's quarterfinal round of the 126th anniversary Cheyenne Frontier Days Rodeo, which will keep her out of the semifinals. Mote still ranks ninth in the Women's Professional Rodeo Association's rookie standings with $11,876. Bobby, a four-time world champion bareback rider, was just inducted into the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association Hall of Fame.
Ambidextrous cowboy
Trevor Reiste had a decision to make when he dislocated his right elbow in 2018. The bull rider didn't want his season to end prematurely, so he decided to start riding using his left hand.
Reiste ended up winning more money in that month-and-a-half of riding left-handed than he did the entire season he rode right-handed. Now, he decides which hand to use based on the bull he draws. During Wednesday's quarterfinal round, Reiste busted out of Chute 0 with his left hand in the air. He scored an 87.5 on Dakota Rodeo's Beetle Juice, which was good for a third-place finish and a trip to this weekend's semifinals.
"If I know they go left every single time, I'll typically go left handed," said the Linden, Iowa, cowboy. "If there's a chance they go right, then I go right-handed."
Because of a wrist that's not 100%, Reiste rides with his palm down rather than up when gripping with his right hand. When using his left hand, he goes the standard palm up technique.
Becoming comfortable with both hands doesn't necessarily give him an advantage, he said, because it's all in the head.
"Bull riding is more of a mental game," he said. "If I'm mentally on point, then yeah, it gives me an advantage, but if I'm mentally not on point, then it doesn't matter which hand you ride them with."
Improvising on the road
Brody Cress's truck broke down in Calgary over the July 4th weekend, and he and his traveling partners — Lefty Holman and Wyatt Casper — rented a U-Haul for $20 per day during the rest of their time because of the high price of rental cars.
It's an example of an obstacle cowboys might be forced to overcome when traveling, especially as far away as Canada.
"It's kinda just do whatever you have to do to get to rodeos," Cress said. "It shows you how nice it is to have a vehicle. When it's running good, you kind of take it for granted ... when you have problems like that, it dang sure sucks trying to figure out how to get from place to place, especially when you're up in Canada and trying to get back down here."
The trio hitched a ride back to Great Falls, Montana, with fellow saddle bronc rider Sterling Crawley and rented another U-Haul to get to Salt Lake City, Utah. It's all about just making it to the next rodeo, Cress said. After buying a new truck Tuesday, the three-time CFD champion probably won't find himself in the same situation anytime soon.
"Gotta make it work out however you can," Cress said.
Local hands
Cody McCartney, of Bear River, Wyoming, timed in at 25.7 seconds to take seventh in tie-down roping. Cress, who's from Hillsdale and graduated from Cheyenne East in 2014, didn't record a score. Cress tore the AC joint in his right shoulder on his ride.
Robert Munoz is a writer for WyoSports. He can be reached at rmunoz@wyosports.net. Follow him on Twitter @rmunoz307.
