12-year-old bull rider competing in Oklahoma

by Wanda Combs
Editor

Jared Black, age 12, will be among the 600 competing at the Junior Pro Bull Riding Association event in Oklahoma November 18-21. The youngest competitor, he and others will be trying to be one of the top 20 finishers, in order to compete in the world finals in Texas in Spring, 2010.
The son of Todd and Crystal Black of Floyd, Jared has been riding for eight years. He has six Virginia state championships, a reserve championship title from North Carolina, and several mutton busting titles.
Bull riding doesn’t come without its risks or intimidations. Jared has broken his leg in four places and had a bruised spleen, and has gotten several injuries throughout the years. But that hasn’t stopped him from getting on the 1300-1800 pound bulls. “It’s something about getting on something you don’t know what it’s going to do,” comments Jared’s father. “He loves the adrenalin.”
Once he is on the bull, Jared says he concentrates where his free hand and feet are. “Because,” he explains, “if you get your feet up behind it, it will flip you. You don’t want your free hand behind it, it will make your hips out of square.”
The bull is your dancing partner, Jared’s coach, David Gaither of Bedford, tells him.
The goal is to stay on eight seconds. Scoring is also how the rider looks on the bull (0-50 points) and how the bull bucks (0-50). Jared knows the better the bull, the better the ride, the better the score. He prefers Limousin bulls and the aggressive Brangus (a Brahman crossed with an Angus) because they will give him the better score. Brahmans are naturally mean, he adds. The Limousin and Brahman crossed bulls are less aggressive.
Jared always wants the “hardest” bull to ride because he knows he can get the better score, but the riders don’t get to choose their bulls. Numbers are drawn.
Chris Shivers, who is in the PBR (Professional Bull Riding) has gotten a 96.75 top score. Jared, who has been praised for this technical skills, has a best score of 88.25.
Jared’s goal is to be a pro bull rider. Those competitors must be 17 years of age in the challenger series. Riders have to be in the top 40, and 18 years of age, to go into the PBR.
Asked about the worst bull ride he ever had, Jared thinks a few seconds. It was probably the time a bull flipped him over and rolled his hand over, and Jared couldn’t release the rope. A friend, Jeremy Galla, came across the back of the bull and struck his hand.
Jared gets in practice time at Jeremy and Wally Galla’s practice pen in Willis.
In preparing for Oklahoma, he is riding horses bareback to keep his balance up and to keep from getting hurt before the competition.
Jared’s siblings are very supportive of him. Dustin, 16, helps him during practice and fights the bulls. Kiana, 10, likes to take care of him when he is injured. She would like to do barrel racing with horses.
McKeslie, 7, hopes to ride the bulls. She recently won the mutton busting state championship at the Dublin Fairgrounds. At the same time, Jared won the state championship for bull riding.
Jared says he’s not scared of bulls…really. He and his dad explain, “You’ve got to be scared enough to respect him, but not so scared of him, you don’t want to own him.”
His father will be traveling with him to Oklahoma and will be the one to tie him on the bull, and he admits that’s scary. “It’s scary…watching a kid tie himself to 1400 pounds that’s an athlete. These bulls are bred to do this. They’re an athlete in their own rights. They’re agile and they can move.”