Nanton bareback rider wins at Sundre Pro Rodeo, Wainwright Stampede

By Barb Poulsen

Seasoned bareback rider Ty Taypotat entered the weekend with $191 in earnings. But a couple of big wins at Sundre Pro Rodeo and Wainwright Stampede, both SMS Equipment Pro Tour rodeos, changed things dramatically for the 2022 Canadian Champion.
He came out of last weekend solidly in the top twelve in Canada and well-positioned for a 13th CFR qualification come season’s end.
The Nanton, Alberta hand spurred out a terrific 86.5 points on Calgary Stampede’s B-65 Born Fearless for the first place cheque of $3158.93 at the Sundre Pro Rodeo and followed it up with an 86 pointer on John Duffy Rodeo’s 55 Reservation to split the top prize at the Wainwright Stampede with Richmond Champion and collect another $3294.
The 14-year pro is very clear that he’s taking a different approach to the season.
“All last year I was injured and struggled pretty much the whole season. I wasn’t having any fun and I needed to take some time off. After CFR I took six and a half months off. I needed to heal the body up. I’m not 18 years-old anymore,” Taypotat acknowledged.
The Saskatchewan-born cowboy added that managing the wear and tear of riding bareback horses as he gets a little older is going to be important as the season progresses.
“I’ll be picking and choosing a little more and trying to get on the ones that are known to be good and honest in the past,” he said.
That was exactly the case with the horses he drew this weekend.
“I was pretty excited to see the horses I’d drawn at Sundre and Wainwright and to be honest I was disappointed that High River had to re-schedule because I’d planned to win that one too,” Taypotat chuckled.
And most importantly the 33 year-old (he’ll be 34 on Christmas Day) feels great after his two winning rides.
“Yeah, I feel really good. I’ve been working out a tremendous amount. I’ve lost about twenty pounds, been going hard in the gym and riding my spur board lots and even doing Pilates with my wife for the flexibility,” he said.
The new regime is definitely working as his two rides this weekend showed. And a healthy, motivated Ty Taypotat spells trouble for the bareback riding community. Because when the former champion is right, there aren’t a whole lot of guys who ride better.
The timing for his resurgence couldn’t be better as the rodeo community gets ready for Cowboy Christmas and the busy early July schedule upcoming.