8 seconds with Peyton Fitzpatrick

Bull rider Peyton Fitzpatrick recalls his worst injury. It happened about a year ago in Polson.

“It was that same bull I rode this year,” he remembers. “And it spun left the same way it did this year, but last year it hung me up.”

It was only in a matter of seconds - but, then again, that’s all it takes - that Fitzpatrick’s hand rolled over the rope, his head was thrown back and the bull knocked him cold.

The cowboy walked away with bruised ribs and a headache.

“I think it might have messed me up a little,” said Fitzpatrick, a 2013 Polson High School graduate “This winter my ribs collapsed on my right lung, and I think my injury last summer had something to do with it.”

None of that matters, though. At least not for Fitzpatrick, who has ridden bulls since he was age 12 and dreamed of competing even longer

In the old days, Fitzpatrick’s dad and uncle rode bulls for the Northern Rodeo Association, Montana Professionals, and a few Canadian rodeo associations. Today, Fitzpatrick, his brother Grey (A Polson High School senior), and their cousins Bridger and Caden are carrying on the tradition.

“There were these old photos in my house of my dad and uncle,” Fitzpatrick said. “They were bull riding and I would just look at them and think, ‘yeah, I’d like to do that someday.’ So they really got us fired up.”

Throughout his childhood, Peyton Fitzpatrick’s father could not scare him away from the competition, not that he ever tried to. But he never sugar-coated it. Fitzpatrick knew what he was getting himself into from the beginning.

“I think the craziest story my dad ever told me was about the ride that almost ended his career. He was riding bull down in Helmville, and the thing jerked down and smashed his face. Back then they never used a vest or helmets,” Fitzpatrick said. “He was lights out, and they life-flighted him to Missoula. They thought it was the end of his career, but he rode for four more years after that.”

From the time he was “just a little guy,” Fitzpatrick was taken with his father’s stories and the idea of riding bulls. He recalls watching the movie 8 Seconds, which fictionalized the life of legendary bull rider Lane Flint, twice a day through some of his younger years. Otherwise, old NFR tapes were always rolling on the TV.

Finally, his 12th birthday rolled around, and he was finally old enough to begin riding miniature bulls for Rocky Mountain Mini Buggers. He could emulate his heroes - Lane Flint and Montana professional bull rider Clint Branger.

“I pestered my dad enough to build us a bucking chute,” Fitzpatrick said as he recalled the small structure his father built for him and his brother on their Grandpa’s 100-acre Valley View Farm. “We put steers in it and when we finally got bigger bulls, the chute was too small, so I built one in shop and that’s what we use now.”

When Fitzpatrick entered Polson High School, his hobby on mini bulls became a career on the large-scale. He was quick to join groups such as Brash Rodeo Association so that he could take part in their Winter Series in Kalispell and the Summer Series they host annually in Columbia Falls. He only competed with the Montana High School Rodeo Association in his senior year at PHS, but when he did, he placed fifth in the state.

Rodeo is now Fitzpatrick’s sole focus and passion. He competes in year-round events with the NRA but is especially busy during the summer.

“When I’m home, I pick up every odd job I can to help pay to get me to the next rodeo,” Fitzpatrick said. “Then, of course, the rodeos pay out themselves, so it’s worth it.”

Due to the nature of bull riding, Fitzpatrick does not treat it like he might another sport. There are no two-hour-a-day practices, the best he can do is keep in shape and keep focused.

“It’s all I think about,” he said. “It’s just always on a guy’s mind.”

He doesn’t have to wait long to stop thinking and start doing, either. Every weekend, he and his buddies do their best to make it to at least three or four rodeos.

“It can be tough to put on all those miles, but it’s worth it to be with your buddies and going to rodeos,” he said. “It’s like us against the bull, and we build each other up. The best thing is to be at a rodeo, with a full crowd going nuts. Maybe at an evening rodeo with the arena a little lit up, too.”

When Fitzpatrick gets to a rodeo, he doesn’t focus on the long term, or the end game. He just relaxes and focuses on one bull at a time, and that’s the way it’s always been.

“I remember back in 2009, I won state for riding minis and I didn’t even know it,” he laughed. “I just didn’t keep up on the competition as a whole, because I just wanted to ride the bulls.”

During a typical competition, he will spend some time getting himself into the mindset to ride, but, just before he leaves the chute, his mind goes blank.

“If you’re thinking you’re going to be in the dirt,” Fitzpatrick said. “Those bulls are fast and strong and they don’t want you on them, so you have to be fast and strong, too, and that means no thinking.”

At this point in his career, it just comes naturally to Fitzpatrick. He has won his card as a member of the NRA, securing his place as a semi-professional rider. In his mini-bull riding days, his parents took him to rodeo. But today he travels on his own, or with his younger brother, Grey, who will be a senior at Polson High School this year.

“We can get pretty competitive,” the elder Fitzpatrick said. “But mostly we just support each other. We just want one of us to do well so we can get a meal afterwards.”

Most of all, however, Fitzpatrick is intent on making a rodeo career work. On average, he does a 75-80 point ride; an excellent, professional ride is defined in the high 80s or above 90 points.

“It’s all I know to do, and if I have to go broke, I guess I’ll just go broke,” Fitzpatrick said. “The best advice I was ever given is don’t quit. Just go at it, and pick a fight with the bull. Because it is a fight.”