that I can keep everything together: I have my arena, my oce,
my secretary, my gym, my house and everything in the same
place. So, if I want to break away for ve minutes and go push
my daughter on the swing then I can do that. But I have habits
that keep me on task and focused.
The second thing is to have rituals. I know every morning I’m
reading my bible sing in prayer and then going through the
messages I get on social media that allows me to connect
with people.
The third thing is to have a schedule. Every single day I know
what I am going to be doing. I don’t wake up in the morning and
wonder what I am going to do at twelve o’clock. I know from ten
to twelve every single day I’m going to rope. I keep a daily me
ournal to keep me on schedule and I try not to allow anything to
break me o that schedule.
The last thing is to do everything with love. hen things get
hecc and crazy, I don’t get mad, I take a deep breath and I keep
myself centered and I do everything out of love. I love my wife,
kids, businesses, fans, friends, and I try to do right by everybody
all the me. If I make a mistake, I don’t worry about it and don’t
beat myself up about it. I ust keep rolling and try to get back on
schedule and back to a situaon where I can spend a lile more
me with my family or be done at ve o’clock. I ust really have
habits, rituals, keep a schedule and I try to do everything with
love in my heart.
RL: ou have been compeng in the PRCA for over a decade,
what is the greatest thing youve learned over this me being
a part of the PRCA
TD: Probably the greatest thing that I’ve goen from being a
professional rodeo cowboy is the relaonships. Being a
professional cowboy has allowed me to meet billion-dollar CEO’s,
presidenal candidates and has allowed me to have close
friendships with very well-known people. For me it’s not about
the money that I win, it’s about the experiences and relaonships
that I’ve gathered over my rodeoing career. I am a rm believer
that relaonships will take you anywhere you want to go but
you have to take the me to invest, add value and help
them grow too. Rodeo has put me on the stage in front of
these types of people as well as hundreds of thousands of
great people, some of which have become good friends
of mine. hether it’s somebody that helped me out if I
got a at re or a vet when I had a horse that was hurt,
rodeo has truly created so many great relaonships and
for that I’ll be eternally grateful.
RL: How do you physically and mentally prepare
before a rodeo
TD: I train and exercise. My workouts aren’t terribly insane. Four
days a week I will run two and a half miles in the sand and do a
full body workout. I pracce every single day I’m home except
for Sunday.
I’m a rm believer in pung in one hundred percent and
working my tail o. I like to break down the basics, master the
fundamentals and put in so much work that I feel like I deserve
to win. I’ve had this philosophy since I was ve years old – and
I’ve done it for thirty years. I don’t ever think about, “I’m
going to beat this guy,” or, “I’m going to win rst here.” And
when you do all that, it makes it a lot easier to win and
compete well.
14 Rodeo LIFE PRCA ProRodeo photo by James Phifer