RL: What are some of the hardships of rodeo that you have
faced and how did you get through them
TD: On the rodeo trail, there are many hardships that can
happen when you spend 280 days a year on the road from
having friends that lose their lives in car accidents to unforeseen
partnerships geng broken up or losing a horse that’s very
special to you. The most dicult is losing somebody or an animal
that you’re close to. It’s rare, but when you are rodeoing you
spend hours and hours with the animals and the people and you
feel like you’ve lost a family member. ou create relaonships
with these animals and people and if something were to happen
that would cost that, that to me is the hardest part.
RL: Your name is decorated with rodeo wins and championships,
is there any rodeo that is still on your To Win list
What is the ulmate goal for your professional rodeo career
TD: The goal every year is to be a orld Champion. I set that
goal, put in the eort and the work and give one hundred
percent – that is the standard I set for myself.
I would love to win Cheyenne it’s been on my bucket list. The
funny thing is, I’ve never even made the short go at Cheyenne so
that’s denitely the one I want to win.
As far as what I want to get done for the rest of my life rodeoing
I want to win the world but I really want to be a good inuence
for the people. I want to help people be and achieve their best.
I want people to say, “Tyson was a great guy, he was willing to
help me out,” maybe it was a mental struggle that I was able to
help somebody overcome. Rodeoing has given me a plaorm
to build a name, but at the end of the day, I ust want to be well
known for being a guy that was willing to help people get beer.
RL: What buckle are you sporng for the 2019 season
Where do you keep all of your champion buckles
TD: The one I’m wearing right now is my 2016 Champion Buckle,
that’s the one I wear to most rodeos because it means the most
to me. I have buckles everywhere: I’ve given several away, I keep
uite a few in my oce, I have a bunch in the house, my wife has
a hold of a few of them and my lile girl will wear one occasionally
– ust a lile bit of everywhere. I denitely have plenty of buckles
and I’m thankful for every one of them.
RL: How important is good equipment and good horses to your
success How important are your fans to your success
TD: I have a saying: Buy the best and buy it one me. I believe in
that statement whether it’s a truck, trailer, horse or saddle tack.
I don’t like things to break down or malfuncon. Having the best
tack and horse that you can aord pays dividends over the long
haul. ith reliable euipment you’re going to make it to the
rodeos, have beer runs in compeons and be a beer athlete
all the way around.
The last year and a half I’ve really focused on interacng with the
fans a lot more. It’s not ust about going, compeng and leaving.
It’s about trying to respond to every person I get a message from
on social media and taking me to talk to people and kids. The
thirty seconds a person might spend and give to somebody else
might ust be thirty seconds to you but could be a dream to the
person you are talking to. I really take that into consideraon
with every person that I meet, whether they are fans or not, I try
to give everybody a lile bit of me to talk to them and try to
understand them.
RL: Besides being a roping beast, you are also known for
spreading movaonal messages, why is it important for you
to inuence movaon What are you hoping people get out
of these messages
TD:I hate seeing people not reach their full potenal and not
achieve the things they want to achieve. I’ve watched it for years
in society, in the arena and have even seen it in my own family.
People get upset at themselves, they uit, they give up or they
are too hard on themselves when they make one ny mistake
that costs them winning. I want people to realize that they need
to keep trying. They need to hustle and keep trying as smart as
possible. I like to work hard but I like to work intelligently too.
I ust don’t want anyone else to have to go through that same
stu that I went through. As a kid and even as a young man,
we wouldn’t have electricity for two weeks, we wouldn’t have
food – I would sneak over to a buddy’s house ust to eat dinner.
I had every opportunity to grow up and be negave and addicted
to alcohol and drugs because it was all in front of me. I want
everybody to know that if I made it out, and was able to get to
the level I’m at with good businesses, good horses, a great family
and living my life with opmism, then they can make it out too.
I love rodeo, the fans and my family I feel truly blessed to be
where I am at. I believe that every person’s life is special and
every person has greatness in them – it’s up to them to really
culvate it, to bring their uniueness and specialness out into
the world and let everybody see it. I spread movaonal
messages to help inspire that.
Rodeo LIFE 15